SPEAKING WELL OF 'THE DEAD' CAST, CREW OF BROADWAY MUSICAL DELIGHT IN ITS QUIET, INTIMATE, THOUGHTFUL TONE.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

Its creators call ``James Joyce's The Dead'' a play with music. They might just as easily have dubbed it the ``Un-Musical.''

The title should have been the first clue that ``The Dead,'' despite its Broadway success and critical acclaim, isn't one of those rock-your- foundation events. Where mega-musicals like ``The Lion King'' and ``Phantom of the Opera'' are known for their size, costumes and special effects, ``The Dead'' is positively intimate: small cast, manageable sets, no stage-swamping production numbers.

``I've never seen a show function like this one,'' says Richard Nelson, ``The Dead's'' adapter, co-lyricist and director of the production, which opens tonight at the Ahmanson Theatre. ``I'm primarily a playwright, so for me it's the person who is the be-all and end-all. Everything, even the dances, we knew would have to come out of the character situation.''

Ditto Shaun Davey's music, which isn't likely to leave anybody with ringing ears or leap off the Top-50 bins at Tower Records. At one point audiences will see characters converse over the sound of an on-stage violinist and a cellist.

``It is so un-Broadway,'' agrees Stephen Bogardus, who plays Gabriel Conroy, the play's narrator and central figure. ``And it really demands a lot from its audiences because the sound is a very acoustical sound. It's not blown out of the speakers as people are used to both in movie theaters and in Broadway shows.''

That last remark draws an enthusiastic amen from Bogardus' co-star, Faith Prince, who, despite her past participation in several such big musicals, seems to be enjoying ``The Dead's'' quieter ambience.

``I really noticed it last night,'' says Prince, who plays Gabriel's wife, Gretta. ``I went to see 'The Perfect Storm,' and I was saying, `Oh my God, can they just, like, turn this down?' It was just too much.''

Yeah, you might say that a couple of hours spent watching a fishing boat on the gale-tossed Atlantic is a far cry from spending Christmas Eve in the Dublin living room of two spinster aunts, circa 1904. And why wouldn't it be? The play's source material, after all, sprang from the pen of James Joyce, the Irish author known for cramming pages of minutia-like details into a single day or event. ``The Dead'' was first a 50-page short story, the last in the ``Dubliners'' collection. It later became the basis for director John Huston's final film in 1987.

In the story - which is largely unchanged from the the film and novella - Gabriel and Gretta are among those in attendance at a Christmas party hosted by Gabriel's aunts Kate and Julia Morkham - a gathering that includes tipsy guests, poignant toasts, a hint of Irish nationalism and, yes, plenty of music. Characters sing and dance for each other - if not necessarily for the audience. The play reaches its climax later in an expensive hotel where an occurrence from the party causes Gretta to reveal an incident from her past that her husband had not known about. That realization causes a bit of psychological angst in Gabriel.

``These are people who have been together probably 10 to 15 years,'' says Bogardus. ``These people probably think they know each other like the back of their hand. Then for this kind of secret to come out ...''

``I think it's something she just put away,'' adds Prince. ``It was tragic for her and, for whatever reason - not to keep it from him - she just put it away, which I can totally relate to.''

To Nelson, little revelations are part of human interaction, and the relationship we're observing isn't on the brink of collapse. ``The Dead,'' Nelson reminds us, was a story first told by a 26-year-old man intent on exploring the exuberance and confusion of life.

``I think the story we have is one about a long marriage,'' says Nelson. ``It's rare to find in world literature a significant work that's the story of a marriage that's been going on for a long time and one that doesn't involve some melodramatic infidelity.''

Rarer still is a small-scale musical from literary material that manages to earn both critical plaudits and a steady audience. Adapted and directed by award-winning playwright Nelson (``Two Shakespearean Actors'', ``Goodnight Children Everywhere'') with music by Davey, ``The Dead'' sold out its limited run ofroadway at Playwrights Horizon before moving to Broadway's Belasco Theatre in January. The New York Times' Ben Brantley called it ``one of the season's most astonishing and laudable accomplishments.''

Bogardus and Prince both performed in the New York production, their paths overlapping for two weeks toward the end of the run. They replaced Christopher Walken and Blair Brown, the production's original Gabriel and Gretta.

Bogardus had gotten a peek at an early version of the script, back when he was under consideration for the role of Freddy Malins, a part that eventually fell to Stephen Spinella. In the spring, the producers again contacted Bogardus in Los Angeles. Walken was going to be taking a three-week break, and they needed a replacement for Gabriel on very short notice. The actor, who admits he ``couldn't make sense'' of the version he had read a few months ago, paused before signing on.

``When I was talking on the phone with Richard (Nelson), I told him I was a little nervous about coming into a show that quickly,'' said Bogardus. ``He said that, unlike other directors who leave a show once it opens, he would be there for me - as he was for Faith - for all the rehearsals. Based on that, I said I'd do it.''

Things didn't go entirely according to plan. The production closed after two weeks, leaving Bogardus with a major case of !italprojectus interruptus.

``I had just worked harder than at any time in my professional career to learn this material and get into the show, and I realized it wouldn't be until the last couple of shows that I would start feeling really comfortable,'' he said. ``Then, when it ended after only two weeks, it was sort of like unfinished business.

``To come back here, and get eight weeks at the Ahmanson, I feel like, `Ah, I'm going to be able to complete this journey.' ''

That his co-star is once again Faith Prince, with whom he had previously worked in William Finn's ``Falsettoland,'' makes the journey even more comforting. Both actors say the opportunity to start anew gives them the chance to make the characters their own rather than trying to duplicate the work of their predecessors.

``When you replace, you tend to do what was,'' says Prince, ``but here we've gotten to examine it and come up with our take on it, through Richard's eyes. It's been great fun to rework it and make it our own.''

The facts

--What: ``James Joyce's The Dead.''

--Where: Ahmanson Theatre at the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown.

--When: Performances 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, 7:30 p.m. selected Sundays; through Sept. 3.

--Tickets: $25 to $70. Call [phone].

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Stephen Bogardus

in "The Dead"

(2) Broadway actress Faith Prince stars as Gretta Conroy in ``James Joyce's The Dead,'' opening tonight at the Ahmanson.

(3) Stephen Bogardus, starring as Gabriel Conroy in a scene with Alice Ripley as Miss Molly, calls the gentle, deliberate musical ``so un-Broadway.''

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer