Bloomsday on Broadway XXIX

A glittery cast of over 50 actors gather for Symphony Space’s 29th annual celebration of life, language, literature, and lust, in readings from James Joyce’s classic novel Ulysses. This marathon event focuses on the parallels between Joyce’s Ulysses and Homer’s Odyssey, on which it is modeled. The Odyssey selections are read in the superb English version of the late Robert Fagles.

Performance playlist:

I. Opening

The Odyssey: Book One
“Sing to me of the man, muse…”
Isaiah Sheffer

“But my heart breaks for Odysseus…”
Athena: Barbara Rosenblat
Zeus: Paul Hecht

Ulysses: Calypso
“Mr. Leopold Bloom ate with relish…”
Bloom: Paul Hecht
Pussycat: Julia Pierpont
Molly: KT Sullivan

“Two letters and a card…”
Narrator: James Braly
Bloom: Jonathan Hadary
Molly: KT Sullivan
Milly: Clodagh Bowyer

II. Hades

Odyssey: Book Eleven, The Kingdom of the Dead
“Now down we came to the ships…”
Odysseus: Andrew Seear

“My comrade groaned…”
Elpenor: David Margulies,
Odysseus: Andrew Seear,
Tiresias: Barbara Feldon

Ulysses: Hades
“Her grave is over there, Jack…”
Narrator: Mary Brienza

Bloom: Kit Lukas, Peter Quinn, Neil Hickey, Isaiah Sheffer, Malachy McCourt, Ciaran O’Reilly, Aidan Connolly

III. Nausicaa

Odyssey: Book Six, The Princess and the Stranger
“Dawn soon rose…”
               Narrator:
               Rebecca Donner
               Nausicaa:
               Bernadette Quigley
               Alcinous:
               Damian Woetzel
               Odysseus:
               Adam Harvey

Ulysses: Nausicaa
“The summer sun had begun…”
               Eilin O’Dea

IV. Circe

Odyssey: Book Ten, The Bewitching Queen of Aeaea
“Leaving the ship and shore…”
                Odysseus:
                Stephen Lang
                Hermes:
                Jefferson Mays
                Circe: Lillo Way
George Stack, Aidan Connolly

Ulysses: Circe
“Bloom I stand for the reform…”
              Bloom: John Shea
              Stage Directions:
              Dana Ivey
Terry Moran, Isaiah Sheffer, George Stack, Aidan Connolly, Lisa Flanagan, Frances Scanlon, Marian Seldes, Rebecca Donner, Tony Roberts, Phyllis Roome, Ciaran O’Reilly, Sarah Montague

V. Cyclops

Odyssey: Book Nine, In the
One-Eyed Giant’s Cave
Odysseus: Stephen Colbert
Cyclops: Stephen Lang

Ulysses: Cyclops
“In Innisfail there lies a land…”
            Colum McCann

“The figure seated…”
            Stephen Colbert

“And then he starts…”
            Alphie McCourt

“Let me, said he…”
            Ira Glass

“The fashionable world…”
            Charlotte Moore

“Take that in you right hand…”
            Niall Burgess

“Will you try another…”
            Narrator: Neil Hickey
            Bloom: David Margulies, Khris Lewin, Malachy McCourt, Thane Rosenbaum, Peter Quinn, Ivy Austin

“But begob…”
Neil Hickey, Malachy McCourt, Eilin O’Dea, David Margulies, Ciaran O’Reilly, Khris Lewin

“Gob, the devil won’t stop him.”
Neil Hickey, Malachy McCourt, Khris Lewin, Isaiah Sheffer

VI. Homecoming: Ithaca

Odyssey: Book Twenty-Three,
The Great Rooted Bed
“With that thought…”
              Narrator: Isaiah Sheffer
              Penelope: Lois Smith
              Telemachus:
              Damian Woetzel
              Odysseus:
              David Margulies

Ulysses: Ithaca
“Bloom acts?”
            Questions: Rebecca Donner
            Answers: George S. Irving

“Equanimity?”
            Questions: Frances Scanlon
            Answers: Lillo Way

“In what final satisfaction…”
            Questions: Lisa Flanagan
            Answers: Isaiah Sheffer

VII. Ulysses: Penelope

The complete episode
               Molly: Fionnula Flanagan