Search - Glenn Close, Mark Isham :: Emperor & The Nightingale

From the celebrated Rabbit Ears series comes an enchanting morality play from well-loved classicist Hans Christian Anderson: The Emperor and the Nightingale. In far away China, a small bird's rapturous singing enchants an emperor. Preferring a bejeweled mechanical bird over the nightingale's rather plain appearance, the ruler forsakes the source of the entrancing songs for many years, until, on his deathbed, he learns the true value of the of the nightingale's melody. Several lesser characters--such as the young kitchen maid--play pivotal roles in this eventual truth. Accompanied by the richly dissonant tones of the traditional Asian music, Glenn Close is a marvelous storyteller. The lauded actress, whose educated voice is quite at home with such an upper-crust tale, perfectly captures the mood and tone of aristocracy. And while this presentation is truly a gem, a treasure for ages 7 to 97, the action may be a bit slow and the lesson slightly subtle for the very active kindergarten-aged child. --Paige La Grone