Thalia Book Club: 'To Kill a Mockingbird' 50th Anniversary Celebration - Readings, Discussion and Audience Q&A

By: Symphony Space

Narrated by: Stephen Colbert, Isaiah Sheffer, Jayne Anne Phillips, Mary McDonagh Murphy, Oskar Eustis, Libba Bray, Kurt Andersen

Performance playlist: Readings and conversation with Kurt Andersen, Libba Bray, Stephen Colbert, Oskar Eustis, Mary McDonagh Murphy, Jayne Anne Phillips, and Isaiah Sheffer, a discussion with the audience.

Authors and actors including Stephen Colbert, Libba Bray (award winning young-adult novelist Going Bovine, winner of 2010 Printz Award), Oskar Eustis (Artistic Director at The Public Theater), Kurt Andersen (novelist and Studio 360 Host), Jayne Anne Phillips (novelist and National Book Award finalist Lark & Termite), filmmaker Mary McDonagh Murphy (author of the upcoming book Scout, Atticus, and Boo), and others pay tribute to the Pulitzer prize-winning classic novel about racial injustice and loss of innocence in a small Southern town. One of the most taught -- and frequently challenged -- books of the last 50 years, the book was voted the best novel of the 20th century by librarians. The evening includes readings, discussion and audience Q&A.

©2010 Symphony Space (P)2010 Symphony Space

Where is the book?

Would you try another book from Harper Lee and/or the narrators?

I would love to buy the actual audiobook by Harper Lee with almost any narrator. Unfortunately the novel itself is not available through Audible.

What was most disappointing about Harper Lee’s story?

It was a speech about the novel

What three words best describe the narrators’s performance?

Live, celebratory, and a nice tribute.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It had many redeeming qualities as a tribute to Harper Lee and the book, but it is important to read the novel itself before listening to a tribute to its author.

Any additional comments?

Had the actual audiobook of

A bitter but necessary pill to swallow

A classic story of good and evil and the elephant in the room. Why can't we name the sin that has no name? Why don't we see that the emperor's new clothes leave him naked?
In movie form it was a classic. In print or voice it reads thicker and more fragrant. I can feel the pulse of the words that issue from the characters, the meaning, the regret.
This for me was a significant impetus to involve myself in some form in the civil rights movement of the 60's. I knew that the elephant exposed in the South would lead to the elephant exposed elsewhere.

not to kill a mockingbird

thought I was getting the classic book but it is not. I did not enjoy this book at all. stopped listening after a couple chapters

smug

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I found much of this to be kind of annoying. A group of liberal writers making a treasured classic into a 21 century political slog. Many were pretentious but I did enjoy the readings of the story itself. Only wish I could have heard the book in its entirety, but it is still as of yet unavailable.

Best Book Panel

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes! It is such an interesting cast of people discussing and celebrating 50th anniv of To Kill A Mockingbird.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Thalia Book Club: Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird 50th Anniversary Celebration?

How it influenced the panel the first time they read it and a more recent re-read.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

Steven Colbert was really very intelligent and emotional. He was not silly at all. It was a pleasant surprise.The other's are not so famous to me, but they ALL were wonderful.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Not a good film.

Any additional comments?

The live audience Q&A was poor audio quality and was a waste of time.

Enlightening Discussion of The Classic

Well, it's not a book. It's about a book. Nice readings and good discussion. The questions aren't always audible, though. Stephen was great. Wanted more of him!

Thanks for this pleasant discussion.

Dead Microphones Ugh!

What did you like best about Thalia Book Club: Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird 50th Anniversary Celebration? What did you like least?

Liked the discussion of the differences, reading for the first time as a child and then rereading later.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The discussions and the casual conversation among the panel members was quite intersting. A wider variety within the panel might have made it even better.

What didn’t you like about the narrators’s performance?

Absolutely frustrating that the audience, for the most part, could not be heard. AND no one summarized the questions before answering or commenting on them. Often didn't answer them. For a "professional" production this seems unforgivable.

Do you think Thalia Book Club: Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird 50th Anniversary Celebration needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

NO.

Any additional comments?

Disappointed.......mostly by the audience participation being impossible to hear.

Program Type: Speech, isn't misleading

Not sure why this received negative reviews from those who were looking and thinking they purchased the audiobook.....the program type clearly states it's a Speech, as most symphonyspace productions are. And the summary describes it as follows: The evening includes readings, discussion and audience Q&A. Performance playlist: Readings and conversation with Kurt Andersen, Libba Bray, Stephen Colbert, Oskar Eustis, Mary McDonagh Murphy, Jayne Anne Phillips, and Isaiah Sheffer, a discussion with the audience. We used this with a class studying Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird and found it very informative.

great but audience annoying

the broadcast was very good except the audience questions couldn't be understood very well. all the panelists were great

Just didn’t enjoy that much

Some people on the panel seemed kind of full of themselves in that they didn’t seem like they wanted to listen to the people in the audience. Also-was it too much to ask one of them to walk over to those people with a microphone?