Review

$Text Box: Lots of fun at ‘Finnegan’s Wake’ By JIM DORMAN For the Patriot Ledger As the song says, there is “lots of fun at Finnegan’s Wake”. This wake is actually an interactive comedy dinner show that is like going to a celebration at the Knights of Columbus with 200 of your best Irish friends. Everyone came ready to have a good time, and by the end of the night, everyone did. We sang, danced, told stories and jokes and maybe even had a fight or two. You see, Tim Finnegan has passed away, and we must pay our respects to his widow Maureen, (Charlotte Dore) who greets each of us as we pass by his corpse laid out upon his bed with “plenty of candles round his feet and a couple dozen round his head” as the song goes. Oh it’s so sad, but Kevin O’Brien, (played by Kevin Prentice) our master of ceremonies, soon explains that we are here to celebrate Tim’s life, not to mourn his death. After we finish our “wedding chicken” (I was surprised there were no spuds, we had rice instead) we can eulogize Tim by telling a joke or story , and many in our midst did just that, turning this wake into a mini open mike night for about six comedic hopefuls of varying ability. Some took about 10 minutes to tell their tales about Finnegan. These folks were obviously prepared to entertain us for a while, and in true Irish fashion, there was not a shy one in the lot. Perhaps, like many in attendance, they had a “fondness for the drop.” Once dessert is over, Kevin is up to help people celebrate birthdays and anniversaries by bringing them on stage to have a little fun. There is plenty of good-natured ribbing, and it helps everyone get into the spirit of things. Meanwhile, the other players are circulating around, getting to know us. There is Kevin’s cheating husband-beating wife, Bridgit O’Brien who managed to shake off “the thirst” long enough to regale us with a fine version of “Danny Boy,” and young father Paddy Murphy, played by David John Breen who seems to have a wee bit of an eye for the ladies, because he danced twice with my date. Biddy Magee and Peggy O’Connor, played by Christina Piscatelli and Kate Tellers, also intermittently charmed the members of each table with their Irish wit. The band and actors led us throughout all of those good Irish songs you hear in every Irish bar. Of course we sang “Finnegan’s Wake” but there was also “Whiskey in the Jar,” Riley’s Daughter,” and “Lilly of the Valley,” and if you messed up the hand claps on “Wild Rover” Kevin was likely to bring you up on stage for some special tutoring. After the last eulogy was given, the grieving widow Maureen thanked us for coming and expressed her love for her departed husband, but the tipsy Bridgit could not remain quiet. Taking the microphone, she told Maureen to “shut her gob” and explained it was she who loved Tim Finnegan most of all, and that he loved her. She then proceeded to straddle and kiss the laid-out corpse, causing a fracas with Maureen that had to be broken up by the other mourners. Once order was restored, all was forgotten, and everyone was invited to jig and reel away the rest of the night. Tim Finnegan surely would have been proud of a sendoff that was grand enough to “wake the dead.”$

Text Box: CONTACT BOX OFFICE 978-525-2019 Fax: 978-525-3534 kevin@AntGrasshopper.com