The Irish…and How They Got That Way
Opening Night: July 22, 2010
Closing: September 5, 2010
Theater: Irish Repertory Theatre
Frank McCourt’s The Irish…And How They Got That Way is an irreverent but affectionate history of the Irish in America that mingles laughter and sentiment in a tapestry of classical songs and stories. The production encapsulates the most tumultuous times of the past century with the vibrant humor and bitter irony that had become the trademark of the author of the critically acclaimed biographies Angela’s Ashes, ‘Tis, and Teacher Man.
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July 29, 2010
Don’t expect the 12th-century Norman invasion in "The Irish . . . and How They Got That Way": The focus of Frank McCourt’s play is much narrower. A better title would be "The Irish-Americans . . . and How They Got That Way."
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July 23, 2010
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, which debuted on the green-painted premises in 1997 and was revived for the first time in 2000, is a fitting tribute to everything Irish — and, in particular, to the lively, keening Irish songs now popular for eons.
READ THE REVIEWJuly 22, 2010
Eleven U.S. presidents have been descendants of the Irish, including Barack Obama. An Irishman was the first to make a piano in America; take out an American appendix; start a fistfight on the floor of the United States Senate; jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. Indeed, an Irish monk was the first European to discover America, in the sixth century, according to “The Irish…and How They Got That Way,” a musical revue and history lesson that was put together by the retired schoolteacher Frank McCourt in 1997, a year after his memoir “Angela’s Ashes” made him famous. The Irish Repertory Theater is now reviving the show exactly a year after McCourt’s death.
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August 5, 2010
Frank McCourt’s bright, verdant patchwork of folk tunes and historical quotations tracing the Irish-American experience returns for a special engagement tied to the first anniversary of the author’s death. For those of us who never saw The Irish…and How They Got That Way when it premiered at the Irish Rep in 1997, this bittersweet tribute seems aimed not just at the displaced, long-suffering titular people, but at McCourt himself.
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August 4, 2010
There was an interval in the 1990s when all things Hibernian were at the cultural forefront: bands like the Pogues and the Waterboys had devoted followings; Neil Jordan’s “Crying Game” was a hit movie; the Good Friday, or Belfast, Agreement was signed. And Frank McCourt, a retired Manhattan high school teacher, wrote “Angela’s Ashes,” his best-selling memoir about a destitute childhood in Limerick, which won a Pulitzer Prize.
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