Do you know what I'd like to see?

I'd love to see a fabulous, slightly-campy, very entertaining, on-stage, Irish dance musical.  Make it a love story of sorts with sappy-ish dialog and lots of quirky, romantic twists.  Of course, like all musicals, there'd be catchy, toe-tapping, heart-felt musical dance numbers thrown in.  Being Irish dance, they'd all be Irish dance pieces. 

"The Quiet Man"  John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara 1952

Seriously!! The more I think about this, the more I can see it as a reality.

If someone does this-- takes this idea- please, send me tickets to come see the finished production.

I'd love to see a musical of "The Quiet Man"! :) Can't you see it!? I know it's late at night, and I'm probably slap-happy from being up in the not-so-wee hours of the morning with insomnia, but it can't be that bad of an idea. Can it?

Okay, so let's stretch a bit and make it a musical that isn't even Irish in geography to start. 

How 'bout "Royal Wedding", but modernize the story and make the "hoofers" Irish dancers! I really am serious! What about any of the older 40s, 50s, or even early 60s musicals re-tooled with an Irish dance theme-- "Broadway Melody" even had some hand dancing at one point!


Fred Astaire in "Royal Wedding" 1951

I can close my eyes and see Irish dance versions of the 70's musicals.  "The West Side Story" would play out with a gang fight ending at the World Championships of Irish Dance or hey, let's just take the whole fight scene to the street and have it be between rival Irish dancing gangs.  Could happen, right?  The Sharks and the Jets weren't really dancing, but fighting with great dance choreography.  Wait... we already have Lord of the Dance!

It could have nothing to do whatsoever with Irish dance, but with tons of Irish dance thrown in like an Irish dance version of "Grease".  I mean, we all needed to suspend reality a bit to watch a bunch of grease-monkey bad boys dancing in the high school auto shop.  Now that I think about it, there's hand dancing in "Grease" too.  Hmmmm............ 


Trailer from "Grease" 1978  I can see all of these great dance scenes done with an Irish dance twist!

You probably think of other things as you drift off to sleep, but this idea has been on my brain the last few nights.  I'm probably sleep-deprived and going a tad loopy, but I just know I can't be alone in thinking this'd work.  Maybe I've seen too many musicals over the years.  Could be.  Merged with the never-ending Irish dance music soundtrack playing in my house and in my head- due to having four Irish dancers, I can see it as a natural possibility where others might need to take a bit of a "leap of faith".  Take a bit of a "leap of faith" and just imagine, please.  Feel free to think me a genius or stark-raving mad. 

Another favorite musical of mine, "Funny Face" with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire, comes to mind.  The movie isn't even remotely about dancing.  It's about an unlikely model and a talented photographer with great song and dance sequences thrown in and around the story.  My favorite scene taking place in the beatnik bar.  Audrey's classical ballet beginnings are apparent watching her moves that while classically and perfectly formed are still fitting with the theme of the story.  There was no tutu necessary!


                                Audrey Hepburn in "Funny Face" 1957

I think about the recent popularity of the tween-loved "High School Musical" or the teen and young adult loved TV show, "Glee". Where's the Irish dance version? I think we should "represent" so to speak. 

What musical would you love to see re-made with Irish dancers?  Comment in the box below and let's spark a trend!


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