World Premiere of New Musical THE BUTCHER BOY & More Announced for Irish Rep Summer 2022 Season

Irish Repertory Theatre announced today two productions for their Summer 2022 season. A brand new production of Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom, adapted for the stage by Aedín Moloney (The Dead, 1904) and Colum McCann (Let the Great World Spin), will begin previews on June 8, 2022 with an opening night set for June 15 and a limited run through July 17, 2022 on the W. Scott McLucas Studio Stage and feature new direction by John Keating, new additional music by Paddy Moloney, and an updated design.

The World Premiere of the new musical The Butcher Boy, with book, music & lyrics by Asher Muldoon, will begin previews on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage on July 21, 2022. Featuring direction by Ciarán O'Reilly (A Touch of the Poet), music direction by David Hancock Turner (Penelope) and choreography by Barry McNabb (The Streets of New York), The Butcher Boy is set to open on August 1 for a limited run through September 11, 2022.

YES! REFLECTIONS OF MOLLY BLOOM

On the W. Scott McLucas Studio Stage

From the novel Ulysses by James Joyce

Adapted for the stage by Aedín Moloney & Colum McCann

Music by Paddy Moloney

Directed by John Keating

Performed by Aedín Moloney

Previews Begin June 8, 2022

Opening Night Set for June 15, 2022

Limited Run through July 17, 2022

"Yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will yes" (James Joyce, Ulysses)

A daring theatrical journey into the mind and heart of James Joyce's most sensual hero - a woman of women, a soul of souls, the indomitable Molly Bloom.

It is Ireland in the early hours of June 17th, 1904. Molly Bloom's husband - the philandering Leopold "Poldy" Bloom - has just come home and fallen asleep in their Dublin row house. Molly - a daughter, a mother, a lover and a long-suffering wife - patrols the pathways of her wild and leaping consciousness. She is lustful. Scared. Exuberant. Heartbreakingly lonely. Vivaciously reckless. And profoundly funny.

With an empty nest, an unfulfilling affair and a marriage long past its prime, Molly contemplates the love that she and Bloom once shared. Her unsentimental stream of consciousness is a song of songs that reaches backwards and forwards across the centuries. Molly seeks to reanimate that love of Bloom, and ends up discovering herself - as a woman seeking purpose and a desire to be relevant, even after that love is over and her children are gone. Through reflection, Dublin becomes Gibraltar, age becomes youth, and a small room in Ireland becomes the world.

A beautiful and honest reflection of Molly's life, written by James Joyce, adapted for the stage by Aedín Moloney and Colum McCann, and directed by John Keating with original music by Paddy Moloney (Founder and Leader of The Chieftains), Aedín Moloney's one woman performance is a tribute to the enduring mysteries of loss and love - and the affirmation found, yes, in between. It also considers, as Joyce does, a time in which a woman's life and choices in Dublin were shaped more fully by a man. After its world premiere at Irish Rep in the summer of 2019, Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom was produced for Irish Rep Online during the COVID-19 shutdown as a Performance on Screen.

After reading Ulysses as a young girl, Aedín Moloney spent close to 30 years developing and shaping her interpretation of James Joyce's Penelope chapter. In 2003, renowned author and fellow Joyce enthusiast, Colum McCann, invited her to perform passages from the soliloquy at his annual Bloomsday celebration. With McCann's encouragement, Moloney recorded "Reflections of Molly Bloom" in 2017, an audio recording of the unabridged text, accompanied with music by Paddy Moloney.

Yes! will feature scenic design by Charlie Corcoran (A Touch of the Poet), costume design by Leon Dobkowski (Dublin Carol), lighting design by Michael O'Connor (Two by Synge) and sound design by M. Florian Staab (A Touch of the Poet). Jeff Davolt (Autumn Royal) is the production stage manager.

The performance schedule is as follows: Wednesdays at 3pm & 8pm; Thursdays at 7pm; Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 3pm & 8pm; Sundays at 3pm.

Tickets to Yes! begin at $50 ($45 for preview performances) and are available now to Irish Rep members. Tickets will go on sale to the public on May 10 at 1pm ET and will be available at IrishRep.org.

The World Premiere of the New Musical

THE BUTCHER BOY

On the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage

Book, Music & Lyrics by Asher Muldoon

Based on the novel The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe

Directed by Ciarán O'Reilly

Music Direction by David Hancock Turner

Choreographed by Barry McNabb

Previews Begin July 21, 2022

Opening Night set for August 1, 2022

Limited Run through September 11, 2022

"When I was a young lad twenty or thirty or forty years ago, I lived in a small town where they were all after me on account of what I done on Mrs. Nugent." (Patrick McCabe, The Butcher Boy)

Life is hard for the youthful Francie Brady, who struggles to navigate the narrow streets and narrow minds of an Irish village in the 1960's. But his eternal optimism and carefree spirit carry him above his dysfunctional family and gossipy town, where he lives in a comic book dreamland with his best friend Joe. When he taunts newcomer Philip Nugent, his uptight mother Mrs. Nugent calls Francie's family a bunch of pigs. This triggers a violent pig obsession, which grows as Francie's life falls apart around him.

This surrealist coming-of-age tale is tangled in a hypnotic score, smart lyrics, and a funny and moving book, which all serve to cloak Francie's pain until he cannot fight the dark forces any longer, and the story spins to a catastrophic conclusion.

The Butcher Boy is Patrick McCabe's shattering masterpiece novel. Published in 1992, the novel was hailed as a modern classic and has remained in the Irish consciousness for decades. A 1997 film adaptation was directed by Neil Jordan and starred Eamonn Owens, Fiona Shaw, Stephen Rea and Sinéad O'Connor.

This first musical adaptation of The Butcher Boy is the first original musical in eight years to be developed by Irish Repertory Theatre. In 2017, high school senior Asher Muldoon (Dear Evan Hansen National Tour) approached Irish Rep with this adaptation, for which he had written book, music & lyrics. In 2018, Irish Rep mounted a workshop and an enthusiastically-received concert performance. We are thrilled to present the world premiere in 2022.

A performance schedule, ticket information, casting and additional creative team for The Butcher Boy will be announced at a later date.

ABOUT IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE

IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE, co-founded by Producing Director Ciarán O'Reilly and Artistic Director Charlotte Moore, is now in its 33rd season after first opening its doors in September 1988 with Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars. Irish Rep is currently the only year-round theatre company in New York City devoted to bringing Irish and Irish American works to the stage. Recognized with the Jujamcyn Theatres Award, a special Drama Desk Award for "Excellence in Presenting Distinguished Irish Drama," an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Achievement, and the Lucille Lortel Award for "Outstanding Body of Work," Irish Rep celebrates the very best in Irish theatre, from the masters to the new generation of Irish and Irish American writers who are transforming the stage. Nearly 50,000 audience members annually attend productions at Irish Rep's theatre located in the heart of New York's Off-Broadway community. Once here, they witness Irish Rep's engaging perspective on the Irish and their unique contributions to the world of drama.

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT

IrishRep.org