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Listen and Laugh: "The Last Open Road" as a Rather Raucous Radio Play

Published on Tue, Sep 3, 2019

By: Doug Stokes

LACar Radio-Play Audiobook Revue

The Last Open Road

By ā€œBSā€ Levy

Adapted from the book for audio, produced, and directed by the author

20 hours with bonus video features

USB Flash drive: $55 or 20-disc CD set: $65

available at: www.lastopenroad.com

photos by ASH and the author

BS Levyā€™s The Last Open Road is now in
audiobook format (Doug Stokes)

HEREā€™S THE DEAL:Ā This is a very fun, funny, sardonic, clever, fun-filled, noisy, cheeky, clever (I said that already, didnā€™t I?), irreverent, and entertaining ā€™50s radio play-like adaptation of a very well-known (at least in some circles) book which relates the contretemps of a guy and a gal from ā€™Jersey and their on-the-road to the races (etc.) escapades in the early days of amateur sports car competition in the US.


The author, ā€œBSā€ Levy
The author, ā€œBSā€ Levy

The Last Open Road, the book, has been around (wonder of wonders) for over a quarter of a century and is now in its 10th printing. To celebrate that milestone, Burt Levy (who prefers to be known by his initials ā€œBSā€ for reasons that will become clear while listening) decided to flesh out his celebrated (again, thatā€™s in some circles) classic tome with an audio version replete with what the author bills as ā€œperiod musicā€.

And so, and if you know of Mister Levy at all, youā€™ll instantly understand why he chose not to sit in a sound-proof studio and read his book to you on tape; but to fully dramatize this adventure it with an (certifiably) eclectic collection professional voice actors (and others) playing some strangely wonderful characters all enhanced by the actual sounds of the real racing cars as they appear in the story.

As some readers may have surmised from the above preamble, this is an audiobook thatā€™s very different from most, will not be fully understood or appreciated by many, but that will be a roaring favorite of a hearty band of enthusiasts that love vintage sports car road racing (now) and who need to know what it was like back then when Jags and Triumphs, and Jowett Jupiters, and MGs, and bathtub Porsches, and Cad-Allards all roamed the real road courses of America.

And thereā€™s a special treat in store for vintage racing fans in the form of an all-star cast of (what the always subtle and adroit Mister Levy very modestly billboards as: MYSTERY CELEBRITY GUEST VOICES) in supporting roles and who are liberally sprinkled throughout the 20-hour epic.

The first Last Open Road by ā€œBSā€ Levy
The first Last Open Road by ā€œBSā€ Levy

OK, like who then?

Well ā€¦ how about: David Hobbs, Brian Redman, Tommy Kendall, Skip Barber, Bill Warner, Patrick Long, Ray Evernham, Marino Franchitti, John Morton, Spence Pumpelly, and PD Cunningham. (Ed. Note: even if none of the above names rings a bell or lights your fire, this spoken play is still some good car fun and games.)

By the way neighbor ā€¦ 20 discs? Whoa! I would better recommend the sweet little leather-bound flash drive, itā€™s elegant, itā€™s convenient, and it stores in roughly 400% less space (or something like that) than an unwieldy stack of 20 (count ā€˜em) 20 CDs and itā€™s fifteen bucks cheaper.

Who the heckā€™s going to keep loading and unloading all those discs in sequence anyway?

Conclusion: They donā€™t write them like this anymore (THEYdonā€™t, but ā€œBSā€ Levy still does).

And ā€¦ youā€™ll know if you need a copy of this spoken epic or not by here. -DS

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