The producers of The Pirate Queen, husband-and-wife team Moya Doherty and John McColgan, talk to Cahir O’Doherty. Between the first draft and the opening night the challenge of mounting a Broadway musical on the scale of The Pirate Queen is a high-wire act of artistic daring that few of us will ever have the courage or good fortune to make in our lives. Prior to the show’s … [Read more...] about The Pirate Queen
Music
New York City Redux
Music Columnist Ian Worpole chronicles his return to the Big Apple Having spent a rowdy ten years in a cheap loft in Tribeca, New York City (Cheap! It wasn’t quite yet an oxymoron twenty years ago), with two small children and an irate landlord, it was time to move north to Woodstock, a quaint hamlet known for its arts colony and a certain concert that took place in 1964. We … [Read more...] about New York City Redux
From Cork to Dublin: The New Wave
Ian Worpole looks at three albums by a fresh crop of Irish musicians A whole New Year, and a whole new crop of Irish rockers set to invade these shores. After 50-odd years of this modern stuff, the boundaries are naturally blurred between the Rock genres, with Soft Rock, Hard Rock, Folk Rock, Progressive Rock, Pop, Garage, Punk, Post-Punk, you get the picture. And when we talk … [Read more...] about From Cork to Dublin: The New Wave
Celtic Songbirds
Bringing to life the music we love Here’s a moderately interesting question: Do women lean towards male singers, and men towards women singers? Based on a sample poll of myself and my partner, the answer is a resounding yes, Van Morrison being the exception to the rule. Hence this month’s column, “Celtic Songbirds,” a glance at some of the best chanteuses out there. Of … [Read more...] about Celtic Songbirds
Leahy: Staying True to the Tune
Leahy sure knows how to bring a crowd to their feet. The Canadian group’s music fills a listener with the intensity of unfiltered joy, a rare experience in an age where songs lose their power after having been played to death by radio stations. This raw energy can perhaps be attributed to the group’s unwillingness to compromise their values. Fiddle player Donnell Leahy … [Read more...] about Leahy: Staying True to the Tune