It's St. Patrick's Day! Let's celebrate the only way that Americans know how, by going to a parade, drinking some Guinness, and listening to music that only sorta has something to do with the country of Ireland. Broadway has given us plenty, here are five of them:
“I don't know you / But I want you / All the more for that / And words fall through me / And always fool me / And I can't react”
Once is a beautiful musical and one that I quite enjoy. Based on the 2007 film of the same name, the movie's lead actors and co-songwriters Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová returned to flesh out their little independent movie for the big Broadway stage. The problem with the show is that "Falling Slowly," by far the best song in the whole thing and sneakily one of my favorite songs ever, is the third song in the show. And then it's never that good again! Because how could it be! They really should've kept that trick up their sleeve a little while longer.
“I don't know / The words to tell you how it feels / or how to put it in a rhyme / but if you come with me you'll know / How the lamps in the park / look like god in the dark / as they glow / on the streets of Dublin”
The first time I ever heard "Streets of Dublin" was in another musical: Celtic Fyre at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. That's right, in a theme park show. Don't ask, I've looked into it and I have no idea why this amusement park, 30-minute Irish stepdance showcase starts with a song from an Ahrens and Flaherty musical.
Maybe it's just because it's a great song. Steven Pasquale is an underrated performer and he sounds excellent on this recording. I might, however, be more inclined to reach for this Andrew Rannells performance of the tune on YouTube.
“My first crush on an Irish girl / I was ten years old / And her name was Elaine / Little redhead girl / Well, she looked like you / But if you were ten / Which you're clearly not / Not that you look old / But you get my—/ I'll just stop now”
I suppose I'm cheating here by including a song that isn't actually in a musical but is instead a cut song from a musical, but this is my list and not yours. I'm also fully aware we haven't even talked about Finian's Rainbow yet - we'll get there!
"I Could Be in Love with Someone Like You" is the song that Jason Robert Brown originally wrote for the "Shiksa Goddess" slot in The Last Five Years. Norbert Leo Butz sang the song for the original production, but when Brown's ex-wife objected to the musical, particularly the similarities portrayed in that particular number, it was cut and replaced. Both songs are great, but I think that I prefer this one...
“In a bar once I met this guy, Dewey/And he bought me, like, fourteen beers/And he told that he was from Ireland/So I lived with him ten years/If I squinted, he looked like my sailor/Through my boozy, delusional fog/But he dumped me for some slut named Kayla/Took my trailer and took my dog”
Legally Blonde is often unfairly lumped into the oft-dismissed category of "Hollywood movies turned into Broadway musicals," which it obviously is, but it's also much better than a good majority of those adaptations.
One of the reasons it's so successful is that it takes characters from the movie and gives them so much more to do. Elle Woods' hairdresser Paulette is a great example. Played by the incomparable Jennifer Coolidge in the film, she's often unfortunately relegated to sidekick status. In the musical, originally played by stage great Orfeh, she's often the hero who gets to save the day. She's also given so much more of a backstory, including her obsession with the country of Ireland. She plays her CD called "Celtic Moods" and busts this one out.
“I hear a bird / A Glocca Morra bird / It may well be / He's bringing me / A cheerin' word / I hear a breeze / A River Shannon breeze / It may well be / It's followed me / Across the seas / Then tell me please / How are things in Glocca Morra?”
Alright, we finally made it to Finian's Rainbow. For a long time, this was the musical set in Ireland. Nowadays, it's relegated to "dusty old classic" status and nobody really does it anymore. Unless, of course, you're New York's Irish Repertory Theatre, who has done the show three times in the past twenty years. I suppose that's why they say IRT stands for I Really Thinkweshoulddofinian'srainbowagain.*
*Nobody has ever said that.
"How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" has entered the songbook repertory and has been recorded by artists like Bing Crosby, Barbra Streisand, and Julie Andrews. It was also a favorite of President John F. Kennedy, and it doesn't get any more Irish than that.
honorable mentioned to "My Darlin' Eileen"?