Gabriel Byrne Walking With Ghosts--Lovingly Personal Memoir

      By Joseph Cervelli

The very fine stage and film actor, Gabriel Byrne, is transfixing in his beautifully crafted and deeply personal one person show "Gabriel Byrne Walking With Ghosts" at the Music Box Theater. The Music Box is a perfect venue for a solo show--intimate enough to be enveloped into the world of the performer. 

He may be the only person on stage yet there are enough characters in his life he so tenderly and expertly conjures.  You easily envision the cast of so many which made an indelible (for better or worse) effect on his life. 

When he states he feels like "an intruder into the past" you never feel he is at all. He brings forward those he calls ghosts whom he shares with the audience. 

He starts right at the beginning discussing his parents and his early childhood in Ireland. While this might sound like you have heard stories about dealing with harsh conditions before, he has a frolicsome quality so even the difficult times become illuminating in their own way. 

He speaks of one particularly vicious teacher at the Christian Brothers school in which he being a poor math student was lashed on his hand repeatedly with a cane used for beating. Bryne vividly recreates the swishing sound. While the show utilizes sound effects this is one he wanted to relive and have the audience feel the horror of what was inflicted on him by this teacher who did not belong in a classroom.

Yet, after some troubling details along with one described and another with a classmate drowning, suddenly you hear carousel music and hanging lightbulbs suddenly appear for he is at a carnival. Like any youngster the bleak moments of a childhood can suddenly be forgotten even for a short when they find some joy and in this case by discovering the sights and sounds of a carnival. Life becomes easier. 

He was very close to his grandmother who brings him to his first movie. He recreates that scene so vividly.  Suddenly the lights  (expert lighting and effective scenic design by Sinead McKenna) dim as the MGM lion roars and he crumples up in fear. 

The show has such a universal appeal. We can all vividly remember being taken to something that thrilled us not forgetting both what it was and who took us to see it. 

Gabriel decides to join the seminary where he tells a horrific tale about being seduced by a priest.  How he handled this years later shows what a kind and compassionate man he is. Not many would have been so thoughtful. 

After leaving the seminary he becomes a dishwasher and toilet attendant before joining an amateur theater group. 

Bryne has a unique ability to go from seriousness and tragedy (his heartbreaking tale of his beloved sister is a prime example) to being frolicsome. The solemnity we have come to know in so many Irish  novels and plays is met here with the humor that he needs to get through the difficult times. He has a delightfully puckish quality that frequently appears. 

He tells a hilarious story about trying to give great depth to one line he has to say "This Way Please" in a television play. He is so thrilled given this opportunity he treats it like he was quoting a famous line from Shakespeare. Of course, it does not go over well with the director. 

The only actor (other than an aside to Al Pacino) that is mentioned is Richard Burton who was his idol. They spent a good amount of the time when not filming drinking. Byrne realized that he loved the alcohol until he correctly realizes it "betrayed" him. Sadly, the extraordinarily fine actor Burton did not and passed away at the untimely age of 58. Burton's take on fame which I read in his diaries years ago still makes quite an impact especially the way Byrne tells it. 

With Lonny Price's compassionate direction and the simply astonishing Byrne we travel with him on his emotional journey and feel honored to do so.

PHOTOS: EMILIO MADRID

Tickets are at The Music Box Theater 239 West 45th Street.