Ok folks.. update to the CVS and recompile.  There are a TON of bug-fixes so far, and you're likely to find many fixes (except the sdl_mixer 1.2.4 thing).

I'm not sure about the statically linked version, but as for the general can't-hear-speech fix, you can't use the stable 1.2.4 SDL_mixer, you have to download/compile the lastest CVS for SDL_mixer and make sure it compiles with Ogg Vorbis support.  It will enable the use of .ogg files, which is what the speech is in (Huzaah!  No mp3!).  As for the hangups, someone on another post mentioned they were due to deadlocks.. gonna go sniff around a bit more to see if I can nail where those are occurring.

BTW, EXCELLENT work all!  You are to be highly commended!