Ged Graham has never taken part in the revelry that takes place on St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago. He doesn’t know what it’s like to watch the dyeing of the Chicago river or witness the parade on Columbus Drive. But what he does know is the city’s underlying Irish spirit.
And that’s why he’s bringing “Fairytale of New York” to the Windy City.
“It’s where St. Patrick’s Day would meet Christmas Day,” gushes Graham, the creator, creative director and producer of the lively production touring the U.S. for the very first time after ultra-successful runs in Ireland and the United Kingdom. “I’m just so excited to get there [to Chicago]. I feel like I’m 5 years old and Christmas is tomorrow.”
Best described as an Irish-inspired Christmas concert set in New York’s Central Park on Christmas Eve and loosely based on the popular Pogues song “Fairytale of New York,” the onstage production features a cast of singers, dancers and musicians, all bringing their Irish roots and talents together for a night of music and fun.
“You’re going to get the Irish songs and you’re going to get the Irish hard-shoe dancing and we’ve got a lot of soft-shoe Irish (dancing) in there, too,” explains Graham. “We’ve also got some contemporary songs and contemporary dancing in there. It’s a real sort of mishmash of Irishness. It’s just great fun.”
In fact, Graham says that there is no specific underlying story to “Fairytale of New York.” “It’s really just a bunch of great Christmas songs done in an Irish vibe with a Celtic feel. You’ve got all your big Christmas songs to get you in the mood for Christmas, but then some great Irish sing-along songs that will have you clapping — and singing along.”
It’s this unabashed joy that Graham says he believes the whole world is craving right about now.
“We want the audience to come in and for two hours or thereabouts, we want them just to forget about all the troubles,” he says. “There are enough troubles in the world. We just want everyone to sing along, be happy and go away a little bit happier than they were when they first came into the theater.”
“Fairytale of New York” is a production custom-made for audiences of all ages.
“If you come from an Irish background, then there’s obviously a generational thing there,” Graham explains. “There are many songs that you have heard before. So, if you’re a 9-year-old, you may remember your granddad singing that song. And if you’re a 90-year-old, you’ll take joy in your grandchildren and your children and your brothers and your sisters having that shared experience.”
The shared experience provided by a production such as “Fairytale in New York” also offers the audience countless opportunities to bask in the joy of the evening. Granted, there are moments over the course of “Fairytale of New York” that allow for a bit more retrospection, especially on the somewhat melancholy performances of classics such as “Silent Night” and “Danny Boy,” for example.
“ ‘Danny Boy’ is such an emotive song that holds so many memories for different reasons to different people,” he says. “Some people say it’s a bit of a funeral song, but it’s also a part of reality. Songs really are the soundtrack to our life.”
And bringing these songs to the forefront in this production is something that Graham will never take for granted.
“I’m just a lad from inner-city Dublin who sang songs, played some very rough bars and managed to get into doing theater stuff,” says Graham, who hopes to “visit some record shops” while in Chicago.
“And somehow, I have managed to have a really good career over the last 50 years. But what’s even more amazing is now I have the chance to take a show that I thought about putting together to America.”