How It's New York:Luka Bloom used to live in NY and play at The Red Lion. How It's Irish: Luka is Irish, and often writes about Irish subjects. Here's the latest video off of Luke Bloom's transcendant CD This New Morning. On Luka's website, lukabloom.com, he writes:
‘You Survive’‘You Survive’
‘You Survive’ is a story of survival in the face of a possible ending of one’s life. It came to me from a friend in West Cork, who bravely shared with me her story. She also suggested I needed to write a song, as there is such an epidemic of people ending their lives in Ireland these days. Having heard her story, I decided to write a song about survival and love. A song about reaching out; hanging in.Not an easy song to write, or to get right. I loved recording it with Brian Masterson; love the strings and Frankie Lane’s sublime pedal steel playing. Mia Mullarkey had filmed a nice video for Dignity and Backbone last summer. I invited her to do a film for another song. She chose You Survive. I was surprised and delighted. I asked her to do what she felt, and left her at it. My only condition was that I not be in it. Just singing the song in the background. Mia is a great artist with a great heart. I love the way she films. In this little film, she has felt all the lonesomeness of the song, as well as the love and determination. And brought this to the screen with the grace and goodness in her nature. I never ‘plug’ my songs in any big way. I just let them off and whatever happens happens. But I really hope people see and hear this. And if it shines a little light in one person’s darkness then it’s job is done.
How It's New York: Frank and Malachy McCourt conceived the piece A Couple of Blaguards after a party in NYC, when Frank was still teaching at Stuyvesant. These performances at Irish Arts Center are a benefit for Breezy Point victims of Hurricane Sandy. How It's Irish: Both Frank McCourt and brother Malachy are from Limerick, and this piece is about people there."People in Ireland do die," he says.
A Couple of Blaguards is at Irish Arts Center this weekend, Saturday, Feb. 16 at 8 and Sunday, Feb. 17 at 3.
This article was first published in Irish Examiner USA, Tuesday, Feb. 12.
For a long time, Malachy and Frank McCourt performed their show "A Couple of Blaguards" without notes. The impersonations and stories about priests, politicians, teachers, drunkards, relatives and friends back in Limerick grew out of the brothers' topping each other at a party, Malachy recalls.
"We started remembering people, characters, teachers, priests, tyrants, the various women and the storytellers, and all of that, and we were imitating everybody, and we amused ourselves no end. While we were going home Frank said, 'We should put that on the stage.' I said, 'Who'd be interested?' He said 'I tell them to my students at Stuyvesant, and you tell them to people on the radio...'"
So they did. At first they did it in a small venue on the East Side. Eventually, they did write it down, and "it's been going ever since," Malachy says.
They took it to Chicago, where it ran for seven months, then to San Francisco, and performed it on cruise ships.
This weekend, Malachy and Mickey Kelly will perform the autobiographical piece at Irish Arts Center, as a benefit for victims of Sandy in Breezy Point, New York. They will perform on Friday, Feb. 15, and on Saturday, Feb. 16, at 8 p.m., and on Sunday, Feb. 17, at 3 p.m. All proceeds from the performances will go to Breezy Point victims to help with rent, accommodations, building supplies.
The audiences have not only been Irish people. In Chicago, Malachy remembers, there were a lot of black people in the audience. "The thing had a family appeal," he says.
"Everybody has grandmothers, aunts, uncles; everybody had teachers, some of whom were good, some bullies."
Malachy talked with Frank about copyrighting it when Frank was in hospice in 2009. Samuel French was reluctant at first, because they thought it might be too local, Malachy says.
"A lot of it is in a book that a brother of mine wrote, about a very local town, about a local family, poverty-stricken, with death and disease. I said I quite agree with you. That book only got one Pulitzer prize and it only sold 10 million copies. I said, yeah, you're right." He laughs.
"In about 10 minutes they got back to me."
Angela's Ashes, of course, Frank's 1996 memoir of a miserable Irish childhood, and meditation on his mother Angela, was hugely successful, and turned into a film in 1999 starring Emily Watson.
A Couple of Blaguards was conceived in the 80s, and portrays some of the same people and events, with some stories not in that book, including an attempt to reunite Angela with their dad, who got an "Irish divorce--he disappeared."
And of course, there's a lot more of what happens to Malachy in this piece. Frank has said that it was this show that led him to think that his stories might have a wider appeal.
Now that the play has been published, other people have performed in it besides the McCourts. There was a production in Buffalo recently at the Irish Classical Theatre Company. It has also been at the Keegan Theatre in Virginia, the Irish Heritage Center of Greater Cincinatti, and Cinnabar Theatre in California.
Mickey Kelly, says Malachy, is a Union organizer and actor that used to do plays at the Irish Arts Center during Jim Sheridan's time. It was Jim Sheridan who encouraged Frank to take his stories and put them in a book, Malachy says with a laugh.
Irish Arts Center has a long association with Frank, then, and doing it as a benefit for Breezy Point has a personal connection too.
"Frank, the brother, had a house in Breezy Point, mainly for his young daughter. It's a very insular place. He almost didn't make it in there because of me! Because I had a radio show at that time and I am very left-wing, and they always said I was some kind of a rotten Communist."
But because Frank was a respectable schoolteacher, they let him in, Malachy says.
The show blends sad memories with laughter.
"People in Ireland do die. They don't die here. They pass away, are with the lord..."
says Malachy with a chuckle.
On the other hand, "Death is not always fatal," he says.
"We keep 'em alive, talking about them and singing about them."
How It's New York: Playwright Kirsten Greenidge is a member of New Dramatists, the New York-based center for new plays and playwrights. At intermission, members of the audience could be heard discussing their own issues with surreptitious home-buying in the bad old days.
How It's Irish: In the play an African-American family hire an Irish-American family to front buying a house for them.
An earlier version of this review was published in Irish Examiner USA, Tuesday, Feb. 12.
Home ownership is a big part of the American Dream. in her new play The Luck of the Irish, playwright Kirsten Greenidge looks at what happens when possession and ownership may not be the same thing.
Home is where the title is. Despite good writing, the play falters due to logic issues and stereotypes.
The Luck Of The Irish
Having a home is part of the American Dream. A home with a yard, maybe a swing, a picket fence, a refuge, dominates the emotional landscape of freedom.
Kirsten Greenidge's new play "The Luck of the Irish," running at Lincoln Center Theatre's Claire Tow Theatre, the small theatre above the Vivian Beaumont, investigates the way a house, an actual structure in a real neighborhood, represents home, identity, a feeling of belonging. The play runs through Sunday, March 10; see www.lct.org.
Dashiell Eaves, Amanda Quaid, Victor Williams and Elsa Davis (Erin Baiano)
Greenidge looks at an African-American family in a suburb of Boston who inherit a house that grandparents bought in the early '50s, using an Irish-American couple to front the deal, during a time when refusal to sell based on race was illegal, but not uncommon.
Greenidge invents the term "ghost-buying" for the practice. That's a play on the term "ghost-writing," but there are also ghosts in the play as it exists both in the '50s and in the present. Characters from both worlds are sometimes onstage at the same time. And the daughters who inherit the home are haunted by their grandmother Lucy Taylor (Eisa Davis), a highly educated woman who collected buttons.
Nessa (Carra Patterson), the younger daughter, thinks there is a real ghost in the house. Hannah (Marsha Stephanie Blake), who has moved in with her husband Rich (Frank Harts) and her offstage hyperactive son Miles, is haunted by the idea of her.
That's all fine, as is Greenidge's compare-and-contrast look at the upwardly mobile, highly educated African-American family buying a house and the down-on-their-luck, hardscrabble Irish-American couple who take a fee to pretend to buy the house.
LOGIC
But the engine of the play, the "what if," is a mess. Greenidge, whose own grandparents bought a house in Arlington, Mass., using a white couple to buy it, wonders "what if" the couple who bought it never turned over the title. If you've ever bought a house, you know that's not possible. Taxes are assessed based on the title. Unless the couple had gone on fronting ownership for 50 years, this cannot happen.
In an article in Boston.com, Greenidge says her grandparents kept up the ruse "until the closing." Yes. Title transfers have to be notarized. So it makes no sense when, after the elderly Joe Donovan (Robert Hogan) Hannah scours the house for the title. Elderly Mrs. Donovan (Jenny O'Hara), whom we'll meet in Act II, sends notes, Craig's List listings, suggestions, trying to nudge Hannah and her family into moving..
It's one thing to suspend disbelief. It's another to be asked to enter an alternate universe, where tax rolls are not, as they are in real life, public documents anybody can look up in a minute. Apparently nobody in the world of the play has ever heard of the words "title search," let alone "real estate lawyer."I don't blame Greenidge as much for this mistake as I do the team at the Huntington Theatre in Boston, where the play was first performed, the critics there, and the team at Lincoln Center.
What the hell has happened to decent fact-checking and editing? In ten minutes, the "title, title, who's got the title" issue could be resolved, especially by the highly educated African-American family she's conceived.
POETRY
Early on, I found myself wondering what separated the play from a slightly better-written TV movie, with its suspenseful premise and its artful dialogue. There are two factors. One is that a TV movie, with its teams of fact-checkers, would have caught this logical error and come up with solutions. Greenidge is creative enough to have come up with another way to keep the two families connected, or to explore the scars that having to use a white family to buy a house might have left.
But the other thing that separated her play from a TV movie is positive: it's art. Greenidge is a true playwright, with an ear for dialogue and an eye for observation.
It's compelling to watch competent Hannah fall apart, in denial about her son's issues, becoming agoraphobic and not leave the house. Hannah, once a spitfire in college, now describes herself as
"that girl who moved to 'Leave It to Beaver's neighborhood' when she should have stayed where there was decent Chinese food."
At intermission, people in the audience were talking about their own family histories, with home-buying, with neighborhoods. The poetry underneath the prosaic and faulty premise was touching nerves.
ACTING
The acting is very solid, and Amanda Quaid, as young Mrs. Donovan, Patty Ann, demonstrates the yearning that is making her bitter at her poverty. She's a bit of a shrew, but she shows an awareness of that that makes you want to reach out to her. Joe, played by Dashiell Eaves, is a dreamer, and proud of it.
There is a wonderful scene at the center of the play, when Joe visits Lucy Taylor in the middle of the afternoon in the house in Billington.
Robert Hogan, Dashiell Eaves, Marsha Stephanie Blake, and Jenny O'Hara (Erin Baiano)
We'll learn later that he was sent there to ask for more money to turn the title over, but he can't bring himself to bring it up with the woman of the house. Instead, they talk about poetry. Joe finds common ground with a bored, isolated woman who is trapped into her role of housewife as much as he's trapped into his role as provider.
Davis shows a warmth underneath a brittle aspect of superiority, and when she is surprised by evidence of Joe's intelligence, it's beautiful to see. They touch hands and one wonders if they might even become involved. That would have been fascinating.
Throughout, director Rebecca Taichman stages the scenes quietly and often delicately, carefully overlapping the eras so that it's clear what is happening but the resonances linger. As family histories tend to do.
STEREOTYPES
But the scene doesn't lead to another one like it. Instead, we just have a scene of Joe being bullied by his desperate wife. Joe is feckless, literate, and can't keep a job: "I can't punch in and punch out," he says. Add that he's a drinker and the stereotype would be complete. Greenidge does not go there, fortunately, although there is a moment where Patty Ann complains about smelling liquor on him.Eaves does well with the stereotype, but his Boston accent slips all over the place. He's not alone in this.
Patty Ann, with her disdain for language and literature, contrasts the eloquent Lucy. But it's as bizarre for an Irish person to sniff at words as it would be for a Jewish mother to sniff at education.
Malachy McCourt, whose two-man show written with his brother Frank, "A Couple of Blaguards," runs this weekend at Irish Arts Center, left school at 13. Didn't stop him from writing, reading, and being a raconteur. Poetry was often the one thing an Irish family did have. Maybe not shoes, but sure they had songs.
Even worse, when the older Patty Ann shows up on the doorstep 50 years later, to try to claim the house she owns, she rants that there is a "natural order to things." I get that Greenidge wants to reveal Patty Ann's anger at a black family having more than she does, but then she has her say "English first, then Irish, then Italians, then blacks." English first? Really? Hard to imagine a Boston Irish person having that thought at all.
It's problematical too that after 50 years, Patty Anne repeats almost verbatim a monologue she gave half a century before.
Greenidge is good at imagining what has happened in 50 years to her African-American family. For example, Nessa, who has three degrees in English and an unfulfilling job, reminisces about when crayolas were called "Indian Red," instead of "Burnt Siena," and her childhood daydreams of being an Indian maiden. Hannah can't convince her to say "Indigenous maiden."
But her Irish couple are unimagined and unrealized. Joe's out of central casting, and Patty Ann is just a generic poor white woman. There is a big Irish community in Boston. And after half a century, for them to be in the exact same situation they had before makes no sense and seems to be there just to make a point. Heck, even Angela McCourt got a Council house.
I realize that Greenidge is attempting to explore obsession, which defies logic, but in doing it through the specific lens of ethnic identity she missteps.
Despite some beautiful writing, "The Luck of the Irish" is a house with too weak a foundation to stand.
How it’s New York: The APAP (Association of Presenters and Performers) World Music Showcase, featuringDervish and Le Vent du Nord, took place last month at Drom in New York City’sEast Village.
Dervish stormed the stage first. Featuring Brian McDonagh onmandola, Liam Kelly on flutes and whistles, Tom Morrow on fiddle,Shane Mitchell on accordion, Cathy Jordan on vocals and bodhrán, and MichaelHolmes on bouzouki, Dervish combined stirring traditional Irish music withtheatrical energy. It’s a thrill to watch a group at the height of theirpowers, and the easy chemistry that flowed from player to player made Dervish's set dynamic.Cathy Jordan’s strong stage presence anchored Dervish throughout the set,as she alternated between singing and bodhrán. Her ethereal yet earthyvocalizations provided ornamentation over a solid set that ranged fromtraditional Irish ballads to energetic hornpipes to a handful of slowed-downjigs that showcased the band’s impeccable musicianship.
Photo of Tom Morrow and Cathy Jordan: Therese Cox
Storytelling tookcenter stage as Jordan, between songs, led the audience through the narratives,from the tale of a crossdressing woman who joined the navy to a haunting lamentfor the unfortunate children in Ireland who were farmed away to other families.Jordan’s wry introductions lightened the heavy material, including the murderballad about a man who murdered his too-lazy wife. Quipped Jordan before theband launched into the lilting 6/8 ballad, to be featured on the band’s newalbum, out this February: “To all you married people out there – beware.Make sure you get up and feed the hens.” Another highlight was the band’srendition of “Boots of Spanish Leather,” which was a passionate and quiethaunting of a song. The closing piece – a set called “The Cornerhouse” – showedDervish at their most energetic and rousing and ended the set on a high note.
After the show, I spoke with Nicolas Boulerice about thematerial, interested to learn more about the storytelling. Fortunately, Le Vent du Nord’s website has full translations of many of the band’s songs, which iswell worth checking out. I also couldn’t resist asking Boulerice about thegenesis of the band’s name. Just as the band gathers much of their materialfrom their ancestors – their version of “Au Bord de la Fontaine” was inspiredby a version passed down from Boulerice’s father from the Richelieu Valley – sodo they borrow the phrase “Le Vent du Nord” from a phrase passed down fromBoulerice’s grand-uncle. “There is a phrase," Boulerice says, "That goes, ‘Le vent dunord est toujours frette, peu importe de quell bord y vient.’” The phrase translatesroughly as “The northern wind is always cold, no matter which direction it’scoming from.” Sounds like Irish weather to my ears.
How It's Irish: Most of the bands below were part of Irish showcases. And, people come from Culture Ireland, and from all over who are interested in presenting Irish music, to the conference.
As promised, here's a little more on what I saw during APAP week (the annual Association of Presenters and Peformers conference ).
Some showcases are open to the public. TG2Artists did a four-band night at Highline Ballroom (431 W. 16th St), which now has booths on the floor as well as on the sides. It's always a comfortable venue and this made it more, although I do really wish venues would go easy on the lights bells and whistles. Moving lights may work in a stadium show, but in a more intimate space it's annoying to have a light shine in your eyes.
I'm not a big fan of moving video as a backdrop, either, unless, as with Solas and their presentation of songs from their concept album Shamrock City, the video supports the music directly. And even there, less would have been more.
The four bands who played on Monday, January 14, were The Duhks, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Solas, and McAuley Horan & O'Caoimh, in reverse order.
McAuley, Horan and O'Caoimh
It was a little odd to see Winnie Horan and Mick McAuley in two sets back to back. They make up two of the three in McAuley, Horan & O'Caoimh, Caladh Nua'sColm O'Caoimh is the third.
But it's an agency line-up, not what would be in "real life," and in fairness, the trio and Solas are different animals.
They played songs from their CD Sailing Back to You. In this line-up they are able to do French waltzes, they explained, which are not quite right for Solas.
Mick's accordion and Winnie's fiddle make these melodies a delight. Dermot Byrne and Floriane Blancke also recently released a CD with French waltzes on it. I think it's becoming a thing. Colm joins them in singing and also plays the guitar.
Standouts from their set included Mick leading "The King's Shilling." Mick joked about James Taylor, and the funny thing is, now that you mention it, Mick does sound a bit like him. I guess the sailing motif is why there was video of the ocean behind them... but enough of that.
Solas
Solas were up next with selections from Shamrock City. This new CD tells the story of Michael Conway, who was a great uncle of Seamus Egan's, and who emigrated in 1911 for Butte, Montana.
Out there, where so many Irish ended up that Seamus said someone wrote a letter home saying "go directly to Butte, don't even stop in America," Michael became a miner, a boxer, and a tragic victim. He refused to throw a fight, although the sheriff was betting against him, and crooked cops clubbed him to death.
The CD has graphics of newspaper clippings; in concert you see Michael Conway's face behind Mick as he sings the story. The original songs on the CD are by Seamus and Mick, though it's unclear who wrote music and who wrote words.
In any case, Mick's singing has become, quietly, really fine over the years, a bit like Robbie O'Connell, very soothing and also very clear. Having a projection of the actual Michael Conway, as well as some video of Butte, helps tell the story. It's not told linearly - after Michael dies, in the beautiful ballad "Michael Conway," there are songs about the town and the ladies of the night there.
The current lineup for Solas is is Seamus Egan (flute, tenor banjo, mandolin, whistle, guitar and bodhran), Winifred Horan (fiddle), Mick McAuley (accordion and concertina), Eamon McElholm (guitar and keyboards) and vocalist Niamh Varian-Barry.What a voice she has! She belts and croons on "Girls on the Line."
Mick asked me and my friend, playwright/actress T. Cat Ford, whether this theatrical concert should be actually scripted. While the story is clear it would in fact be helpful to have more of it, although I appreciate in this too-short set they didn't want to spend a lot of time talking. Acting out scenes might be cheesy, but a few well-placed bits of narration are a great idea.
It is a theatrical experience, not just a concert. While the story is clear it would in fact be helpful to have more of it, although I appreciate in this too-short set they didn't want to spend a lot of time talking. Acting out scenes might be cheesy, but a few well-placed bits of narration are a great idea.
Maria Doyle Kennedy
Maria Doyle Kennedy is better known as an actress than as a singer: she was in The Tudors, Donwton Abbey and The Commitments. I didn't know her work as a singer and will definitely look out for it now. She performs with her husband, Kieran Kennedy, whom she called her "partner in crime."
Like Julie Feeney, Maria is a very theatrical performer, who uses her hands and twists vowels around. Her appearance is both ethereal and grounded, and her voice sounds a bit like Norah Jones. There's whimsy in her use of colored bells onstage, too. "Hola Luna," a kind of Celtic fable, was particularly striking.
The Duhks
The evening finished with The Duhks, an Irish rock band who often perform with Solas. Hailing from Winnipeg, Manitoba, this rock Irish group were groovy and strong.
The lineup includes vocalist Jessee Harvey, original lead vocalist of the band; fiddler Tania Elizabeth, Jordan McConnell on guitar, Scott Senior on percussion, and Leonard Podolak on banjo.
Jessee has a real rock belt, like Janis Joplin meets, I don't know, Susan McKeown, and her swaying adds to the vibe.
This is not typical Irish bar band rock, more like a kind of cross between French-Canadian, Appalachian and Irish with a strong beat. There's even a little zydeco thrown in, not to mention samba. Tania Elizabeth's doesn't just play the fiddle, she performs with it as a dance partner or lover. They energized the crowd. Information on their website and others is a little confusing about current and past line-ups, but they are working on a new EP which should be out this spring.
Overall the "four for one" structure of the Highline showcase made for a musical banquet - but left me hungry for more.
To contact us Click HERE Check back during the day for updates as they come in.
Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury is moving the Valentine's Comedy Night to Sunday, Feb. 10 at 6 pm. Champagne and Chocolates at 5 pm.
Long Wharf’s 3 pm performance of January Joiner hasbeen cancelled due to the storm. The box office is currently closed and willreopen as soon as it is safe to do so. Immediate ticketing questions pleaseemail boxoffice@longwharf.org.
Both performances of Stones in His Pockets at Yale Rep are cancelled.
Tonight's performance of Breath and Imagination at Hartford Stage is cancelled. If you had tickets for tonight's performance, the box office will be in contact with you in the next two days. The box office is closed today.
Concora's Modern Masters concert has been postponed until 7:30 pm Monday, Feb. 11 (from 4 pm Sunday, Feb. 10)
After careful deliberation, CONCORA has reluctantly decided to cancel the "Modern Masters" concert, originally scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 10 and moved to the snow date of Monday, Feb. 11.
Many area roads remain unplowed and impassable; one-third of the singers are unable to get to New Britain for rehearsal Sunday afternoon. And Monday's weather reports call for a great deal of rain, which will cause flooding in some areas, and will most likely freeze in the evening, making travel perilousfor both performers and audience members.
The Bach concert will be on March 24 at Immanuel Congregational Church in Hartford. The Modern Masters concert will be presented at the American Guild of Organists Convention on July 1 in Hartford, and again during the 2013-2014 season.
To contact us Click HERE Tonight's Broadway Sneak Peek at the Bushnell Center for the Performng Arts has been cancelled.
The building is open, but the event has been cancelled due to concerns about people driving into Hartford (many roads still need to be plowed and icy conditions are reported today, resulting in the closing of Interstate 91 at exit 40).
Due to the complexity of the event, which included several special guest appearances and performances, it cannot be rexcheduled. Stay tuned for the announcement of the Bshnell's 2013-2014 Broadway expected in the next few days.
To contact us Click HERE
Tony winners The Book of Mormon and War Horse are among the shows announced for the 2013-2014 Broadway Season at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford.
Also in the lineup: Fashdance, the Musical; Miss Siagon, A Christmas Story, Peter and the Starcatcher and Gost, the Musical.
Current season ticket holders will receive their renewal packages in March, and new packages will be available in early summer. Interested patrons are encouraged to call the Box Office (860-987-5900) to have their name placed on a waiting list. Single tickets will go on sale this summer.
The 2013-2014 Broadways Series
MISS SAIGON, September 17-22, 2013
A classic love story is brought up-to-date in one of the most stunning theatrical spectacles of all time. In MISS SAIGON, Puccini's Madame Butterfly bursts into the modern world. This powerful pop opera is an emotional tale about forbidden love, the tragedies of war and the sacrifices made to achieve the American Dream. Tony Award-winning musical MISS SAIGON, created by the visionaries behind LES MISERABLES, features a touching love story told through a series of sensational musical numbers including "Why God Why?" and "The American Dream.”
FLAHSDANCE THE MUSICAL, October 15-20, 2013
Sparks will fly as FLASHDANCE THE MUSICAL explodes onto the stage! FLASHDANCE tells the inspiring and unforgettable story of Alex Owens, a Pittsburgh welder by day and dancer by night with dreams of one day becoming a professional performer. When romance with her steel mill boss threatens to complicate her ambitions, Alex learns the meaning of love and its power to fuel the pursuit of her dream. Celebrating the film’s 30th anniversary, FLASHDANCE THE MUSICAL features all of the movie’s hit songs including, “Maniac,” “I Love Rock & Roll,” and of course “Flashdance-What a Feeling” in addition to 16 brand new songs written for the musical with music by Robbie Roth and lyrics by Robert Cary and Robbie Roth.
A CHRISTMAS STORY, November 12-17, 2013
A CHRISTMAS STORY is the hilarious account of Ralphie Parker’s desperate quest to ensure that this most perfect of gifts ends up under his tree this Christmas. Directed by Tony Award winner John Rando and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, this musical based on the classic 1983 movie, has been called “a true gift” by New York Magazine and is sure to spark some holiday wonder.
WAR HORSE, January 28-February 2, 2014
WAR HORSE, based on the beloved novel by Michael Morpurgo, is a powerfully moving and imaginative drama, filled with stirring music and magnificent artistry. South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company brings breathing, galloping, full-scale horses to life on the stage — their flanks, hides and sinews built of steel, leather and aircraft cables. Set during World War I in England, WAR HORSE follows a young man’s extraordinary journey to be reunited with his cherished horse. WAR HORSE has played to sold out audiences from Broadway to the West End, and was recently adapted into an Academy Award nominated film by Steven Spielberg.
PETER AND THE STARCATCHER, February 18-23, 2014
A wildly theatrical, hilarious and innovative retelling of how a miserable orphan came to be The Boy Who Never Grew Up, PETER AND THE STARCATCHER upends the century-old legend of Peter Pan. Based on the best-selling Disney-Hyperion novel, the Tony Award-winning Best Play features a dozen actors portraying more than 100 unforgettable characters and uses their enormous talent, ingenious stagecraft and the limitless possibilities of imagination. The Neverland you never knew can be discovered in this epic origin story of one of pop culture’s classic characters.
THE BOOK OF MORMON, March 18-30, 2014
Winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical! From Trey Parker and Matt Stone, four-time Emmy Award-winning creators of South Park, and Tony Award winner Robert Lopez, co-creator of the Tony Award–winning Best Musical AVENUE Q, comes THE BOOK OF MORMON. In this musical satire, two missionaries are sent on a mission trip to Uganda, but are soon over their heads in a land plagued by war, poverty and AIDS. Featuring choreography by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw, THE BOOK OF MORMON is directed by Nicholaw and Parker. Ben Brantley of The New York Times calls “the best musical of this century” and The Daily Show's Jon Stewart calls it “A crowning achievement. So good, it makes me angry.” Contains explicit language.
GHOST THE MUSICAL, June 10-15, 2014
Adapted from the hit film, GHOST THE MUSICAL follows the tragic love story of Sam and Molly, a young couple whose connection takes a shocking turn after Sam’s untimely death. Trapped between two worlds, desperate to communicate with her, Sam turns to a store front psychic who helps him protect Molly and avenge his death. The Associated Press calls GHOST THE MUSICAL, “eye-poppingly brilliant with glorious songs and Newsday exclaims, “unlike anything see onstage before.” The musical’s tale of everlasting love is captivating entertainment for audiences of all ages.
To contact us Click HERE HSO Celebrates Goodspeed Gilded Age at Mark Twain 'Script in Hand' at Westport Arts and Science at Wesleyan . . . and More!
Celebrating The Impossible Dream - 50 Years of Goodspeed Musicals Saturday, Feb. 23 at 7:30 pm; Mortensen Hall at The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts; Michael O’Flaherty, conductor; Sarah Uriarte Berry, Quentin Earl Darrington, James Snyder, soloists; Performers from The Hartt School Musical Theatre Department, Class of 2013, Alan Rust, Director; Michael Morris, Director of Music. Tickets range from $20-$67.50: Student tickets are $10 and $25 tickets are available for patrons age 40 and under. Call 860-244-2999 or visit www.hartfordsymphony.org.
Mark Twain in 1871 by Mathew Brady
The book named an era, and it is often cited for its startling application to our contemporary world: "The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today," by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, published in 1873 is the subject of discussion on Wednesday, March 6 at The Mark Twain House and Museum in a session of the Nook Farm Book Club in collaboration with the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. The club meets at 5 pm at the Mark Twain, 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford. A reception will be followed by the 5:30 pm discussion. The event is free, but registration is encouraged at 860-522-9258, Ext. 317.
Westport Country Playhouse’s next Script in Hand playreading will be the romantic comedy, Beau Jest by James Sherman, a former actor/writer for Chicago’s Second City, 7 pm Monday, March 18. Director is Anne Keefe, Playhouse artistic advisor. Casting will be announced soon.
Tickets are $15: “Meet the Cast” dessert reception in the Playhouse’s Sheffer Studio tickets are $50 ($15 for reading plus a $35 donation for reception.) Call 203-227-4177, 1-888-927-7529; Box Office, 25 Powers Court; www.westportplayhouse.org. Wesleyan University presents the symposium “Innovations: Intersection of Art and Science,” co-hosted by the Center for the Arts and the Hughes Program in the Life Sciences and curated by choreographer Liz Lerman, on Thursday, Feb. 28 and Friday, March 1 on the Wesleyan campus in Middletown. www.wesleyan.edu/cfa/innovations.
How It's New York: Written with the wistful reflection of an expatriate in the Big Apple How It's Irish: Traditional music knows no boundaries.
Tony Horswill recalls meeting Ian Campbell, folk music icon, and wearing tights at a Birmingham banquet.
I remember my stint on themedieval banquet circuit as the time I first learnt how to put on tights. Thethrill was somewhat muted though, as just as the lady organizer of the eventwas showing me her technique behind a rack of inauthentic medieval frocks, herjealous husband burst in.
But that's another story. The real story is that iswhere I met the great folk music icon Ian Campbell who unfortunately left uslate last year. He cut an impressive figure with his flowing purple robe andwhite beard in his role of "Lord Chamberlain". The pseudo-historicalmedieval banquet pantomime gaveemployment in the lead-up to Christmas to those traditional musicians with acertain fortitude who needed the work. This particular incarnation in the early'80s was at a faux castle called Himley Hall in the "Black Country"region of the English Midlands, named for its pioneering work in earlyindustrial pollution. The banquet season provided a similarly unhealthyexperience. The closest thing in the US would be the Renaissance Fair but thisform was decidedly more alcoholic, low-brow and bawdy. It was essentially anexcuse to "dress up while pissed up" and abuse the entertainers. Ian took it all in his stride. The feeble plot of the night as I rememberit revolved around Ian appointing a Lord and Lady for the night ( humor ofcourse ensued as all chaps and wenches were forced to swear fealty and begindulgence on their frequent trips to the toilets, nay garderobes) but his realfunction was minstrel and bailiff in equal parts. All of the musicians of course knew Ian or knew of him from hisleadership in the folk revival in Birmingham in the 1960's ( see http://www.brumbeat.net/iancampb.htmand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Campbell_Folk_Group)
His reputation amongtraditional and folk musicians was legendary, but his fame to me and the widerpublic at that time was for being the father of Ali and Robin Campbell in thegroundbreaking multi-racial band UB40.They were not just one of the rareexamples of a successful fusion of pop and reggae but were also had a Top Tenhit with a protest song for God’s sake - "I am a One in Ten" like theUB40 moniker referred to the unemployment of the late '70s. On the surface ofit these two aspects of Ian had nothing in common, but in retrospect they areboth part of the his legacy. For Ian, folk music was more than the recordcompany genre has become - it embodied a belief in humanity, community and astriving for social justice. Getting back to the"men in tights" gig, one unusual aspect of it was that it featuredacts from the working men's club circuit, more typically associated with the northof England. A favorite of Ian's, mine and fellow minstrels was the comedianBoothby Graffoe who had a novel way of finishing his act which was to wraphimself from head to toe in heavy duty packing tape and then try and maintainhis composure as he crooned "Moon River" while ripping it all off again.
However the most spectacularly inappropriateact booked at the castle (for reasons which will become evident) and the sourceof one of my favorite Ian Campbell stories was a one-man acrobat/tumbler fromsomewhere up north. His problems started when he adopted aparticularly precarious balancing position on top of a set of blocks androllers prompting an astonishing hail of bread rolls, apples and whatever themob could lay hands on as they channeled their inner medieval peasant hurlinggarbage at the stocks. When an old lady was struck with one of these missilesIan took it upon himself to confront the ugly ringleader. Despite Ian’s politeand careful reasoning to the oaf, he remained cheerfully oblivious to the“bigger picture”, and his riposte whilst pointing to the dim-witted possearound him was:
"It didn't hit her mate. It was these w**kers. I don't miss- I nailed the bloke every f**king shot".
Ian's recounting of this talehad us in stitches for days. Ian was a very funny man and a natural raconteurand storyteller as we appreciated when the musicians/comedians/bruised tumblersgot to hang out together in the "outer hall" whilst the troglodyteswere temporarily pacified with greasy lamb chops and cheap mead. One nowbittersweet memory of such occasion was when some music rag had reported himdead and he got to deliver the line "Rumors of my demise have beengreatly exaggerated", and he delivered it perfectly. On rare, delightfuloccasions we persuaded him to sing for our little private party. Another one of Birmingham'sheroes has passed on. Epilogue: While I didoccasionally drift into antiquated pseudo-medieval language, note that"chaps" and "wenches" is 100% current up-to-date BlackCountry speak. You gotta love those yam –yams!
How It's New York: It takes place in, and is about, New York. How It's Irish: It's about an Irish gentleman named Oscar Wilde.
April 27 Oscar Wilde in New York: 11:00 AM Oscar Wilde, the Irish poet, dramatist and wit, famous for his life in London and Paris, spent all of 1882 in America on an extended lecture tour across the continent. Nowhere did he spend more time than in New York City. Join guide and New York Irish Arts blogger John Cooper, founding member of the Oscar Wilde Society of America, for a leafy stroll through Madison Square Park, Gramercy Park, and Greenwich Village to trace Oscar Wilde's debut in the social and literary world. Based on original research into Wilde and his circle in New York's gilded age, see how Wilde was influenced by the aesthetic movement of the period, and how he in turn influenced the society of today. Learn about the life and times of this fascinating personality whose self-styled genius is as relevant today as it was when he arrived in 1882. Organized by The Municipal Art Society of New York To book visit their tours page. $20 / $15 Members
How It's New York: The annual Association of Presenters and Performers Conference takes place at the Hilton in NYC. How It's Irish: Culture Ireland has been sending over a delegation of performers and presenters and having a booth every year. On top of that, there are Irish musicians sent by other agencies performing, and people come from all over to scout.
An earlier version of this article was first published in Irish Examiner USA, Tuesday Jan. 29
"More feet." That's not something you hear every day. Of Quebecois and Irish music, meeting Ciarán Hinds without realizing it, and an exhausting, exhilerating event.
Jean-Olivier is sitting next to me. I know this, because his laptop is showing up on my bluetooth on my iPad as not paired.
There are people next to me speaking French; someone is tuning up onstage, and people with instrument cases keep walking by the large glass windows of the Hilton lobby bar. I'm eating a soggy turkey sandwich, drinking mild coffee, and a performer has just put down a few postcards for her band. Did I mention that this is awesome?
I wrote this during APAP weekend in New York, the Association of Presenters and Performers conference. Artists, agents and festival presenters and promoters have come from all over the world to network, perform in showcases (some are short and at the hotel, some are full events held offsite that are open to the public).
Baraka Sele and Imani Uzuri
It's overwhelming, exhausting, and completely exhilarating. Earlier, I had befriended Imani Uzuri, a vocalist-composer who gave Stephanie Pereira, who founded Kickstarter, the wildly successful crowd-sourcing program that has enabled independent artists (including many on the Irish scene) to complete their albums, a hug. Kickstarter was also responsible for Catskills Irish Arts Week going forward this year. Serendipitous connections like this are what APAP, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, conference, is all about.
It turns out the band was De Temps Antan, a Celtic Canadian band and one I really wanted to see. I got to see them later, or some of them anyway, because the session on Sunday night at 11th Street included a Quebecois splinter session in the back. Here is my report on some of the highlights of an amazing week. The APAP conference took place at the Hilton Hotel, its annual location, from Friday, January 11, through Tuesday, January 15. As I did with the Celtic Colours Festival in Cape Breton, I'll be following this overview with other pieces, including concert reports and CD reviews.
Concert reviews, and loads more photos, after the jump!
APAP involved panels and plenary session on the arts, inspiring to all who attend (this year I managed two, and yep, found myself inspired and even exhilarated); as well as short showcase sets performed at the hotel and at venues around town to entice bookers and presenters - and also introduce the performers to the media.
The expo hall has floors of booths from artists and presenters. I collected a lot of literature and CDs, and though I thought I had enough business cards with me, I ran out of them halfway through. This is how APAP describes the event on their website:
"Re-charge your batteries, discover new talent, gain professional know-how, network with colleagues and experience the performing arts together in business and onstage."
That's not just good copywriting. In this case there's truth in advertising, because that's exactly what happens.
Me, with Tracy Crawford
I felt re-charged, and I'm not even one of the hard-working artists. I discovered new talent. I gained professional know-how, networked with colleagues and learned about business and performance.
Next year we may need two delegates because I couldn't clone myself and there is just so much more to find out.Making the weekend especially fabulous is that Culture Ireland sends a delegation, some of whom are performing, and some of whom are here in town to network and just be.
So I saw some wonderful musicians, as well as meeting up with friends, including Fishamble Theatre's Jim Culleton, Talltales Theatre's Deirdre Kinahan, and many more. Consul General Noel Kilkenny and his wife Hanora O'Dea Kilkenny had a reception at the residence on Sunday afternoon that was packed with APAP delegates and arts folks from all over, including WGBH Boston's Brian O'Donovan.
APAP brings everyone. Brian told me that this was his first APAP, and it was brilliant - he'll be back. One thing you can expect not to do during APAP is sleep, much. At least this year I didn't have a cold (I remember frantically trying to find an open CVS a few years ago before an event), but I did have a headache which never quite went away. Thankfully, Bally-O Promotion's Tracy Crawford was in the same boat, and shared some paracetamol with me, which seemed much more effective than anything I had.
Here's what I did in 2.5 days:
1. Attended part of the Saturday plenary, the Pecha Kucha (pronounced pshaw ke-sha), "You May Say I'm a Dreamer." The Future of Music Coalition's Jean Cook moderated a panel made up of composer and violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain, playwright Young Jean Lee, Kickstarter's Stephanie Pereira, Algerian-born singer and activist Souad Massi and young arts "projectician" Adam Horowitz.
2. Found righteous indignation and renewed commitment to the idea that arts matter in the panel "Cultural Democracy and Community Curation." While the panel was presented by Women of Color in the Arts, it was in no way a panel about presenting more work by women or by women of color. In fact, Baraka Sele, an independent producer and consultant in Montclair, NJ, who formerly was a programmer at NJPAC, went on a little rant about the misue of the word "diversity." Other speakers on the panel included Kaisha Johnson, of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance; Monique Martin, director of family programming at CityParks Foundation, and Kathryn Garcia of Miami Dade College.
Baraka Sele said that she did not believe democracy actually exists in this county. "It is incumbent on arts producers to bring back democracy," Sele said. Kaisha Johnson talked about the shifting demographics in this country. Looking at the distinctions between high art, fine art, and folk art, Johnson said that culture was more than art. "It is bringing everyone to the table," Johnson said. Her group has worked with the Ukrainian Mexican, and yes, the Irish community in New York City, among others. When people won't come to her table, she brings the table to them, she said. When the panel were done, many people in the room had questions. Hassan Mahamdallie, senior strategy officer of the Arts Council in England, stood and spoke about taking inspiration from movements like the Harlem Renaissance, and that the disctinctions between high art and low art were false. "Igor Stravinsky visited Harlem," Mahamdallie said. "This is not a marginal conversation. It is THE conversation." And yet, the conversation was held in the basement (as were, in fairness, many other panels). Hopefully this is a conversation that will continue and take center stage.
3. I attended a reception at the home of Georgeanne Aldrich Heller for Conor Lovettand Gare St. Lazare Players. Conor Lovett is in my view the best interpreter of Samuel Beckett alive, especially as directed by his wife Judy Hegarty.
I reviewed him in Title and Deed here last year, and in the company's adaptation of Beckett's First Love for Back Stage a few years ago. Now Signature Theatre, the company that specializes in doing whole seasons of a single author, is proposing doing Beckett in New York 2013.
Erika Mallin and Conor Lovett
That would be an incredible gift to New Yorkers and to everyone on the East Coast who should drive in to see it. Spotted at the small party were Signature Theatre's Executive Director Erika Mallin, Fishamble Theatre's Jim Culleton, Irish Arts Center's Aidan Connolly, the author Barbara Hammond, and the actor Ciarán Hinds. Yeah, you read that right.
I didn't realize it was Ciarán Hinds when I met him, although we shared the elevator together and he said his name was Ciarán and he was an actor and even that he was in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (he's playing the major role of Big Daddy in the play by Tennessee Williams).
Ciarán was in Saturday clothes, and very low-key, and I completely missed the chance to fawn on him and tell him how amazing he was in The Seafarer a few years ago (read my review here!) and in the film Eclipse, both by Conor McPherson.
But I'm not surprised he's a friend of Conor Lovett's nor that he'd go out of his way to see him, because Conor is a rare actor, a total natural, and it makes sense that another great actor would value him. At the party Conor did a small excerpt from Molloy, one of Beckett's short novels, and reminded us all of what we might be getting.
4. I rushed to a performance of Aedin Moloney's Airswimming at Irish Rep, which I reviewed last week.
The Young Folk are a blend of pop, rock and traditional instruments, made up of Anthoney Furey on vocals and guitar, Paul Butler on keyboards, Karl Hand on drums, Tony McLoughlin on bass, and Karen Hickey on violin and flute. The melodies have a certain Cranberry pop appeal, but for me they became repetitive, and the lyrics while simple and honest verge on being too simple. The repetition of "yeah, anymore," for example, doesn't gain meaning when you've heard it five times. I did like the xylophone, and there is potential but for me it does not yet gel.
I Draw Slow
I Draw Slow are an Irish band who play Appalachian music, and do it with immense style and flair. They even were partially costumed onstage. The group is fronted by a brother-sister team, Dave and Louise Holden, on guitar and vocals, joined by Konrad Liddy on upright bass, Colin Derham on banjo and Adrian Hart on fiddle. The fiddle to me was particularly impressive. Their YouTube of their song "Goldmine" brought them to the attention of American festivals and they'll be here in 2013. Something is definitely going on with this Irish-Appalachian crossover-Mick Moloney will again be holding an extravaganza at Symphony Space on the subject in March. Stay tuned, and stay tuned for I Draw Slow.
I wish I could say the same for five-piece Dublin band The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock, an Irish rock band who took their name from a poen about a haunted canal lock. They are, as Susan said they were, working in a tradition of Irish rebel bands, but to me, it was kind of like "music to fire up a bong to." I can picture a long rap session while their music plays in the background. Long riffs, even without the electric guitars, had a trancey feel, and a kind of early Fairport Convention sound. I can see that they'd click with a lot of people, just not for me.
6. On Sunday, I went to the Expo Hall and introduced myself to many music and theatre agents, and collected many CDs... watch for reviews!
7. Then it was off to the reception at the residence of the Consul General, where in addition to seeing many friends, including publicist Anita Daly and writer Kathy Callahan, Origin Theatre's George Heslin, as well as Deirdre Kinahan and her brother Hugh Healy, I also had the opportunity to see the production of composer George Higg'sDoor.
Door
A musical door is embeded with many different instruments, played by Sean Carpio and Kate Ellis. During APAP they played the door throughout the East Village and at tne Museum of Modern Art. The production took place on the balcony of the residence, but the music was so startling and compelling, with Indian overtones, and the presentation of the musical door so unusual, that everyone stood shivering on the balcony until it finished.
8. Following a much-needed dinner break (while others rushed off to see cabaret art-singer Jack Lukeman), I returned to the Hilton to see a few more showcases, including Colcannon and Cherish the Ladies. First, though, I had a meeting with Tracy Crawford, who filled me in on the amazing things planned for Ennis, where she and her husband, Lúnasa flutist (and genius) Kevin Crawford (see our InteReview of his album Carrying the Tune here).
Tracy is planning an Ennis Roots Weekend as part of The Gathering. Among the things planned are breaking the Guinness World Record attempt for the largest tin whistle ensemble, and Tracy is asking everyone to learn it from a YouTube video of a tune. Tracy said she is learning it, and said I must do the same. I think there might be a pennywhistle on the piano somewhere. Save the dates: June 21 - 23.
Cherish put on an amazing set, with their dancers, including the whippet sharp Joe Dwyer. Caitlin Warbelow, who teaches advanced fiddle at Irish Arts Center and can often be found at O'Neill's on a Sunday night (she even did an album, Manhattan Island Sessions, that was recorded at sessions around town, including O'Neill's), played with them during APAP, and beautiful singer Cathie Ryan joined them. We reviewed Cathie's concert debuting her lovely CD Through Wind and Rain a few months back.
I'd seen Caladh Nua just once before and was not prepared to be quite so bowled over by them. They were in one of the best rooms in the hotel for bands - the Mercury Ballroom has a proper stage, and Baylin Artists Management had put out chocolates and seltzer for those watching, a very welcome touch. While not so chatty and warm as Cherish's Joanie Madden (let's face it, who is?), the band, consisting of Eoin O'Meachair (Banjo and Mandolin, Whistles), Lisa Butler (Lead Vocals and Fiddle), Paddy Tutty (Fiddle, Bodhran), Derek Morrissey (Button Accordion) and Colm O'Caoimh (Guitar) were very very good.
What stood out for me and what I won't soon forget is Colm O'Caoimh's rendition of Richard Thompson's "Beeswing," a haunting lovesong to a roving woman, a song based on the idea of Annie Briggs. The idea, not the real person, because Thompson has admitted that he only met her a few times and both times, true to her reputation, she was passed out drunk.
Colm has a gorgeous voice and plays a wonderful guitar. If he'd only stand up straight. But what made the song soar was when Lisa Butler joined him on the chorus. Hearing her delicate voice harmonize on the aching words
"She was a rare thing... she was a bee's wing... so fine a breath of wind would blow her away.." makes the song's punch a knock-out blow.
It's on their first album, Happy Days. I'd like to see more of them and will review their latest CD soon.
There wasn't much room for them to do it, of course. It was so crowded that sean-nos dancer Siobhan Butler literally danced on the table.
Whether you play or not, the session during APAP weekend is entirely unmissable. I had to go to work the next day, so left at only 2:30am.
I heard from Tracy Crawford, who was dancing with the Quebecois contingent at the back, that she got home at 5:30am.
I loved a story that Conor Lamb of Realta told me that one of the musicians in The Young Folk is "sick" from his job as a teacher, and had to disable Facebook for the weekend in case somebody tagged him in a photo. He was to go straight from the airport to school, and it would work well, said Conor, because he'd look so wrecked he'd look as though he had been sick.
Yeah, APAP is that great a party it's worth risking your health. And your money.
How It's New York: Luka Bloom used to live in NY and play at The Red Lion.
Early on, I found myself wondering what separated the play from a slightly better-written TV movie, with its suspenseful premise and its artful dialogue. There are two factors. One is that a TV movie, with its teams of fact-checkers, would have caught this logical error and come up with solutions. 
Even worse, when the older Patty Ann shows up on the doorstep 50 years later, to try to claim the house she owns, she rants that there is a 
They make up two of the three in McAuley, Horan & O'Caoimh, Caladh Nua's Colm O'Caoimh is the third.
Out there, where so many Irish ended up that Seamus said someone wrote a letter home saying 
Mick asked me and my friend, playwright/actress T. Cat Ford, whether this theatrical concert should be actually scripted. While the story is clear it would in fact be helpful to have more of it, although I appreciate in this too-short set they didn't want to spend a lot of time talking. 
Maria Doyle Kennedy is better known as an actress than as a singer: she was in The Tudors, Donwton Abbey and The Commitments. I didn't know her work as a singer and will definitely look out for it now. She performs with her husband, Kieran Kennedy, whom she called her 
The lineup includes vocalist Jessee Harvey, original lead vocalist of the band; fiddler Tania Elizabeth, Jordan McConnell on guitar, Scott Senior on percussion, and Leonard Podolak on banjo. 
Tonight's Broadway Sneak Peek at the Bushnell Center for the Performng Arts has been cancelled. 
Baraka Sele said that she did not believe democracy actually exists in this county. 
Ciarán was in Saturday clothes, and very low-key, and I completely missed the chance to fawn on him and tell him how amazing he was in The Seafarer a few years ago (read my review here!) and in the film Eclipse, both by Conor McPherson. 
Cherish put on an amazing set, with their dancers, including the whippet sharp Joe Dwyer. Caitlin Warbelow, who teaches advanced fiddle at Irish Arts Center and can often be found at O'Neill's on a Sunday night (she even did an album, Manhattan Island Sessions, that was recorded at sessions around town, including O'Neill's), played with them during APAP, and beautiful singer Cathie Ryan joined them. We reviewed Cathie's concert debuting her lovely CD Through Wind and Rain a few months back. 
