The Irish And How They Got That Way

Play (1997)
by Frank McCourt
Original Music Arrangements by Rusty Magee
Additional arrangements by Kirsten Salpini
Director A. Nora Long
Music Director Kirsten Salpini
Greater Boston Stage Company
Stoneham, MA
February 28 – March 16, 2025

With Kirsten Salpini, Dan Prior, Jeffrey Song, Billie Butler, Janis Hudson, Holly B. Faust, Niki Verakaris (fiddle)

Set in a pub, this narrative cum mostly song and some dance, is a warm and intimate tribute to Irish and irish-American culture. With an amalgam of ballads, jigs, and associated numbers from a broad array of sources, it offers a broad sketch of Irish history and the effects of Irish immigration on American culture.

This is not a play per se, but a narrative, shared broadly in recitation among the cast, most of whom sing and some of whom play instruments as well. Written with attention to the sufferings and accomplishments of the Irish and of Irish-Americans, it casts its net wide and seeks to give a sense, rather than a comprehensive or chronological account, of Irish history and culture.

The pub scene gives a sense of informality and some of the characters hug and embrace one another contributing to the sense of community and family. The only really identified character is the pub owner (Janis Hudson) who serves as a kind of master of ceremonies.

The vocal and instrumental talents are varied and compelling. Kirsten Salpini, who serves as the music director, also has a beautiful voice and commands many of the more lyrical and sentimental ballads. She and Hudson also do several wonderful Irish step dances together.

Jeffrey Song provides consistent and thoughtful accompaniment on the cello and Niki Yerakaris (filling in for regular Tessa Paige Sacramone) adds lovely support on the violin. Dan Prior offers a beautiful tenor throughout and Billie Butler is a source of varied musical support of various sorts, also serving as a kind of musical master of ceremonies.

Frank McCourt, known as a novelist and memoirist, offers a curious and often interesting narrative, filled with fun and unexpected observations, and always with a note of appreciation for Irish contributions to culture in general and to American culture in particular. The narrative notes such Irish-American accomplishments as the first piano produced in America and the first appendectomy performed there.

More poignant and searing elements of the narrative focus upon the potato famine of 1845 which it points out was not truly a famine, since there was plenty of other food produced in Ireland at the time. However, potatoes were the food of the poor and the other food – the barley, beef, bacon and everything else produced in Ireland at the time, were, as McCourt’s narrative notes, sent to England. So, in effect, the destruction of the potato crop, though not officially a famine, resulted in a famine, within Ireland, for the poor. And that resulted in their emigration in large numbers to America. As well, McCourt’s narrative notes the negative reception of that wave of immigration by Americans, with No Irish need apply notices prevalent at the time. McCourt’s account of the American Civil War is filled with awful images of Irish-American regiments on both sides lined up against, and killing, one another.

McCourt notes that one million Irish came to America between 1840 and 1860 and became largely responsible for the building of roads and railroads as well as becoming central to the American Labor movement.

A far lighter account, in word and song, to George M. Cohan’s influence on Broadway, is filled with great numbers – Give My Regards to Broadway,Over There, You’re a Grand Old Flag, I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy, sweet and rousing.

From the traditional musical repertory, a wonderful rendition of Danny Boy, in a rich and harmonized duet, is particularly appealing.

A few quotations from Irish and Irish-Americans add gravitas to the portrayal. Among these is a particularly penetrating one by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan: There’s no point in being Irish unless you understand that the world will break your heart. The spirit of that quotation, along with a good deal of energetic song, gives a good sense of the embrace of this show which attempts to bring out the joyousness, the rowdiness, and the poignancy that conjoin in this Irish portrait.

The penultimate scene features a tribute to John F. Kennedy and a sobering note about his assassination, is followed up with a tender ballad rendition of U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, and a final Irish-Gaelic toast of Sláinte (pr, approx: slan-che), meaning Health!

Beautiful singing and playing, and some rousing dancing and an amalgam of interesting and suggestive accounts of Irish life, make this musical and lyrical portrait sweet and appealing, a nice anticipation of St. Patrick’s Day.

– BADMan (aka Charles Munitz)