A CONVERSATION WITH ELLEN MCCOURT AND MALACHY MCCOURT

Irish Rep looks back on the life and work of the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Angela’s Ashes and ‘Tis, the late Frank McCourt. McCourt was an Irish Repertory Theatre actor and playwright (The Irish…and How They Got That Way),  since the company’s founding. In this special Meet the Makers episode, Ellen McCourt and Malachy McCourt, Frank McCourt’s widow and brother, respectively, remember Frank in advance of Irish Rep’s digital fundraiser, The Irish (Rep)…and How We Got That Way.

Frank McCourt (August 19, 1930 – July 19, 2009) was an Irish-American teacher and writer, best known for Angela’s Ashes, his 1996 Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir about his childhood in Brooklyn and Limerick, Ireland. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, Angela’s Ashes won the National Book Critics Circle Award and Boeke Prize, and subsequently was made into a major motion picture, directed by Alan Parker. His other memoirs include ’Tis (1999), which chronicled his life in America as a new immigrant; and Teacher Man (2005) about his experiences as a public-school teacher.

A graduate of New York University and beloved teacher for nearly 30 years, he taught in several New York schools, including McKee High School, McKee Technical and Vocational High School, and Stuyvesant High School. Mr. McCourt also taught in the English department of New York City Technical College of the City University of New York. He and his brothers were featured in two television documentaries, “The McCourts of Limerick” and “The McCourts of New York.”

With John Bell, Barry McNabb, and Charlotte Moore
In Conversation with Melissa Errico

Music director John Bell, choreographer Barry McNabb and director Charlotte Moore, the team behind countless musical revivals at Irish Rep, including Finian’s Rainbow and On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, in conversation with leading lady Melissa Errico (Sharon in Finian’s Rainbow; Daisy/Melinda in On A Clear Day).

During this interview, How Are Things in Gloccamora is performed by Melissa Errico with recorded accompaniment from pianist Tedd Firth.

BARRY MCNABB

New York Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, and Connecticut Critic Circle Award Nominee- Barry McNabb’s productions have been seen throughout the world. He began his professional theater career as a featured soloist for the national/international company of Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, for which he also served as Mr. Fosse’s dance captain. He then worked with/for Juliet Prowse, Agnes DeMille, Peter Gennaro, Michael Peters, Michael Bennett, Mike Ockrent, Gillian Lynne and Harold Prince, amongst others. While educating himself through working with the aforementioned masters, further NY studies included training with Sanford Meisner, William Alderson, Edward Morehouse, Sandy Dennis and others. Prior to this he worked with major ballet and modern companies as a company member and guest artist on both the West and East Coasts. As a member of the original Broadway cast of The Phantom of the Opera he directed/choreographed/produced and wrote Broadway’s Annual Easter Bonnet Competitions, which has remained Broadway Cares’ chief fundraiser for well over a decade. It is at this time he started choreographing work that ranges from ballet for the Grande Prixe de Lausanne Competition to “Saturday Night Live’s” Sprockets, and includes most of the classic musical theatre repertory. His stage work has been seen both on and off Broadway, as well as internationally from Bangkok to Barcelona and worldwide through his media work on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”, “Saturday Night Live”, and various films and commercials.

JOHN BELL

On Broadway, John has conducted Fiddler on the Roof, On the Town, and An American in Paris. At Irish Repertory Theatre, John has been the music director/supervisor for On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Finian’s Rainbow, Donnybrook, New Girl in Town, Meet Me in St. Louis, Transport, A Child’s Christmas in Wales, and their gala concerts since 2014. For City Center Encores: Brigadoon, Hey Look Me Over, Me and My Girl, The New Yorkers, Cabin in the Sky, Do I Hear A Waltz, Zorba, Lady Be Good, Irma La Douce (Associate Music Director). Other New York credits: Sondheim’s Marry Me A Little (Keen Company, New Cast Recording); Radio City Christmas Spectacular; Candide (with John Lithgow) at Carnegie Hall. John has also worked with orchestras and regional theatres around the country. He holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Ithaca College, an MA in Music from CUNY, and has studied at the Manhattan School of Music.

MELISSA ERRICO

Melissa’s Broadway credits include Anna Karenina, the revival of My Fair Lady, High Society, Amour (Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Musical), Dracula the Musical, and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. At The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, she starred in The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady (with John Lithgow), and Camelot (with Jeremy Irons). She has worked with Stephen Sondheim on the revival of Sunday In the Park with George (Dot/Marie at The Kennedy Center), followed by John Doyle’s production of Passion (Clara) for which she was nominated for a sixth Drama Desk Award, and as Leona in the 2016 Encores! production of Do I Hear A Waltz? at City Center. In 2016 she also reprised the role of Sharon in the smash hit Off-Broadway revival of Finian’s Rainbow at Irish Repertory Theatre, which was extended three times, received rave reviews and was filmed in January 2017 for The Lincoln Center Library. She has also starred in plays by Shaw, Oscar Wilde and Wally Shawn and last year starred in another acclaimed Irish Repertory production of On A Clear Day You Can See Forever. Melissa was recently honored with a caricature at Sardi’s. Her latest album Sondheim Sublime was released to critical acclaim, with The Wall Street Journal calling it, “The best all-Sondheim album ever recorded.”.

CHARLOTTE MOORE

Recent directing credits include: London Assurance, Love, Noël, The Plough and the Stars as part of The O’Casey Cycle, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Three Small Irish Masterpieces by William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory and J.M. Synge, New York premiere of Brian Friel’s The Home Place, World premiere of Larry Kirwan’s Rebel in the Soul, Finian’s Rainbow, The Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative gala, Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory, Juno and the Paycock, and Dancing at Lughnasa. New York stage appearances include A Perfect Ganesh, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Perfect Party, Morning’s at Seven, Private Lives (with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton), and many performances with the New York Shakespeare Festival. Ms. Moore has received two Tony Award nominations, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Drama League Award, the Irish America Top 100 Irish Award, The Eugene O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2008 Irish Women Of The Year Award. She is the recipient of the St. Patrick’s Committee in Holyoke’s John F. Kennedy National Award, and has thrice been listed as one of the “Top 50 Power Women”in Irish America Magazine. Charlotte was named “Director of the Year” by The Wall Street Journal in 2011. Charlotte has recently been inducted in to the Irish America Hall of Fame and been awarded the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad, 2019 by President Michael D. Higgins.

With Jean Hanff Korelitz, Nina Korelitz,  Paul Muldoon, Liz Neumark, and Ciarán O’Reilly

A conversation with co-adaptor and producer Jean Hanff Korelitz, producer Nina Korelitz Matza, co-adaptor Paul Muldoon, Great Performances Catering Founder and CEO Liz Neumark, and director Ciarán O’Reilly.

JEAN HANFF KORELITZ

Jean Hanff Korelitz is the author of six novels, including The Devil and Webster, You Should Have Known (coming to HBO as a limited series starring Nicole Kidman), Admission (adapted as the 2013 film with Tina Fey, Paul Rudd and Lily Tomlin), The White Rose, The Sabbathday River and A Jury Of Her Peers. She is the creator of BookTheWriter.com, which hosts small book groups with great authors (like Anna Quindlen, Erica Jong, David Duchovny, Jennifer Egan and many more) in New York City. JeanHanffKorelitz.com.

NINA KORELITZ MATZA

Nina is an accomplished executive and entrepreneur with an MBA in Marketing. Nina is a lifelong supporter of the arts, a member of the board of Ars Nova, a member of the New Victory Theater Advisory Council and a member of the Business Advisory Council for the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts. She is also in the process of developing a podcast about raising adolescents. Thanks to everyone who has supported this project since its inception, especially Jean, Robert, Kathleen, Laurie, Kate, Charlotte and Ciarán and Mom and Dad.

PAUL MULDOON

Paul Muldoon was born in County Armagh in 1951. He now lives in New York. A former radio and television producer for the BBC in Belfast, he has taught at Princeton University for more than thirty years. He is the author of thirteen collections of poetry including, most recently, Frolic and Detour (2019). Among his awards are the 1972 Eric Gregory Award, the 1980 Sir Geoffrey Faber Memorial Award, the 1994 T.S. Eliot Prize, the 1997 Irish Times Poetry Prize, the 2003 Pulitzer Prize, the 2003 Griffin International Prize for Poetry, the 2004 American Ireland Fund Literary Award, the 2004 Shakespeare Prize, the 2006 European Prize for Poetry, the 2015 Pigott Poetry Prize, and the 2017 Queens Gold Medal for Poetry. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Literature and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

LIZ NEUMARK – GREAT PERFORMANCES CATERING

Great Performances is New York City’s premier catering and food service organization, Great Performances (GP) is dedicated to seasonal ingredients, vibrant flavors and gracious service. GP is celebrated for its contemporary American cuisine that utilizes locally sourced ingredients (including those from its own Katchkie Farm), while taking inspiration from the global foodways and devising innovative, visually arresting presentations. Rooted in the arts since its inception, GP remains intensely involved in the cultural community as its role of preparing the centerpiece holiday meal of The Dead, 1904 attests, as does the fact GP is the exclusive caterer for a number of the city’s most important cultural institutions.

CIARÁN O’REILLY

Favorite directing credits include: Lady G: Plays and Whisperings of Lady Gregory, Dublin Carol, The Shadow of a Gunman, The Seafarer, The Dead, 1904, Shining City, Off the Meter, On the Record, The Weir (Calloway Nom.), Banished Children of Eve, The Emperor Jones, (Callaway Award, O’Neill Credo Award, Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel Nom.), The Hairy Ape (Drama Desk Drama League and Callaway Nom.), Philadelphia, Here I Come! (Drama Desk Nom). Irish Rep acting roles include Da, Juno and the Paycock, Dancing at Lughnasa, Molly Sweeney, Candida, Aristocrats, A Whistle in the Dark, The Shaughraun, and The Irish and How They Got That Way. He appeared in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of A Touch of the Poet with Gabriel Byrne. He has appeared at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and made his Broadway debut in The Corn is Green. Films include “The Devil’s Own” (starring Harrison Ford), “Law & Order,” “The Irish…and How They Got That Way,” “Third Watch,” “Bored to Death,” and “The Knick.” Ciarán has recently been inducted in to the Irish America Hall of Fame and has been awarded the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad, 2019 by President Michael D. Higgins.

With Charlie Corcoran, James Morgan, and James Noone
In Discussion with Charlotte Moore

Henry Hewes Design and Outer Critics Circle Award winner Charlie Corcoran (The O’Casey Cycle), Henry Hewes Design Award winner James Morgan (On a Clear Day You Can See Forever) and Helen Hayes Award winner James Noone (London Assurance) in conversation with Artistic Director Charlotte Moore. 

CHARLIE CORCORAN

Charlie’s NY designs include: A Touch of the Poet, Lady G: Plays and Whisperings of Lady Gregory , The O’Casey Cycle (winner of the Henry Hewes Design Award), The Seafarer, On Beckett, Shining City, The Emperor Jones (Hewes design award nomination), The Quare Land (Origin First Irish Award), The Weir (Irish Rep) Billy and Ray (Vineyard Theatre), Straight (Acorn Theatre) and The Marriage of Figaro, The Triumph of Love (Juilliard). Craving for Travel (Peter J. sharp Theatre), The Last Smoker In America (Westside Theatre), A Perfect Future (Cherry Lane), The Bully Pulpit (Beckett Theatre), Exits And Entrances (Primary Stages). Regional theatre designs include: A Comedy of Tenors, (Outer Critics Circle Award) (Cleveland Playhouse / McCarter Theatre), Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike (The Goodman Theatre), The Barber Of Seville, The Marriage Of Figaro (The McCarter Theatre), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Absurd Person Singular, Noises Off (Two River Theatre), Without Walls (Center Theatre Group), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Buck’s County Playhouse) Bad Jews (Ensemble Theatre Company/English Theatre of Frankfurt) Opera designs include: Fidelio (Santa Fe Opera), Cosi Fan Tutte (co-production Metropolitan Opera And Juilliard), Don Giovanni, Katya Kabanova (Juilliard) The Turn of the Screw, The Flood (Opera Columbus), The Magic Flute, The Bartered Bride (Granada Theatre, Santa Barbara), L’Opera Seria (Wolftrap Opera), TV designs include: “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” (TBS), “Mozart in the Jungle” (Amazon), “Believe” (NBC), “Madam Secretary” (CBS).

JAMES MORGAN

James is the Producing Artistic Director of the award-winning York Theatre Company, “Where Musicals Come to Life.” He has designed over 300 productions in theatres around the country. Recently: Unexpected Joy (York), Born Yesterday (St. Louis Rep), Vanya and Sonia…(Peterborough, NH Theatre Award), Desperate Measures (York and New World Stages), Red (Cape Playhouse), Marry Harry (Maharam Nomination, York),and Cagney (York and Westside Theatre). Select Irish Rep credits include: Aristocrats, Molly Sweeney, Da, Pig Town, Three Small Irish Masterpieces, It’s A Wonderful Life, and Finian’s Rainbow (Both of them!). His graphic designs are on many posters and CDs and the new scores and vocal selections of Closer Than Ever and Merrily We Roll Along, among others.

JAMES NOONE

James has been a scenic designer in NYC since 1983 and a member of USA local 829 since 1986. During this time he has worked for some of NYC’s most prestigious theatre companies including Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Lincoln Center Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company and numerous others. Off-Broadway he has designed the original productions of Terrance McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair Delune, Edward Albee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Three Tall Women, the long-running solo shows Full Gallop and Fully Committed. Other long-running Off-Broadway shows include: Cowgirls and Breaking Legs, the original production of A Bronx Tale, the first revival of Boys in the Band and the musical Ruthless. Broadway productions include the revival of Sunset Boulevard, Jekyll and Hyde, Tony -nominated best musical A Class Act, many productions for Tony Randall’s National Actors Theatre and the recent revival of A Bronx Tale. Outside of NYC he has designed at many of the leading regional theatres in America as well as many national tours and opera productions. Currently he is head of the Scenic Design department at Boston University, a position held since 2001. Awards include: the Drama Desk (multiple nominations), American Theatre Wing Award, 2 Helen Hayes Awards (DC) and the LA Ovation Award.

CHARLOTTE MOORE

Recent directing credits include: London Assurance, Love, Noël, The Plough and the Stars as part of The O’Casey Cycle, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Three Small Irish Masterpieces by William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory and J.M. Synge, New York premiere of Brian Friel’s The Home Place, World premiere of Larry Kirwan’s Rebel in the Soul, Finian’s Rainbow, The Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative gala, Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory, Juno and the Paycock, and Dancing at Lughnasa. New York stage appearances include A Perfect Ganesh, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Perfect Party, Morning’s at Seven, Private Lives (with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton), and many performances with the New York Shakespeare Festival. Ms. Moore has received two Tony Award nominations, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Drama League Award, the Irish America Top 100 Irish Award, The Eugene O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2008 Irish Women Of The Year Award. She is the recipient of the St. Patrick’s Committee in Holyoke’s John F. Kennedy National Award, and has thrice been listed as one of the “Top 50 Power Women”in Irish America Magazine. Charlotte was named “Director of the Year” by The Wall Street Journal in 2011. Charlotte has recently been inducted in to the Irish America Hall of Fame and been awarded the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad, 2019 by President Michael D. Higgins.

With Tony Walton
In Discussion with Charlotte Moore and Ciarán O’Reilly

Oscar, Emmy and Tony Award winner Tony Walton (Pippin, Guys and Dolls), in conversation with Irish Rep Artistic Director Charlotte Moore and Producing Director Ciarán O’Reilly, will discuss his career as a designer and director and his decades-long relationship to Irish Repertory Theatre.

TONY WALTON

Tony Walton is an award-winning director and production designer for Broadway, Off-Broadway, film, television, ballet and opera. He has been honored with 16 Tony Award Nominations for his Broadway sets and/or costumes, with Pippin, House of Blue Leaves, and Guys and Dolls winning him Tony Awards.  Among his 20 films, Mary Poppins, The Boy Friend, The Wiz and Murder on the Orient Express earned him 5 Academy Award nominations. He won the Oscar for Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz , and the Emmy for Death of a Salesman. Walton’s designs for Broadway include Bob Fosse’s original productions of Chicago and Pippin, amongst many others. His film work includes collaborations with directors Bob Fosse, Sidney Lumet, and Paul Newman, with films such as: Fahrenheit 451, The Glass Menagerie, Regarding Henry, and Deathtrap. His graphic work includes a great many book and magazine illustrations, as well as caricatures for Playbill, Theatre Arts, Vogue, etc. and posters for many Broadway, Off-Broadway, and West End shows. He both directed and designed the U.S. premiere of Noël Coward’s After the Ball, (a musical version of Lady Windermere’s Fan) for the Irish Repertory Theatre for whom he also directed and designed The Importance of Being Earnest, Major Barbara, Candida and the recent The Devil’s Disciple, which he restaged for the Asolo Rep in Sarasota, Florida.

CHARLOTTE MOORE

Recent directing credits include: London Assurance, Love, Noël, The Plough and the Stars as part of The O’Casey Cycle, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Three Small Irish Masterpieces by William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory and J.M. Synge, New York premiere of Brian Friel’s The Home Place, World premiere of Larry Kirwan’s Rebel in the Soul, Finian’s Rainbow, The Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative gala, Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory, Juno and the Paycock, and Dancing at Lughnasa. New York stage appearances include A Perfect Ganesh, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Perfect Party, Morning’s at Seven, Private Lives (with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton), and many performances with the New York Shakespeare Festival. Ms. Moore has received two Tony Award nominations, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Drama League Award, the Irish America Top 100 Irish Award, The Eugene O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2008 Irish Women Of The Year Award. She is the recipient of the St. Patrick’s Committee in Holyoke’s John F. Kennedy National Award, and has thrice been listed as one of the “Top 50 Power Women”in Irish America Magazine. Charlotte was named “Director of the Year” by The Wall Street Journal in 2011. Charlotte has recently been inducted in to the Irish America Hall of Fame and been awarded the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad, 2019 by President Michael D. Higgins.

CIARÁN O’REILLY

Favorite directing credits include: Lady G: Plays and Whisperings of Lady Gregory, Dublin Carol, The Shadow of a Gunman, The Seafarer, The Dead, 1904, Shining City, Off the Meter, On the Record, The Weir (Calloway Nom.), Banished Children of Eve, The Emperor Jones, (Callaway Award, O’Neill Credo Award, Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel Nom.), The Hairy Ape (Drama Desk Drama League and Callaway Nom.), Philadelphia, Here I Come! (Drama Desk Nom). Irish Rep acting roles include Da, Juno and the Paycock, Dancing at Lughnasa, Molly Sweeney, Candida, Aristocrats, A Whistle in the Dark, The Shaughraun, and The Irish and How They Got That Way. He appeared in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of A Touch of the Poet with Gabriel Byrne. He has appeared at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and made his Broadway debut in The Corn is Green. Films include “The Devil’s Own” (starring Harrison Ford), “Law & Order,” “The Irish…and How They Got That Way,” “Third Watch,” “Bored to Death,” and “The Knick.” Ciarán has recently been inducted in to the Irish America Hall of Fame and has been awarded the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad, 2019 by President Michael D. Higgins.