Anthony Burgess and James Joyce: Blooms of Dublin

The International Anthony Burgess Foundation Podcast

It’s June 2022 and we’re celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses with a series of podcasts exploring Anthony Burgess’s love of the novel.

In this episode, the Burgess Foundation's Will Carr tells the story of Blooms of Dublin, Burgess's musical adaptation of Ulysses which was first performed in Dublin in 1982 to mark the centenary of Joyce's birth. The episode contains recordings of Burgess talking about how he adapted such a complex novel into a stage musical, an interview with Frank Grimes, who played Stephen Dedalus in the production, and new recordings of several of the songs from Blooms of Dublin.

The songs performed in this episode are:

'Today' – a song that celebrates Bloomsday, 16 June 1904, the day on which the novel takes place. This takes place on a Dublin street. Leopold Bloom, a baritone, sings a relaxed ballad in which he anticipates meeting someone new on this otherwise ordinary day. Owen Gilhooly sings the part of Bloom.

'Four O'Clock Tea' – Leopold Bloom’s wife is Molly Bloom, a professional soprano singer. While Bloom is out in the street, she is waking up in bed, and her song ‘Four O’Clock Tea’ anticipates meeting her lover that afternoon, Blazes Boylan. Bloom surprises her halfway through with her breakfast on a tray, and is furious to learn that Boylan will be visiting. Rachel Croash sings the part of Molly.

'Paris is a Lamp Lit for Lovers' – Stephen Dedalus, who is visiting a brothel with Bloom, describes his adventures in Paris, and the music moves from a gentle ballad to a lively cancan, and back again. The part of Stephen is sung by Philip O’Connor.

'Final Scene' – an extract from the 17-minute finale of Blooms of Dublin, sung by Molly Bloom as she reprises many of the numbers of the play and mixes them with new material in a musical recreation of Joyce's famous virtuoso monologue that ends the novel. Once again, Rachel Croash takes the part of Molly.

The piano on all of these songs is played by David Jones. The musical director is Richard Strivens and the sound engineer is Sam Gee.

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