Darling, do not be offended; A Filthy Anti-Opera

On the evening of June 16th, 1904 , James Joyce went out for a walk with his future wife Nora Barnacle, their first date, and changed the course of his life, literature , law and culture. The date of their first outing was later memorialized in Joyce's Ulysses, the peripatetic novel that tracks Leopold Bloom through the maze of Dublin streets and the corridors of his brainpan.  Since the 1950s, Dublin and cities worldwide have celebrated Ulysses annually on June 16th with public readings of the novel on a literary holiday known as Bloomsday.

As part of the 2019 New Orleans' observance of Bloomsday, we will present the world premiere of Jonathan Freilich's new operetta,  we are calling it an anti-opera,  "Darling, Do Not be Offended (At What I Wrote)".  The libretto is based on salacious (filthy!!) letters Joyce wrote to Nora, which reference their first walk together. Though Ulysses is rightfully installed in the canon of 20th century literature, that canonization has obscured the personal and profane foundation of the novel; Jonathan's new work  not only celebrates that foundation, but  continues the experimental, revolutionary aesthetic and spirit of Joyce's writing. The music will be performed by local musicians of the highest caliber and will feature projections by award winning multi-media artist David Gamble

We will be presenting the operetta at the newly renovated Hotel Peter Paul in the Marigny , which is providing the space at no cost to our production, and  charging only 8.00 per ticket; But we want to guarantee that Jonathan , David, the musicians and crew will be reimbursed properly for their work. We are asking for a total of $6,500.00 USD to ensure our budget for the 4 performances on June 14th and 16th. This money will be used primarily to pay the performers and crew, but  approximately $300.00 will be used for promotional supplies and costs.

CVs of performers, links to articles about Joyce , info about other Bloomsday events  and special incentives for contributors will be added to this page, so please keep checking back for updates. We hope that our operetta will enliven the festivities of this year's Bloomsday and inform audiences of the profane and personal roots of one of the most groundbreaking works of the 20th century.