Helen Epstein
Like many devotees of Shakespeare & Company, I’ve long been an admirer of Tod Randolph, who over the last thirteen years in the Berkshires has given indelible and exceptionally intelligent performances of such Shakespearean roles as Desdemona and Portia. Miriam Hyman (Donna) and John Douglas Thompson (Dad) in “The Dreamer Examines his Pillow” at Shakespeare…
Read MoreVisiting the Frelinghuysen Morris House in Lenox got me thinking about modernist architecture in the eastern part of Massachusetts where Walter Gropius landed as part of the great exodus of “degenerate” artists, scientists, writers and other intellectuals who fled to America from Nazi Germany in the years before the second world war. by Helen Epstein…
Read MoreA most rewarding rainy day activity this rainy summer is a visit to one of the artists’ homes in the Berkshires, many of which are now part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. By Helen Epstein Exterior of the Frelinghuysen-Morris House & Studio, circa 1940. Edith Wharton’s The Mount, Daniel Chester French’s Chesterwood, and…
Read MoreIf you’re looking for a magical evening of summer theater, get out your map and drive to the Pioneer Valley village of Chester (pop 1100) where the Chester Theater is now celebrating its 20th season. Actors Charles Stransky, Terry Alexander, and Warren Jackson work out a deal in “Railroad Bill.” (Photo Credit: Rick Teller) Railroad…
Read MoreAlmost every visit to the WCMA has piqued my interest so strongly that I’ve often gone straight to the internet or library to read more about what I’ve seen. Edward Steichen’s 1914 photograph “Heavy Roses” by Helen Epstein The Williams College Museum of Art, set back from Williamstown’s main drag and almost indistinguishable from other…
Read MoreAnother extraordinary evening at Tanglewood. No bones to pick. Just appreciation and delight. At Tanglewood: James Levine conducts BSO and Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, Conductor; Hei-Kyung Hong, Soprano; Matthias Goerne, Baritone. (Photo Credit: Hilary Scott) by Helen Epstein It’s time that some cultural reporter with a budget explored what makes the Tanglewood Festival Chorus…
Read MoreBy Helen Epstein The extraordinary Eleanor Norcross: educator, collector, painter and daughter of Fitchburg’s first mayor. Have you ever been to Fitchburg? It’s off the beaten path and although I’d heard of its state college, and seen the signs — about five miles north of Route 2 — I’d never ventured into the once-properous, now…
Read More“Wherefore and hence? Therefore and ergo!” Did ever an American musical have more intellectual credentials than “Candide”? Candide. Music by Leonard Bernstein. Book adapted from Voltaire by Hugh Wheeler. Lyrics by Richard Wilbur. Other lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and John LaTouche. Directed by Ralph Petillo with the Unicorn Company at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, through…
Read MoreA true embarrassment of riches in the Berkshires this summer, with almost every cultural institution in the county scheduling round-the-clock events and package deals designed to attract even the least culturally interested among us. By Helen Epstein James Levine conducts pianist Leon Fleischer and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood (Photo Credit: Hilary Scott) Last…
Read MoreBy Helen Epstein, World Books Contributor Although September 1, 1939 — the day Hitler invaded Poland — is regarded as the beginning of the Second World War, Czechs remember March 15, 1939 as the day it began for them. Seventy years ago the German armed forces occupied what is now the Czech Republic and declared…
Read More
Recent Comments