The production, generally presented in the group?s cozy subterranean Studio Theatre, was particularly well-received when actress Pauline Flanagan and the Rep?s musical director, Rusty Magee, were involved in the venture. But both performers died in recent months, leaving a thin mist of sorrow enveloping the endeavor.
The absence of Flanagan and Magee may well have been a contributing factor in the organization?s decision to vary the pattern this year, and come up with something different, but equally well-keyed to the idea of a Gaelic Yuletide.
The solution is ?Christmas with Tommy Makem,? which will be performed 13 times beginning Dec. 4 and concluding Dec. 28.
Hardcore Thomas fanatics should rest easy, however, since the second half of Makem?s show will contain a reading of ?A Child?s Christmas in Wales,? rendered by the star, assisted by his son Rory.
The opening half of the 90-minute performance, which will be presented without an intermission, will be devoted to ?Christmas songs and stories, and some poems,? associated with the holiday season as observed in Ireland.
Among the better-known items on Makem?s menu will be a reading of Patrick Kavanagh?s ?A Christmas Childhood.?
Much of the material included in the show will be folkloric in nature, the kind of thing the authorship of which is either unknown or disputed, resulting in the use of the familiar accreditation ?anonymous.?
The authenticity of the tunes and tales included in ?Christmas with Tommy Makem? is beyond question, since the performer, born and raised in the town of Cady, Co. Armagh, is the son of the celebrated folklorist and song collector Sarah Makem.
Tommy Makem came to New York with the intention of becoming an actor, as opposed to a singer and musician. He had some success in early live TV, summer stock and off-Broadway, but eventually his musical skills, including his expertise on the banjo and the tin whistle, not to mention his excellent baritone voice, moved him in the direction of the career he has enjoyed for more than four decades.
Makem?s destiny was forged when he became associated with the Clancy Brothers, Liam, Tom, Paddy and sometimes Bobby. As ?The Clancy brothers and Tommy Makem,? the group appeared on all the major live TV shows of the late 1950s and ?60s, including ?The Ed Sullivan Show,? ?The Tonight Show? and ?The Morning Show.?
The team?s concert engagements took them from Carnegie Hall to London?s Royal Albert Hall, with sold-out appearances virtually guaranteed from the moment the tickets went on sale.
In 1969, Makem parted company with the Clancy Brothers, striking out on a career as a solo artist. Among his earliest achievements on his own was selling out a concert at the Felt Forum in Madison Square Garden. He followed this triumph with a series of appearances, among them three successful tours of Australia, including a packed concert at the Sydney Opera House, three American tours, and frequent appearances in Canada, Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland.
In July of 1975, appearing at a folk festival in Cleveland, Makem was persuaded to perform a single set with Liam Clancy, who had also ventured out on a solo career. The combination proved so successful that the two began touring together as ?Makem and Clancy,? a union that endured until March 1988.
The pair?s final appearance as a duo took place at Stonehill College in Massachusetts, at which point the performers were honored with the school?s Genesis Award for their promotion of Irish culture.
The Irish Repertory Theatre?s current production of Dion Boucicault?s lighthearted ?The Colleen Bawn,? having had its run extended through Dec. 28, will take a vacation for the first two weeks of the month, returning on the 17th.
While the Boucicault production is on hiatus, ?Christmas with Tommy Makem? will occupy the Rep?s Mainstage, with performances scheduled for the periods of Dec. 4-7 and 10-12.
When ?The Colleen Bawn? resumes performing, ?Christmas with Tommy Makem,? after laying off for two weeks, will return to the Rep for five additional performances, over a period of three days, Dec. 26-28, this time in the group?s downstairs space.
Most of Makem?s show will begin at 8 p.m., with matinees at 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. On Friday, Dec. 26, there will be a special 4 p.m. matinee performance.