Hard Times had already sold out by word of mouth before a glowing New York Times review brought waiting-list crowds to the cell last year. This riveting new American musical that touched the hearts of public and critics alike will commemorate the 150th anniversary of Stephen Foster’s death on Jan. 13th, 2014.
Hard Times (written by Larry Kirwan of Black 47, directed by Kira Simring and produced by the cell) takes place six months before Foster’s death on July 13, 1863, days after the Battle of Gettysburg, when New York City exploded in the Civil War Draft Riots. The teeming immigrant Irish population was outraged that enlistment could be avoided by payment of $300. Down in the notorious Five Points neighborhood where up until then Irish and African-Americans lived in harmony and often “amalgamated,” Nelly Blythe runs an integrated dancehall/saloon.
Stephen Foster, ashamed of his role in the creation of minstrelsy and blackface, and haunted by memories of his wife (for whom he wrote Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair), seeks refuge in Nelly’s to compose one of his last songs. As violence escalates in the streets, Foster becomes entangled in the simmering tensions that arise between Owen Duignan, a charismatic young Irish entertainer, Thomas Jefferson, Nelly’s black handyman, and Michael Jenkins, a nativist Bowery Boy with little love for outsiders but an obsession with Nelly, a freeborn black woman.
In this watershed American moment, we witness the forging of Tap from the exhilarating interplay of African-American and Irish dance, learn why Foster chose to end his days in the squalor of the Five Points, and experience the birth of modern New York City. We also rediscover the genius of Stephen Foster, as the multi-talented cast ebulliently sweeps the dust off his wonderful songs and in so doing allows us a glimpse of the tumultuous glory of America at a crossroads in her history.
Back to a Simple Time, When Things Were About to Become Difficult
‘Hard Times: An American Musical’ at the Cell Theater
“Gangs of New York” may have helped to revive the memory of Five Points, the notorious 19th-century slum in Lower Manhattan, but no one probably considered it the stuff of song and dance — until Larry Kirwan, the novelist, playwright and, not incidentally, leader of the rock band Black 47. Now at the Cell Theater as part of the 1st Irish Theater Festival, Mr. Kirwan’s rousing “Hard Times: An American Musical” examines the clashes among nativists, Irish immigrants and free blacks, ingeniously using the life and works of Stephen Foster, America’s first great songwriter, to tell the tale.
It’s the summer of 1863, and Foster (Jed Peterson) is holed up in his favorite Five Points saloon, trying to eke out another song as he slides deeper into his cups. Just outside, the Draft Riots are starting, and the very character of the Points — a neighborhood where poor whites and blacks live together easily enough — is under siege, with ethnic frictions about to explode, presaging the difficult future that awaits the city after the Civil War ends.
The crowd in the bar includes Nelly Blyth (Almeria Campbell), the black woman who owns it; Owen Duignan (John Charles McLaughlin), the young Irishman who fronts her house band; Thomas Jefferson (Stephane Duret), Nelly’s black handyman; and Michael Jenkins (Philip Callen), a nativist New Yorker who hopes to court Nelly. In flashback, we also meet Foster’s wife, Jane (Erin West), for whom he wrote “Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair.” Tensions are eased by Foster’s songs, though the music is also used to comment on the building drama.
Placing Foster’s songs in an ideal setting to understand their impact, Mr. Kirwan has reinvigorated them, with members of the full-throated cast singing a fiery “Camptown Races”; a tender “Oh, Susanna”; a soulful “Old Folks at Home”; a stirring “Hard Times Come Again No More”. (No slouch with a lyric himself, Mr. Kirwan has added the tart stanza or two to Foster classics and contributed a couple of songs as well.)
While clearly respectful of Foster’s legacy, Mr. Kirwan does make one leap, intimating that he was gay, a conclusion no biographer has reached. Still, for the purposes of this story, the speculation fits, informing Foster’s drinking, his long separation from his wife and child, and the melancholy that laced many of his later songs.
Under Kira Simring’s sure-handed direction, “Hard Times” bursts with vitality: the Cell, an intimate space, becomes the saloon, burlap draped along the walls, a tattered flag hanging. The choreography, by Joe Barros, morphs Irish step-dancing into something close to tap. And the show’s band of five men, led by Andrew Smithson, feel like characters themselves, joining in the revelry when the pace quickens.
By the end of the evening, the audience is up, cheering and stamping. In “Hard Times,” Mr. Kirwan has not only delivered a knockout entertainment, he’s done a public service, reacquainting us with the Foster songbook and the striving, teeming America for which it was written. — By DANIEL M. GOLD
Hard Times bursts with life, thanks to Kira Simring’s inventive staging and the superb singing and dancing performed to the accompaniment of a first rate, five-piece band. The tension is immediately established when young Irish singer/dancer Owen (a terrific John Charles McLaughlin) performs a bitterly angry rendition of “Camptown Races” in blackface. By the near-climactic, rousing rendition of “Hard Times Come Again No More,” you may find yourself believing they won’t. New York Post
The small cast infuses their roles with intensity and detail as well as musical muscle. Director Kira Simring makes intriguing use of the small Cell Theatre space. Choreographer Joe Barros delivers robust dancing based on Irish and African-American traditions, and music director Andrew Smithson gives vibrancy and power to the score, which combines Foster’s classic Americana with Kirwan’s modern sensibilities. Backstage
Hard Time’s music—original songs by Foster updated by Black 47 member Kirwan—is gorgeous. Particularly striking is McLaughlin's somber version of "Gentle Annie," a genuinely heartfelt song that Foster based on a traditional Irish melody. Also charming is "Hard Times Come Again No More," a soaring, at times-a cappella rendition from the entire cast. Village Voice
Musicals can be irritating, their manufactured emotion unbearably phony. Larry Kirwan’s “Hard Times,” however, is not just the best of the genre I’ve seen, but truly affecting. The rest of the audience was also demonstrably moved at one of the extra performances laid on during the show’s largely sold-out run as part of the 1st Irish Theater Festival. This is the story of the hard birth of the modern U.S., told mostly through the songs of Stephen Foster. Irish Echo
Just as Tony Kushner was able to bring into focus his understanding of the hard times facing America near the close of the twentieth century with his “Angels in America” Larry Kirwan has been able to successfully bring into focus the issues that face twenty-first century America and threaten to damage the very core of its credo. “Hard Times” is a remarkable and memorable moment of brilliant theatre. Theatre Reviews Limited
True to the melting pot that was Five Points, Kirwan takes the colors in Foster’s melodies and paints broad strokes of Cajun, gospel, bare knuckled piano boogie woogie, jump blues, and of course, Irish jigging and reeling. Irish Voice
Hard Times is an ebullient, stirring and relevant American musical. “Old Folks at Home” is a revelation. As the song moves toward its heartfelt conclusion, it becomes downright moving. NY Irish Arts