The World of 'Atlas Shrugged' Is Released
In May, HighBridge Audio will release The World of "Atlas Shrugged," The Atlas Society's dramatic audio commentary on Ayn Rand's masterpiece. Once released, it will be available through bookstores and from The Objectivism Store.
As a dramatized readers' companion to Rand's great work, The World of "Atlas Shrugged" contains a plot synopsis of Atlas Shrugged, facts about the author, examinations of the story's literary aspects, and explanations of the ideas presented in the novel. "What we wanted to do was find some way of reaching those millions of Atlas Shrugged's readers who are fans of the novel but are not necessarily involved with Objectivism," says Robert James Bidinotto, TOC's director of membership development and author of the recording's script.
Years in the Making
According to Bidinotto, The World of "Atlas Shrugged" has been conceived and reconceived in different ways over the last several years. "We went though quite a number of versions before it seemed to hang together," he says, "and much of our concern was: Who are we trying to reach and how are we were trying to reach them?" Originally, thoughts focused on fan-club materials, but that was ruled out in part because of copyright issues, and for other reasons as well. "We wanted something of a bridge for fans to cross," Bidinotto says, "something that would take them from their interest in the story and its characters, and bring them to a greater understanding and appreciation of the ideas, of what makes this incredible story so unique."
Even when the project was in its infancy, Bidinotto hoped to market the final product commercially, and he initially thought of approaching a publisher with the concept. "In the end, though, that struck me as being a more difficult task than approaching a reputable audio-book publisher and marketing this to them as a tie-in product to Atlas Shrugged. But to do something like that on a scale that an audio-book publisher would want, it was necessary that we would need extraordinary high production values." He adds: "What became clear was that we were going to have to take a gamble and produce the product to the highest possible standards, with well-recognized talent, so that we could walk in the door and have a product at the end of the day that would be useful and enticing."
To achieve the production standards needed, Bidinotto enlisted the help of veteran producer Patricia Childs of Panorama Audio in Nashville, Tennessee. According to Bidinotto: "Previously, she had produced first-rate products that had an intellectual background--history series, philosophy series, economic series. I thought that she could both sympathize with what we were doing and also be able to handle and understand how to handle the unique demands that a philosophical novel such as Atlas Shrugged would pose. . . . She brought many talents to the table."
A consummate professional, Childs worked with Bidinotto to find vocal talents for the recording. "Our credibility required not only a first-rate producer but a first-rate narrator with a big name: a known quantity in the acting world," says Bidinotto. After approaching both Patrick Stewart and James Earl Jones, Childs and Bidinotto chose the vocal talents of Tony award-winning actor Edward Herrmann (who also narrated the abridged version of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead) for primary narration and Lynn Redgrave for supplemental readings, such as quotations from Ayn Rand and passages from Atlas Shrugged.
The final touch for the recording was music. Rather than using stock theme music that might be emotionally inappropriate and do nothing to further the listener's enjoyment, Bidinotto decided to commission original score from someone who could bring out the drama and romance of the novel. "Patricia knew of an excellent composer in Nashville," says Bidinotto, "a man named Ron Kristy. After the recording was put to bed, Ron did an outstanding job of scoring music for The World of "Atlas Shrugged." It was a great effort on his part."
Upon completion of the product, Bidinotto then approached HighBridge Audio, publishers of the audio versions of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, and found that they were eager to add this to their collection of Ayn Rand material.
In Bookstores Everywhere
The World of "Atlas Shrugged" will be available in bookstore in May. Currently, it comes in three forms: as a two-CD pack; as a two-audiocassette pack; and as two CDs bundled with the ten-CD abridged audio version of Atlas Shrugged. All forms of the audio will include information about The Atlas Society, which is a division of TOC responsible for promoting Rand's fiction (see the December 2000 Navigator), and a postage-paid response card inviting listeners to become involved with TAS.
To order The World of "Atlas Shrugged" from The Objectivism Store, call 1-800-374-1776 or visit The Objectivism Store.