SHEINDELE

Kaitlin Hopkins--the daughter of Shirley Knight--plays the title role in this tragic story of a barren woman whose marriage gets caught in the cross-fire between two warring Hasidic families in Jerusalem. Lainie Kazan is powerful and threatening in the role of Sheindele's domineering mother, Faiga. Theodore Bikel gives an understated but compelling portrayal of the Rebbe who uses an obscure legal dictum to force a divorce on Sheindele and her husband in order to break up the mother's monopoly over the community. The script and delivery are as witty as they are biting in this tale, which takes the listener into a world rarely glimpsed by outsiders. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 00]