The Dead, 1904

“Is your soul swooning? Is your stomach rumbling? The Irish Repertory Theater’s dinner theater adaptation of James Joyce’s novella, which The Times called “an unusually sparkling affair,” returns for another holiday season. The American Irish Historical Society, a stunning Upper East Side townhouse, once again plays host.”

“This beautiful adaptation of the James Joyce story has become a new tradition at Christmastime in New York. For the third year, the play by the very talented Jean Hanff Korelitz and Paul Muldoon, fills the American Irish Historical Society mansion on upper Fifth Avenue. This is immersive theater at its best, with the fifty or so audience members invited to the holiday gathering of the elderly Morkan sisters from Joyce’s story. The adaptation doesn’t lose anything of the original—but it adds a lot more. You drink sherry and Irish whiskey and listen to the intriguing and multi-layered conversations that the cast members have as they move through the party. There is also singing and dancing—and then everyone is invited into dinner. You sit down to an excellent feast while the actors eat, too, and continue the story. After dinner, the married couple Gabriel and Gretta Conroy go upstairs to bed, and we follow them, peeking in on their private conversation. It is a powerful and lyrical scene. Melissa Gilbert, famous as a child actress from Little House on the Prairie and more recently Dancing With the Stars, is all grown up here, but she begins to cry as she remembers a boy from her youth who died out of love for her. When she finally falls asleep, Gabriel (a terrific Rufus Collins) muses on life and love and how ephemeral both can be. I’ve seen this production a few times now, and the scene stirs me every time. It’s also a reminder that there are some things television can’t do—like let you sip the sherry at the party or stand right next to a lovely actress as she remembers the great romance of her life. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the holidays.”