Helen Epstein

Book Review: “Behind the Beautiful Forevers”

February 26, 2012
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The people of Annawadi live in conditions so bleak that “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” evoked, for one Indian reviewer, Primo Levi’s depiction of life in concentration camps.

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Theater Review: An Underwhelming Staging of “Wit”

February 12, 2012
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Although I was disappointed in this Manhattan Theatre Club production, I am, however, very glad to have seen “Wit” — it is a contemporary classic.

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Opera Review: A New Virtual Opera House in Town

December 11, 2011
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This is shorter, no-frills Opera as Cinema than the Met HD supplies: without long intermissions, star interviews and audience preludes and postludes from Lincoln Center, it’s almost an hour shorter.

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Movie Review: Daytime in Paris — A Far Better Movie

September 7, 2011
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The Hedghog’s steady, slow pacing—so rare in any film today—captures the rhythms of haut bourgeois life in Paris and draws out the nuances of how people change and are changed by relationships everywhere. The Hedgehog (Le herisson). Directed by Mona Achache. At the Kendall Square Cinema, West Newton Cinema, and other screens throughout New England.…

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Theater Review: “Ten Cents a Dance” not Worth a Plugged Nickel

August 20, 2011
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Trapped in a cluttered set meant to evoke an abandoned nightclub (with old, upside-down flowerpots? why?), the cast of TEN CENTS A DANCE do little but wander about singing strangely uninspired arrangements of some of America’s best-known songs.

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Book Review: “Deliver Us” — A Memoir of a Boy’s Life in a Small Italian Town

August 9, 2011
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Originally published in 1963, and today considered by some critics a landmark in twentieth century Italian literature, in English Luigi Meneghello’s memoir feels more like a duty than a delight to read.

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Theater Review: A “Turn” by a Prodigiously Gifted Actress

August 5, 2011
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A fascinating adaptation, well worth the trip to out-of-the-way Chester, MA, TURN OF THE SCREW is never less than interesting and often all-absorbing — especially when actress Allison McLemore lets loose.

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Film Review: A Game Well Worth Playing

July 11, 2011
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QUEEN TO PLAY is an offbeat feminist fable, set in a gorgeous but dirt-poor and provincial part of Corsica.

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Theater Review: Jane Austen Tweets In Chester, MA

July 11, 2011
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The Chester Theatre Company’s production, directed by Ron Bashford, runs over two hours with nary a dull moment and the actors seem to be having as wonderful a time as the audience.

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Fuse Theater Review: Shakespeare in Paris

July 3, 2011
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The production is set in France of the 1920s and artfully combines evocations of both Paris and the Forest of Arden: The city of lights is represented by miniature versions of famous landmarks: the Arc de Triomphe; Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower — that twinkle at night and serve as props as well as set.

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