Who
knew that the famous Irish writer James Joyce was such a jerk! Extremely self
involved, he refused to marry the love of his life, Nora, for 27 years. He
dragged her from her beloved Ireland to exile in Italy, he drank a lot and
didn’t bring much money home. Yet Nora Barnacle followed him and stood by him until
his very end. Their lives inspired Jonathan Brielle, the author of the book,
music and lyrics of the musical Himself
and Nora, a love story full of laughter and drama, devotion and eroticism.
Photo by Matthew Murphy
Himself and Nora was first staged in
2005 at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, had readings and productions both
regionally and abroad and now landed in off-Broadway Minetta Lane Theatre. This
chamber two-act musical paints the double portrait of the revolutionary writer
James Joyce and his muse, Nora, starring Matt Bogart and Whitney Bashor. Jonathan
Brielle uses a lot of passionate and sexually charged shades of their
relationship in his storytelling palette. Director Michael Bush makes sure to
bring them to the stage provocatively yet tastefully.
It
might throw you off a little during the duet “Kiss”, when Bogart and Bashor are
trying to kiss and sing at the same time, breathing heavily in each other’s
microphones. But by the “Let’s have a drink” and “What Better Thing”
immediately following each other towards the end of the first act, you start
getting a taste for it. The juicy and hilarious letters the lovers write to
each other while Joyce is visiting Dublin became my favorite moment of the show
and is probably one of the most entertaining “letter reading” scenes I’ve seen.
The spicy love letters are interwoven into the scene of Joyce drinking in the
pub with three other fellows comically moaning when he is reading and ready to carouse as soon as he is done.
Besides
the writer himself and Nora, the cast of five also features Zachary Prince,
Michael Mccormick and Lianne Marie Dobbs, each playing multiple characters. Together
they create an effect of quite a sizable troupe in dance numbers choreographed
by Kelli Barclay, a remarkable effect considering the small cast and the
spacious theater. Each of them also gets highlighted in roles of family members
and other people that influenced the couple’s life.
Michael
Mccormick and Lianne Marie Dobbs were especially memorable in the campy “Pound
and Weaver” portraying poet Ezra Pound and publicist Harriet Weaver. Zachary
Prince spends most of the stage time in the costume of a catholic priest,
following Joyce like a shadow even in the moments of writer’s intimacy with
Nora. He is a comedic character; quite a few salty jokes come from him and, at
the same time, his constant presence is rather tragic, demonstrating Joyce’s
troubled relationship with the church. The Priest poses as Joyce’s conscience,
religious super-ego and a little devil instigator at the same time.
Infused
with Celtic tunes and stylized Irish dancing, Himself and Nora creates an atmosphere of an imagined Ireland,
which Joyce’s motherland was for him. The writer spent most of his life abroad
but most of his fiction, including his most famous novel Ulysses, takes place
in Dublin. The impressionistic lighting design by Jason Lyons paints the
monumental canvas of the backdrop and wings with strokes of blue and purple changing
it to the patriotic green, white and orange. The minimalistic scenic design by
Paul Tate Depoo III, features the necessities in a writer’s life: a table at
which one can write, drink and lay dead in a coffin and a window for the soul
to fly away.
Himself and Nora will play at Minetta
Lane Theatre (18 Minetta Lane). Performances are Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday at
2pm and 8pm, Thursdays at 8pm, Fridays at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm and
Sundays at 3pm. Tickets are $89 and can be purchased by visiting
himselfandnoramusical.com, www.ticketmaster.com
or calling (800) 745-3000.
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