Jimmy's Hall

Last night, I saw Lisa Lambe in Jimmy's Hall.

Here's the synopsis from the Abbey Theatre site:

Bursting with music, dance, poetry and song, the must-see feel-good show of last summer returns.

Jimmy’s Hall tells the true story of Leitrim farmer Jimmy Gralton, the only Irishman deported from his own country. His crime was to build a dance hall where he encouraged the local community to learn, to argue and to dream, but above all to dance and have fun. As the hall grew in popularity its free-spirited reputation brought it to the attention of the church and politicians who forced Jimmy to flee and the hall to close.

A decade later, at the height of the Depression, Jimmy returns from the US. The hall stands abandoned but as Jimmy sees the poverty and growing oppression in the village, the leader and activist within him is stirred. He decides to reopen the hall, and so takes on the established authorities of the church and the government.

They opened the theatre doors at 7:00 and for the 30 minutes before the show started, the cast performed various music on the stage.

At 7:00, they transitioned into the play. Both the music and story were fun, yet deeply moving. There were lots of moments to clap along. There were also moments I was legitimately in tears. The acting from the entire cast was tremendous. Lisa was great! Actress Sarah Madigan was REALLY good; she has some serious talent! Quite simply, it was the best live stage play I have ever seen.

After the show, I found the stage doors, but it was complicated. There were stage doors on opposite sides of the theatre. I could only watch one side at a time. There were maybe 6 stage doors per side. I picked the right side and stood sort of in the middle of the bank of stage doors, not knowing which one Lisa might come out. She came out of the ones that was furthest back of the main entrance. She was really in a hurry, rushing to a bus or something perhaps. I kind of called after her but she didn't hear me and there was no way I could keep up with her. So I did get to meet her this time. But during curtain call, she smiled and waved at me, so that felt pretty amazing.

Jimmy's Hall is really well done! It's definitely a must-see!

The day after seeing the Ancient Land DVD recording (Saturday, September 15th), I got up at about 7 am and drove from Wexford to Galway to see Jimmy's Hall.  I drove to Dublin right after the play, so that was a lot of driving for me on that one day!  However, I think it was worth it, just to get to see Lisa Lambe sing in person.  It seems like her voice is still just as amazing as it was in Believe, and she had two solos.

I got to sit in the third row, which really felt like the second row because the view is actually kind of bad from the very front row and no one was sitting there.  And I didn't have to buy my ticket super early to get that great seat; I bought it on September 8.

Yesterday was one year since the Ancient Land recording at Johnstown Castle was announced!

One of the shows I got to see while I was in Ireland was of course Jimmy's Hall, featuring Lisa Lambe.

To stir up some memories, here are a couple of recordings of songs Lisa Lambe was featured in during the show:

A Stor Mo Chroí (solo)

Bean Phaídín (as part of the company)