The Irish Tenors
F-A-R Out!
We're Together Again!
December 4, 2011
Phoenix, AZ
Review submitted by
Kami Ingles
Archived Photo by Katerine Pursley
Sunday night, December 4, was the third performance of the Irish Tenors USA tour. They came to Phoenix on a very chilly night, but certainly received a warm reception from the audience. The performance was held at the Celebrity Theatre, a theater in the round. We were thrilled with our first row seats, until we discovered that the stage revolved, so the majority of the time we couldn't see the tenors. But, we could hear them, and hear them we did! My husband felt that the group sounded stronger with Ronan back again, and I have to agree. All three seemed quite enthusiastic, and even when coming on and going off the revolving stage they were great sports and took it all in stride. Ronan, in particular, provided comic relief throughout the entire program.
The first half of the program consisted mainly of Irish folk tunes and medleys. The trio of solos toward the end of the first half are all worthy of mention. Anthony did a powerful "Ave Maria," followed by Ronan's "Hallelujah," new to the repertoire, and Finbar completed the trio with "How Great Thou Art."
Christmas was the theme of the second half, and the tenors provided us with toe-tapping medleys, three more solos, and then came back together to do a beautiful version of "Silent Night," with each tenor singing a verse in a different language. They followed it with a rousing rendition of "Fairytale of New York," which really had the audience going. From that they went into "O Holy Night," with Anthony singing the first verse in French, Ronan and Finbar singing the next two verses respectively in English. When the three voices join together, their harmony is exquisite. This is far and away the very best version of "O Holy Night" I have ever heard, and is on their "Christmas" CD which came out a few years ago.
The show was completed with another Christmas medley, and three encore songs, closing with the always popular Danny Boy reprise. I always enjoy listening to others comments as we walk out, and when I heard the word "phenomenal" float through the air, I thought "You're right--they certainly are!"
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