West Along the Road - Tenth Anniversary Celebration - Harrigan and Hart

	Performance of the Music of Harrigan and Hart, by Chris Simmons and ensemble Saturday October 11, 12:30 pm Washington Square United Methodist Church The duo credited with the invention of musical comedy had its humble beginnings somewhere in the Midwest in the mid-1870’s; Ned Harrigan was a variety comic from San Francisco, and Tony Hart was a reform school escapee with a talent for stage comedy. They duo wrote, directed, produced and performed in all of their shows, which depicted real-life situations and always used the scruffy streets of Lower Manhattan as a backdrop, which accounts for the shows’ enormous popularity amongst New York’s immigrant and working class communities. They also incorporated catchy songs with pun-filled lyrics into their acts, with music written by Harrigan’s father-in-law, David Braham. Harrigan and Hart’s initial comedic sketches were such a success that the duo ended up producing full length musicals on Broadway from 1878 to 1884, perhaps the most famous being The Mulligan Guard Ball (1879). Chris Simmons, Murray Callaghan and Sandy Graham performed the music of Harrigan and Hart at this recital.
	Sandy Graham, Chris Simmons and Murray Callaghan performed Harrigan and Hart songs from the late ninteenth-century Broadway stages of New York.

	WEST ALONG THE ROAD A Festival of Music, Dance, and Discussion Celebrating New York as the Crossroads of Ireland and America October 7-12, 2003 West Along The Road was a week-long festival of events to celebrate the tenth anniversary of NYU’s Glucksman Ireland House, and to showcase New York as a cultural crossroads ofIreland and America. Events included a weeklong series of music recitals, an academic symposium on music and identity, and a number of co-sponsored Irish American performing arts and humanities events throughout the city, all anchored by a gala concert in NYU’s Skirball Performing Arts Center.