Bobby Fox – The Irish Boy

In June 2018 Bobby Fox was playing Charles Guiteau, who assassinated US president James Garfield, in Assassins at the Sydney Opera House. On the opening night he, almost inexplicably, but quite literally, broke a leg and found himself out of the show, laid up with an ankle injury. The enforced rest caused a period of introspection for Fox, who has been in consistent demand in the Australian Musical Theatre scene since his emigration to Australia in 2003. This hiatus from work resulted in a longing for his home town of Longford, Ireland and the culture he grew up with. This led him to write The Irish Boy with Chris Parker, who is also at the helm of this production as director.

Although widely recognised as a triple-threat star of musical theatre, Fox started his performance career as an Irish dancer, dutifully practicing under the watchful eye of his Mam in the kitchen of their Longford home. His skill awarded him with four World Championships and led him to be the youngest performer ever to tour with Riverdance at age fifteen.

In The Irish Boy the passion for his roots shines through in abundance. Fox rightly points out, in the style of Marie Kondo, the Irish music, dance and storytelling can do nothing but ‘spark joy’ for all who are present.

Fox covers a great deal of territory in this show, from toe-tapping modern interpretations of the Irish genre, such as Steve Earles’ “Galway Girl” to the familiar ballad “Danny Boy”, with barely a dry eye in the house. A highlight was his rendition of his father’s favourite céilí song, the rousing “The Fields of Athenry”.

Fox is a generous performer. Generous and immediately endearing to his audience, who he wins over within moments of his arrival on an emerald lit stage, whether they were there to bask in the Irish culture, to see a former world champion dance, or to admire one of Australia’s finest music theatre stars. Fox is a born storyteller, a fine dancer with a beautiful singing voice and a skilled multi-instrumentalist, lending his hand to accordion, guitar and bodhrán.

Fox is also generous to his amazingly talented band and gives them the space to showcase their individual talents and to express what the Irish diaspora and culture in Australia means to them. Fox’s long-term collaborator Glenn Moorehouse is musical director and guitarist, David Andrew is on keyboards, Tomm Botting on bass, and percussionist is Tom Waller. Mark Oats is a stand-out on fiddle. The enjoyment he finds in the music is clear and highly contagious.

My only criticism is that the playhouse setting created a somewhat stifled concert feel to the show. I only hope that I can see it again, in a setting where the audience can get up, dance and sing along. This would give The Irish Boy more of an authentic Irish céilí feel and the craic that it’s worthy of.

Jenny Fewster

Photographer: Robert Catto

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