“Fairytale of New York” takes the stage at the Broadway Playhouse in Water Tower Place Tuesday, Dec. 17 and Wednesday, Dec. 18, bringing a touch of Ireland to Chicago just a week before Christmas.
Yes, the show takes its title from the late, great Shane MacGowan-penned, Pogues Christmas classic. As the song’s lyrics would have it, the production is set in New York City.
Along with “Fairytale,” the revue offers a range of holiday tunes along with Irish songs and dance.
The revue is the handiwork of native Dubliner Ged Graham, a writer, producer, actor, podcaster, musician and generally busy guy.
Graham said this is the fourth year for tours of “Fairytale of New York.” This year there are three productions on the road over an eight week period, hitting theaters across the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia and the United States.
“It’s a total of 120 shows, and we’ll be playing to about 200,000 people,” Graham said.
Ireland and the UK are known for holiday-time “pantos,” revues that are typically based on fairy tales or other stories for kids. Graham said his “Fairytale” has a bit in common with those shows.
“Both are fun, family-orientated and lighthearted shows that allow you to escape for two hours. They also both include a good old fashioned sing-a-long,” Graham said.
The song “Fairytale of New York,” though, is a tale told by a guy spending Christmas Eve in a drunk tank, who is an unreliable narrator, at best.
As one example, the lyrics mention the NYPD choir. There isn’t one. The singer claims to have won an 18-to-1 bet on a longshot. Do they even race horses in New York in late December?
The video for “Fairytale” seems to set the song in New York. But is that just the fog of memory and it’s actually set in the male singer’s mind while he’s in a drunk tank back in Ireland?
“There is a lot of poetic licence within the song,” Graham said. “It’s more about imagery than fact, as it’s about creating the vibe of loss and hope that connects with real people, people who maybe do not have as much.”
Either way, while “Fairytale” hit the top of the charts in Ireland upon its initial release in late 1987, in the UK it was beaten that year around Christmas by the Pet Shop Boys’ cover of “You Are Always On My Mind.”
To this day, there’s pretty much always a seasonal push to finally get the Pogues’ song to be the Number One song at Christmas in the UK. In fact, Graham led the charge last year, after MacGowan passed away Nov. 30, 2023, and he is taking up the cause again this year.
“It would be great to see it at the top of the charts, and we will be working effortlessly to make that happen,” Graham said. “I think it’s the best Christmas song ever. It has a real working class vibe and of course, it’s Irish.”
Graham said that being Irish and living in England, as he does, there is always a sense of pride in all things Irish.
“So having an Irish Christmas song is unique and I think Fairytale is the only one. Shane (MacGowan) is an icon and someone we are all proud of, the real deal – so to speak,” Graham said.
Past the iconic title tune Graham said those behind the “Fairytale” revue wanted to feature Irish/Celtic arrangements of classic Christmas songs and include some great Irish sing-along songs, too.
“It’s a bit like a Christmas party meets St Patrick’s Day,” Graham said. “We really wanted to put together songs that will make our audiences feel happy and proudly celebrate our Irish culture.”
Graham’s only visit to Chicago thus far has been a 20-hour layover at O’Hare. However, he will be with “Fairytale” when it comes to town, to support the cast.
As for his own plans for the season, Graham said his Christmas now starts in June each year preparing for “Fairytale” tours.
“So by the time we get there (Dec. 25), I’m very tired. However, Christmas Day is wonderful, and we have adopted at home the Spanish way of starting Christmas on Christmas Day then running for the 12 days up until the feast of the three kings,” he said.
This year, though, just a couple days after Christmas, Graham will be busy readying a couple other shows for the road.
“I’m working on a rewrite of ‘Seven Drunken Nights – The Story of The Dubliners’ for our UK and Ireland tours, which go out in February of 2025. We also have our debut tour of ‘Pretty Vacant – The Story of Punk and New Wave,’ which has over 40 dates at the beginning of 2025, so it’s very busy,” he said.
All photos courtesy of Fairytale of New York.
Mike Danahey is a freelance writer and reporter who lives in the Chicago area. If you are looking for someone with his talents, feel free to leave a message for him after this post.