Cherishing another great show

You would think that things might begin to quiet down a bit after the long St. Patrick’s Day season anymore, but you would be underestimating the stamina and penchant to entertain by a certain lady who calls Yonkers her home, that is, when she is at home.

And if you are making your living through Irish music and dance, well, you can’t give in to the calendar, but rather you have create excitement and interest all year round.  

For 22 years Joanie Madden and her female troupe Cherish the Ladies have done that around the world, keeping things fresh and innovative.  Last week was one of those tour-de-force barnstorming series of shows stretching from Virginia to Connecticut, with stops in New York and Pennsylvania that keep them far ahead of the pack.

All-star ensembles often promise a lot but don’t always deliver, so when I caught the current “Irish Homecoming” production in Easton, Pennsylvania last week, it could have been a case of highway congestion or forced or phony interaction between acts that seldom perform with one another and it can be disappointing especially if you shelled out big bucks to see it.   Nothing to be concerned about here.

The cavalcade of talent included Liz Carroll and John Doyle, one of the hottest duets on the circuit, Nashville-based chanteuse Maura O’Connell, originally from Ennis, Co. Clare, and boholla, featuring piano accordion maestro Jimmy Keane and singer/bouzouki player Pat Brooders, who joined Cherish the Ladies’ fulltime contingent led by Madden. 

Dermot Henry, the clever and comic song writer and performer made the weekend shows but sadly wasn’t at the Williams Center show at Easton’s Lafayette College last Tuesday when I dropped down.

Six top stepdancers, including four from the innovative percussive dance troupe Step Crew in Cara Butler, Jon Palatka, Dan Stacey and Joe Dwyer, joined forces with CTL regular Noelle Curran and the youngest of them all, Declan McHale from Birmingham, who was over for the World Irish Dancing Championships in Philadelphia, though a veteran of CTL British tours.

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Nster.com