THE THEATER MIRROR, New England's LIVE Theater Guide
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note: entire contents copyright 2009 by Beverly Creasey
The set-up is really an excuse to hear those fabulous songs---and Bierne is spot on, from that luxurious, heartbreaking slide into a sad phrase to the glottal click that makes “Cra—azy” so sorrowful. Bierne soft-yodels “Ba-a-by” just like Cline. So remarkable is her legerdemain that jaws were dropping all over the house when she began the glorious “I Fall to Pieces. Frey is mighty amusing in the commercial and news department but it’s Bierne and the classy band (with sensational pedal steel from Mike Ihde) who deliver the goods. If you’re a Patsy Cline fan, this show is for you.
We crave Irish theater here in Boston. Luckily The Tir Na Company is filling the void left by the loss of the Sugan Theatre. In fact, Tir Na’s current production of Mark Doherty’s delightfully daffy TRAD (at the BCA through April 24th) reunites a passel of Sugan alums.
I suspect Carmel O’Reilly directed this outrageous father &son odyssey with her funny bone--- and I can’t imagine a better duo than Billy Meleady and Colin Hamel to stumble their way from pillar to post. The two are older than Methuselah but that doesn’t stop them for searching for an heir. Along the way they encounter Nancy E. Carroll in a couple of show stopping guises: First, as a batty town elder and then, as the parched parish priest. Think Beckett on hallucinogens. You’ll laugh yourself silly. Then just when you think it can’t get any nuttier, a nifty ending will touch your heart. What’s not to love?