Irish Repertory Theatre

Irish Drama.
New York Style.

Mainstage. Musical

The Butcher Boy

A World Premiere of the New Musical
on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage

Book, Music, & Lyrics by Asher Muldoon
Based on the novel by Patrick McCabe
Directed by Ciarán O’Reilly

Music Direction by David Hancock Turner
Choreography by Barry McNabb

July 21 – September 11, 2022

With David Baida, Nicholas Barasch, Carey Rebecca Brown, Joe Cassidy, Kerry Conte, Andrea Lynn Green, Daniel Marconi, Polly McKie, Michele Ragusa, Scott Stangland, Christian Strange, and Teddy Trice

“Muldoon has created a buoyantly engaging musical…miraculous…[Nicholas] Barasch is a young talent with a formidably bright future” — Charles Isherwood, The Wall Street Journal

“Good lord is it thrilling…a breakout performance that [Nicholas Barasch] gives himself over to completely” – IrishCentral

“When I was a young lad twenty or thirty or forty years ago, I lived in a small town where they were all after me on account of what I done on Mrs. Nugent.” — Patrick McCabe, The Butcher Boy

Growing up in a narrow-minded Irish village in the 1960s, young Francie Brady lives in a comic book dreamland with his parents and best friend Joe, but all that ends when the Nugents – mother and son – move to town. After the haughty Mrs. Nugent denounces the Brady family as “pigs,” a violent obsession enters Francie’s world and only builds as the life he loves crumbles around him. When he cannot fight the dark forces any longer, the story spins to a catastrophic conclusion.

The Butcher Boy is Patrick McCabe’s shattering masterpiece. Published in 1992, the novel was hailed as a modern classic and has remained in the Irish consciousness for decades. A 1997 film adaptation was directed by Neil Jordan and starred Fiona Shaw, Stephen Rea, and Sinéad O’Connor.

This musical adaptation is the first original musical in eight years to be developed by Irish Repertory Theatre. In 2017, high school senior Asher Muldoon (Dear Evan Hansen National Tour) approached Irish Rep with this adaptation, for which he had written a hypnotic score, smart lyrics, and a funny and moving book. In 2018, Irish Rep mounted a workshop and an enthusiastically received concert performance. We are thrilled to present the world premiere in 2022.

Read the performance program here!
Strobe lighting effects will be used in this production. This production may not be suitable for children under 14.

Click here for a Content Warning.

Watch the Trailer here:

“an anti-coming of age story…powerful” — The New York Times

“[Nicholas] Barasch is a fine singer and an energetic presence” — Ken Marks, The New Yorker

“It is a beautiful piece of theatre, a thought-provoking heartbreaking piece of theatre…a damn good piece of theater that will leave you pondering the story and characters for some time to come.” — Front Row Center

“all the earmarks of a future cult favorite…an impressive debut…perfectly staged to give everything a wonderfully mad, surrealistic perspective” — Talkin’ Broadway

“[Nicholas] Barasch unrestrainedly throws himself musically into the forbidding role” — New York Stage Review

“a solid, imaginative adaptation…the show strikes a balance between comedy and tragedy thanks to the excellent ensemble, clever choices, and striking set” — Show Biz

“a dark comedy of contrasts and pipe dreams…empathetically musicalized to highlight the ever-changing circumstances and emotional swings in this compelling adaptation of McCabe’s novel…Nicholas Barasch commands the stage.” —  Mark Kappel

A Child’s Christmas in Wales

The Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage

by Dylan Thomas
adapted and directed by Charlotte Moore
musical direction by John Bell

with Nicholas Barasch, Dewey Caddell, Margaret Dudasik, Polly McKie, Naomi Louisa O’Connell, and Ashley Robinson

November 28 – December 30, 2018

“irresistible… it warms the heart like a blazing Yule log.” – The Wall Street Journal

This holiday season, experience a joyous musical celebration of Dylan Thomas’ iconic story, A Child’s Christmas in Wales, the “never to be forgotten day at the end of the unremembered year,” when songs are sung, cakes and sweets are abundant, and the frozen city parks are laden with mysteries and adventures for wild boys and girls to explore.

This favorite Irish Rep tradition features both classic and contemporary Christmas music interwoven with Thomas’s story of a snowy Christmas Day in Wales.

“cozy and sweet and funny and warm” – The New Yorker</em>

A cavalcade of imagery and sensation … The descriptions of treats and toys are evocative, the carols appealingly sung, the cast charming. This sweet show conjures plenty of good will toward men.” – The New York Times

“an atmosphere fit for a picture print by Currier and Ives… Just let it warm you inside like a cup of hot cocoa and take in the spirit of the holidays.” –TheaterMania

“charmingly presents the Christmas we all wish we could have experienced at least once in our lives… One of the most striking things about A Child’s Christmas in Wales is that no matter how many times we may see it, we can always find something different in its telling.” -The Epoch Times

“The holiday punchbowl is sweetly spicy  at The Irish Repertory Theatre’s nostalgic holiday show… Moore looks for the best in Christmas, and combines it beautifully with Thomas’ Christmas fairytale, leaving the audience feeling as though they’re tucked inside a cozy, musical snowglobe.”  — Associated Press

“If you prefer your holiday cheer tuneful, sweet and short, you’ll do no better… A Child’s Christmas in Wales is the perfect antidote for your inner Grinch. Do yourself a favor and drop in for some sentimentality served in style.” – Talkin’ Broadway

“As good as a stiped & colored peppermint stick. The ensemble’s enjoyment of what they’re doing is not one engaging, but their genuine enthusiasm becomes infectious.” — Curtain Up

“Irish Rep’s production of A Child’s Christmas in Wales brings home the whole point of the Christmas tradition!” — New York Irish Arts

On A Clear Day You Can See Forever

on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage

Music by Burton Lane
Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Adapted and Directed by Charlotte Moore

With Florrie Bagel, William Bellamy, Dewey Caddell (Aug 15-19), Rachel Coloff, Peyton Crim, John Cudia, Ben Davis, Melissa Errico, Caitlin Gallogly, Matt Gibson, Daisy Hobbs, and Craig Waletzko.

Extended to September 6, 2018

“a miniature musical of tremendous charm” – The Wall Street Journal

Daisy Gamble is a woman of extrasensory talents – she sings and flowers bloom, and she always knows where you’ve placed your keys – but it’s her smoking habit that leads her to Dr. Mark Bruckner, a psychiatrist who will attempt to hypnotize her addiction away. In Daisy, Dr. Bruckner discovers the case – and perhaps the love – of his life as he unlocks Daisy’s past self, an 18th century British aristocrat named Melinda Welles. Mark becomes increasingly enamored of Melinda as he watches her relive her great love affair with Edward Moncrief. All is going well until Mark decides to publish his findings, and Daisy realizes she’s been unwittingly along for the ride!

After last year’s acclaimed run of Finian’s Rainbow, Irish Rep is proud to present Burton Lane’s other great Broadway musical, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, written with Alan Jay Lerner, newly adapted by Director Charlotte Moore. This 1965 musical boasts one of Broadway’s most beautiful scores, with songs including “What Did I Have That I Don’t Have?” and the title song “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever,” performed at Irish Rep by an on-stage ensemble led by Conductor Gary Adler.

The all-star cast features Ben Davis (Les Miserables) as Dr. Mark Bruckner, John Cudia (Phantom of the Opera) as Edward Moncrief, and Melissa Errico (Finian’s Rainbow) as Daisy/Melinda. Stephen Bogardus ended his acclaimed run as Dr. Mark Bruckner on August 8.

BUY TICKETS

“The gorgeous high never really lets up.” – The New Yorker

“Any chance to hear Ms. Errico sing is a chance worth taking.” – The New York Times

“Only the most curmudgeonly could resist its undeniable charm.” – The Hollywood Reporter

“a moving and fun excuse to hear some of the best tunes of old Broadway…sung by three of the best performers in theater today” – Newsweek

Woody Sez: The Life & Music of Woody Guthrie

devised by David M. Lutken with Nick Corley and
Darcie Deaville, Helen Jean Russell & Andy Teirstein
directed by Nick Corley
music direction: David M. Lutken

Extended through September 10, 2017

Buy tickets now!

Woody Sez is a joyous, toe-tapping, musical portrait, rich with the words and songs of America’s great troubadour, which transports the audience through the fascinating, beautiful, and sometimes tragic life of Woody Guthrie. With songs like “This Land is Your Land” and “So Long It’s Been Good To Know Yuh” a talented group of four actor/musicians bring to life the many people who formed the fabric of his story. Not only was Woody a seminal influence on Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, he also inspired generations of Irish folk singers like the Clancy Brothers and Christy Moore.  His songs may have told the stories of the disenfranchised in the Dust Bowl, but his recurrent themes speak of famine, workers’ rights and emigrant strife. His legacy defined an American era of social consciousness and political expression that is alive and palpable today.

“The songs and high spirits come in a bracing torrent…the exhilarating Woody Sez, [is]a fine balm for a summer’s night.” -The New York Times

“★★★★  “An American epic… Like the songs themselves, everything about the show has the ring of truth” –Time Out

“Outstanding… it’s superb… a politically invigorating and inventive reflection on Guthrie’s life and times” -The New Yorker

For more information on the life and legacy of Woody Guthrie, visit WoodyGuthrie.org

The Irish… And How They Got That Way

theirish01by Frank McCourt
directed by Charlotte Moore
musical direction by Rusty McGee & Mark Hartman

Summer 2001

The Irish… And How They Got That Way is an irreverent history of the Irish through the tumultuous 20th and 21st centuries through the eyes of Pulitzer Prize winning author, Frank McCourt (Angela’s Ashes, ‘Tis, Teacher Man).

McCourt’s razor sharp wit, coupled with his trademark bitter irony, and his boundless love for the Irish People are all underscored by glorious music extending all the way from the auld Irish folk ballades, through George M. Cohan’s patriotic love songs to America, World War II standards sung in movies, USOs and foxholes all over the world, and including the latest from contemporary Ireland’s U2.

“Making successful entertainment out of serious history is a rare gift. Yet from the tragic 1840s potato famine to a haunting, modern U2 anthem, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former history TEACHER FRANK MCCOURT’S RICHLY NARRATED, MUSICAL HISTORY LESSON, “THE IRISH … AND HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY,” IS PURE ENJOYMENT. “An exuberant, mostly Irish cast enacts McCourt’s wide-ranging material that sizzles with outrage, wit, pride and, of course, sentiment. Charlotte Moore, artistic director of the Irish Rep, has cohesively and artfully staged the work, with cast and musicians onstage in a storytelling grouping. Spirited narration of McCourt’s irony-tinged version of Irish history — combining fact, folklore, stereotypes and blarney — is interspersed with snippets or full productions of many familiar Irish songs, often accompanied by lively dancing. The troupe is backed by atmospheric projections of historical paintings, newspaper articles, letters, and black-and-white photos, yet the warmhearted production never feels like a documentary. THIS PRODUCTION OF “THE IRISH …” FULLY SUCCEEDS AS A SOULFUL, OFTEN ROLLICKING JOURNEY THROUGH 150 TUMULTUOUS YEARS OF IRISH-AMERICAN HISTORY.” — Associated Press

“Throughout the show, the music expresses a sentimental nostalgia through catch-in-your-throat numbers that make you reflexively tear up. the show concludes with U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” IT’S THE PERFECT ANTHEM FOR THOSE WHO PONDER WHAT THEY’VE GAINED — AND LOST.” — NY Post

“Ciaran Sheehan sings a beautiful version of “Danny Boy” in the Irish Repertory’s revival of Frank McCourt’s The Irish…And How They Got That Way but that’s far from the only reason for recommending this refreshing summer breeze from Galway Bay. THE SHOW IS A FITTING TRIBUTE TO EVERYTHING IRISH — AND, IN PARTICULAR, TO THE LIVELY, KEENING IRISH SONGS NOW POPULAR FOR EONS.” — Theatremania

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