Review of 'The Dead'

The Dead is a magnificently written play based on the short story by James Joyce, who's unique view of the world was the basis for his brilliant piece. The blocking and the staging was clearly meticulously thought out and it was well done in a theater in the round format. The cast was brilliantly thought out with John Jiang displaying a masterful and disciplined performance as the lead role. The experience and mastery that he brought to the table was unparalleled by anything I've ever seen from him, his monologues were all flawless and there was not a wasted word in any of his lines. All of his words made an emotional connection with the audience and his emphasis on certain words was perfect. The show was definitely one I will remember, the script was absolutely breathtaking and sounded like shear poetry from the dialogues between actors to the monologues to the actors coming together to say 'wake the dead'. It was just gorgeously written and the music, the added Irish folk tunes were very pleasant as well and all of the actors were very poised to sing them including first time CA theater member Theodorus Patrick. I was incredibly impressed by his poise on stage and how he was able to sing so well and I am incredibly happy to see a new face to the CA stage. I was incredibly impressed with how real some of the hiccups seemed, there was a hiccup from Abby on stage that looked so real it actually gave me shivers in the audience. I didn't find out until after the show that it was scripted and I was just so impressed because it just made the show so much more real because in real life there is no way all of those people would have known all of those songs by heart especially with all of the alcohol in their system so I was just so impressed by the way they incorporated that. Overall, the show was a complete success, everything was done flawlessly by the actors, the blocking was perfect, the setup was perfect and the musical numbers were breathtaking obviously followed by a beautifully poetic script by the man himself, James Joyce. I definitely would respect this production for anyone who has respect for great theater and literature because this definitely combines the two in stunning fashion and I couldn't be more happy with what I saw from my peers.