wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

SELECTED SHORTS’ long relationship with the Getty Center in Los Angeles was celebrated last season with a series devoted to “food fictions,” and from those programs come two delectable stories about wine. Roald Dahl’s quirky tale of passionate oenophilia at an elegant dinner party, and a high stakes wager, is as outsized in its way as the children’s books for which he is most famous Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. Dahl was also a screenwriter and contributing writer to dozens of magazines including Harpers, Playboy and The New Yorker. His story “Taste,” is lusciously rendered by John Lithgow, himself now a best-selling author of children’s books, but best known, of course, as an award-winning actor whose many stage, television, and film credits include the series Third Rock from the Sun, for which he was a three-time Emmy winner, M Butterfly (Tony Award) and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony nomination). Films include Dreamgirls, Kinsey, Terms of Endearment.
If wine drinking is perilous in Roald Dahl’s world, it’s hilarious in James Thurber’s “How to Tell a Fine Old Wine,” which purports to be a wine taster’s guide, but is really designed to skewer the pretentions of wine snobs. It was read by Raphael Sbarge, whose film credits include Independence Day and whose long list of prime-time television credits place him in edgy favorites like 24CSI.

“Taste,” by Roald Dahl read by John Lithgow “How to Tell a Fine Old Wine,” by James Thurber, read by Rafael Sbarge For additional works featured on SELECTED SHORTS, please visit Symphony Space