Thanks for your post and wonderful essay. I've just spent me last six hours in the c'mpany of Leopold, Molly and Mr. Daedalus embodied by the likes of Stephen Colbert, Bernadette Quigley, Malachy McCourt and the lot up at Symphony Space.

Much of the night was exquisite: Irish and Finish songbirds with voices like shiny ribbons tied into little girls freshly washed hair, an hour (off and on) devoted to "Jim's" letters to Nora, the last, revelatory moments of "The Dead" performed by a husband and wife to a house that didn't even know they were crying until after they'd begun to applaud and Joyce's so-called favorite passage, "Ithaca," spoken with a clarity and humanity of language by the Irish actors in the group that seemed unremoved from the words as Joyce first wrote them onto the page.

Great. The Nausicaa passage with Gerty and Bloom had to be one of the finest ever performed.

What an astounding legacy.

I second the opinion above.

I arrived at the "Bloomsday" show half expecting to snooze through some of it (long day and not a big fan of "readings") but that first hour especially was something.

Isaiah Sheffer should get some kind of "Key to the City" for putting this on. I much prefer the shorter version (it's too spread out and tiresome when it used to go for half a day).

Yes Bernadette Quigley was awesome (I lived in West Virginia for awhile and had the privilege of seeing her and Eileen Brennan in "Beauty Queen of Leenane" and she was incredible.

Malachy is always fun to see as well.