Theater Review A long night’s journey into Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’

By Joseph Hurley

BLOOMSDAY ON BROADWAY XVII, at Symphony Space, Broadway at 95th Street. On Tuesday, June 16.

“Bloomsday on Broadway,” the annual celebration of the Dublin day made immortal in the pages of James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” honored each year on the stage of Symphony Space on June 16, the anniversary of the date to which the writer pegged the story of Leopold and Molly Bloom, June 16, 1904, can be a restless and unruly beast, with the large and deeply involved audience swinging from rapt attention to herd-like aisle-roaming as a small army of actors struggle to bring the text to life onstage.

In a sense, part of the charm of the event is its randomness and informality, with its watchers plugging in when they feel like it, or going out to the street for a smoke or into the Space’s makeshift “pub” for a bottle of stout or a smoked salmon sandwich while the onstage participants can be heard on the canteen’s loudspeakers.

This past week’s festivity was the 17th Bloomsday observation at the old converted movie house at Broadway and 95th Street, designed and directed every year by Symphony Space’s tireless artistic director, Isaiah Sheffer, with at least a few of the 100 actors and readers having been involved in the project since the very first year.

“Bloomsday on Broadway XVII” was, in a number of ways, a creature of darkness, since it concentrated heavily and intelligently on the notoriously rich and ribald Nighttown sequences of the book’s 15th chapter, sometimes known as Circe. This year’s event, broadcast live in its entirety on WNYC AM 820, with frequent and increasingly emphatic disclaimers as the sexuality of the material heightened and intensified, ranked among the best Bloomsdays within memory, largely because Sheffer and his colleagues avoided the trickiness and awkward “inventiveness” that compromised the appeal and the effectiveness of at least one or two recent runnings of the event.

The Symphony Space Bloomsday was co-anchored this year, as was the case a year ago, by Princeton professor Robert Fagles, author of a recent and acclaimed translation of Homer’s “Odyssey,” the work on which Joyce based his once-controversial masterpiece.

One of the genuine joys of last week’s show was the warm, easy-going co-participation of Sheffer and Fagles, the latter manifesting a glee he couldn’t hide at being confronted by a mostly large audience whose members knew and loved Joyce and Homer or at least were willing to sit a while and learn about them.

“Bloomsday XVII’s” Nighttown passages were broken into five distinct clusters, each presided over by a different actor playing Bloom. Michael Wager began, with a sequence titled “Bloom at the Bordello,” and was followed by “Bloom on Trial,” with Jonathan Hadary as the hero. The third bloom was scheduled to be Frank McCourt, in a unit called “Bloomsdreams,” but the writer turned up late and the first half of his performance was handled by his brother, Malachy.

The fourth Nighttown extract, “Sexual Transformations,” featured David Margulies, an actor born to play Leopold Bloom, which, along with a strong performance by Aideen O’Kelly as Bella Cohen, contributed to making the segment one of the evening’s highlights.

The final Bloom, Paul Hecht, was part of the closing Nighttown sequence, rather awkwardly named “Spiritual Father and Spiritual Son; Bloom Rescues Stephen Dedalus,” with Greg Naughton in the latter role.

This “Bloomsday” concluded, as all “Bloomsdays” must, with a reading of Molly Bloom’s dazzlingly lyrical soliloquy, handled this year, as was the case a year ago, by the Irish Repertory Theatre’s versatile and eloquent Terry Donnelly.

Along the way, what sometimes seemed to be nearly the full complement of New York-based actors trooped across the Symphony Space Stage, had a moment or two under the lights, and then vanished.

Among the better-known actresses taking part were Frances Sternhagen, Lois Smith, Mary Beth Hurt, Rochelle Oliver, KT Sullivan, Claire Bloom, Cynthia Harris, Charlotte Moore, Maria Tucci and Barbara Feldon.

Their male counterparts taking part in “Bloomsday” included Fritz Weaver, Frederick Rolf, Arthur French, James Rebhorn, Keir Dullea, Patrick Bedford, Stephen Lang, Ciaran O’Reilly, Larry Keith, John Leighton and George S. Irving. By Joseph Hurley

BLOOMSDAY ON BROADWAY XVII, at Symphony Space, Broadway at 95th Street. On Tuesday, June 16.

“Bloomsday on Broadway,” the annual celebration of the Dublin day made immortal in the pages of James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” honored each year on the stage of Symphony Space on June 16, the anniversary of the date to which the writer pegged the story of Leopold and Molly Bloom, June 16, 1904, can be a restless and unruly beast, with the large and deeply involved audience swinging from rapt attention to herd-like aisle-roaming as a small army of actors struggle to bring the text to life onstage.

In a sense, part of the charm of the event is its randomness and informality, with its watchers plugging in when they feel like it, or going out to the street for a smoke or into the Space’s makeshift “pub” for a bottle of stout or a smoked salmon sandwich while the onstage participants can be heard on the canteen’s loudspeakers.

This past week’s festivity was the 17th Bloomsday observation at the old converted movie house at Broadway and 95th Street, designed and directed every year by Symphony Space’s tireless artistic director, Isaiah Sheffer, with at least a few of the 100 actors and readers having been involved in the project since the very first year.

“Bloomsday on Broadway XVII” was, in a number of ways, a creature of darkness, since it concentrated heavily and intelligently on the notoriously rich and ribald Nighttown sequences of the book’s 15th chapter, sometimes known as Circe. This year’s event, broadcast live in its entirety on WNYC AM 820, with frequent and increasingly emphatic disclaimers as the sexuality of the material heightened and intensified, ranked among the best Bloomsdays within memory, largely because Sheffer and his colleagues avoided the trickiness and awkward “inventiveness” that compromised the appeal and the effectiveness of at least one or two recent runnings of the event.

The Symphony Space Bloomsday was co-anchored this year, as was the case a year ago, by Princeton professor Robert Fagles, author of a recent and acclaimed translation of Homer’s “Odyssey,” the work on which Joyce based his once-controversial masterpiece.

One of the genuine joys of last week’s show was the warm, easy-going co-participation of Sheffer and Fagles, the latter manifesting a glee he couldn’t hide at being confronted by a mostly large audience whose members knew and loved Joyce and Homer or at least were willing to sit a while and learn about them.

“Bloomsday XVII’s” Nighttown passages were broken into five distinct clusters, each presided over by a different actor playing Bloom. Michael Wager began, with a sequence titled “Bloom at the Bordello,” and was followed by “Bloom on Trial,” with Jonathan Hadary as the hero. The third bloom was scheduled to be Frank McCourt, in a unit called “Bloomsdreams,” but the writer turned up late and the first half of his performance was handled by his brother, Malachy.

The fourth Nighttown extract, “Sexual Transformations,” featured David Margulies, an actor born to play Leopold Bloom, which, along with a strong performance by Aideen O’Kelly as Bella Cohen, contributed to making the segment one of the evening’s highlights.

The final Bloom, Paul Hecht, was part of the closing Nighttown sequence, rather awkwardly named “Spiritual Father and Spiritual Son; Bloom Rescues Stephen Dedalus,” with Greg Naughton in the latter role.

This “Bloomsday” concluded, as all “Bloomsdays” must, with a reading of Molly Bloom’s dazzlingly lyrical soliloquy, handled this year, as was the case a year ago, by the Irish Repertory Theatre’s versatile and eloquent Terry Donnelly.

Along the way, what sometimes seemed to be nearly the full complement of New York-based actors trooped across the Symphony Space Stage, had a moment or two under the lights, and then vanished.

Among the better-known actresses taking part were Frances Sternhagen, Lois Smith, Mary Beth Hurt, Rochelle Oliver, KT Sullivan, Claire Bloom, Cynthia Harris, Charlotte Moore, Maria Tucci and Barbara Feldon.

Their male counterparts taking part in “Bloomsday” included Fritz Weaver, Frederick Rolf, Arthur French, James Rebhorn, Keir Dullea, Patrick Bedford, Stephen Lang, Ciaran O’Reilly, Larry Keith, John Leighton and George S. Irving. By Joseph Hurley

BLOOMSDAY ON BROADWAY XVII, at Symphony Space, Broadway at 95th Street. On Tuesday, June 16.

“Bloomsday on Broadway,” the annual celebration of the Dublin day made immortal in the pages of James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” honored each year on the stage of Symphony Space on June 16, the anniversary of the date to which the writer pegged the story of Leopold and Molly Bloom, June 16, 1904, can be a restless and unruly beast, with the large and deeply involved audience swinging from rapt attention to herd-like aisle-roaming as a small army of actors struggle to bring the text to life onstage.

In a sense, part of the charm of the event is its randomness and informality, with its watchers plugging in when they feel like it, or going out to the street for a smoke or into the Space’s makeshift “pub” for a bottle of stout or a smoked salmon sandwich while the onstage participants can be heard on the canteen’s loudspeakers.

This past week’s festivity was the 17th Bloomsday observation at the old converted movie house at Broadway and 95th Street, designed and directed every year by Symphony Space’s tireless artistic director, Isaiah Sheffer, with at least a few of the 100 actors and readers having been involved in the project since the very first year.

“Bloomsday on Broadway XVII” was, in a number of ways, a creature of darkness, since it concentrated heavily and intelligently on the notoriously rich and ribald Nighttown sequences of the book’s 15th chapter, sometimes known as Circe. This year’s event, broadcast live in its entirety on WNYC AM 820, with frequent and increasingly emphatic disclaimers as the sexuality of the material heightened and intensified, ranked among the best Bloomsdays within memory, largely because Sheffer and his colleagues avoided the trickiness and awkward “inventiveness” that compromised the appeal and the effectiveness of at least one or two recent runnings of the event.

The Symphony Space Bloomsday was co-anchored this year, as was the case a year ago, by Princeton professor Robert Fagles, author of a recent and acclaimed translation of Homer’s “Odyssey,” the work on which Joyce based his once-controversial masterpiece.

One of the genuine joys of last week’s show was the warm, easy-going co-participation of Sheffer and Fagles, the latter manifesting a glee he couldn’t hide at being confronted by a mostly large audience whose members knew and loved Joyce and Homer or at least were willing to sit a while and learn about them.

“Bloomsday XVII’s” Nighttown passages were broken into five distinct clusters, each presided over by a different actor playing Bloom. Michael Wager began, with a sequence titled “Bloom at the Bordello,” and was followed by “Bloom on Trial,” with Jonathan Hadary as the hero. The third bloom was scheduled to be Frank McCourt, in a unit called “Bloomsdreams,” but the writer turned up late and the first half of his performance was handled by his brother, Malachy.

The fourth Nighttown extract, “Sexual Transformations,” featured David Margulies, an actor born to play Leopold Bloom, which, along with a strong performance by Aideen O’Kelly as Bella Cohen, contributed to making the segment one of the evening’s highlights.

The final Bloom, Paul Hecht, was part of the closing Nighttown sequence, rather awkwardly named “Spiritual Father and Spiritual Son; Bloom Rescues Stephen Dedalus,” with Greg Naughton in the latter role.

This “Bloomsday” concluded, as all “Bloomsdays” must, with a reading of Molly Bloom’s dazzlingly lyrical soliloquy, handled this year, as was the case a year ago, by the Irish Repertory Theatre’s versatile and eloquent Terry Donnelly.

Along the way, what sometimes seemed to be nearly the full complement of New York-based actors trooped across the Symphony Space Stage, had a moment or two under the lights, and then vanished.

Among the better-known actresses taking part were Frances Sternhagen, Lois Smith, Mary Beth Hurt, Rochelle Oliver, KT Sullivan, Claire Bloom, Cynthia Harris, Charlotte Moore, Maria Tucci and Barbara Feldon.

Their male counterparts taking part in “Bloomsday” included Fritz Weaver, Frederick Rolf, Arthur French, James Rebhorn, Keir Dullea, Patrick Bedford, Stephen Lang, Ciaran O’Reilly, Larry Keith, John Leighton and George S. Irving.

From the start, at 7 p.m., until about 10, Symphony Space was filled, almost to capacity, with what must almost certainly be one of the biggest audiences ever drawn by a “Bloomsday on Broadway” production. Even the theater’s seldom-used balconies were full for much of the evening.

But there were moments during the “Spiritual Father” sequence, the final Nighttown segment, when the 20-odd actors on stage seemed almost to outnumber the audience members salted through the vast auditorium. Dressed in a long white gown, her red hair spilling over her shoulders, actress Donnelly began Molly’s monologue shortly after midnight, when Bloomsday had officially been over for a moment or so.

When the Dublin-born, dulcet-voiced Donnelly uttered Molly’s famous and final “yes,” the time was just a little past 12:30 a.m. and the stragglers who’d made it through the long evening slipped away, congratulating one another on their dedication, not to mention their endurance.

One of the nicer touches attendant to “Bloomsday on Broadway XVII” was observing the number of actors and actresses who stayed on in the darkened house, long after their own chores were completed, to watch as their friends and colleagues performed. Another fine point came in realizing that this year, as always, a number of individuals had brought their own copies of “Ulysses” along and were silently following the text in whatever light they could find.

From the start, at 7 p.m., until about 10, Symphony Space was filled, almost to capacity, with what must almost certainly be one of the biggest audiences ever drawn by a “Bloomsday on Broadway” production. Even the theater’s seldom-used balconies were full for much of the evening.

But there were moments during the “Spiritual Father” sequence, the final Nighttown segment, when the 20-odd actors on stage seemed almost to outnumber the audience members salted through the vast auditorium. Dressed in a long white gown, her red hair spilling over her shoulders, actress Donnelly began Molly’s monologue shortly after midnight, when Bloomsday had officially been over for a moment or so.

When the Dublin-born, dulcet-voiced Donnelly uttered Molly’s famous and final “yes,” the time was just a little past 12:30 a.m. and the stragglers who’d made it through the long evening slipped away, congratulating one another on their dedication, not to mention their endurance.

One of the nicer touches attendant to “Bloomsday on Broadway XVII” was observing the number of actors and actresses who stayed on in the darkened house, long after their own chores were completed, to watch as their friends and colleagues performed. Another fine point came in realizing that this year, as always, a number of individuals had brought their own copies of “Ulysses” along and were silently following the text in whatever light they could find.

From the start, at 7 p.m., until about 10, Symphony Space was filled, almost to capacity, with what must almost certainly be one of the biggest audiences ever drawn by a “Bloomsday on Broadway” production. Even the theater’s seldom-used balconies were full for much of the evening.

But there were moments during the “Spiritual Father” sequence, the final Nighttown segment, when the 20-odd actors on stage seemed almost to outnumber the audience members salted through the vast auditorium. Dressed in a long white gown, her red hair spilling over her shoulders, actress Donnelly began Molly’s monologue shortly after midnight, when Bloomsday had officially been over for a moment or so.

When the Dublin-born, dulcet-voiced Donnelly uttered Molly’s famous and final “yes,” the time was just a little past 12:30 a.m. and the stragglers who’d made it through the long evening slipped away, congratulating one another on their dedication, not to mention their endurance.

One of the nicer touches attendant to “Bloomsday on Broadway XVII” was observing the number of actors and actresses who stayed on in the darkened house, long after their own chores were completed, to watch as their friends and colleagues performed. Another fine point came in realizing that this year, as always, a number of individuals had brought their own copies of “Ulysses” along and were silently following the text in whatever light they could find.