Thomas Keneally to Write Book and Lyrics for New Musical - NYTimes.com

By FELICA R. LEE

Thomas Keneally, best known for writing “Schindler’s List” but also the author of historical works about the founding of his native Australia, will turn to that subject in “Transport,” a new musical for which he’s written the book and lyrics.

The show, with music by Larry Kirwan, a playwright and the leader of the rock band Black 47, based in New York, will have its world premiere at the Irish Repertory Theater next year, theater officials announced on Tuesday.

“Transport” is based on the history of Irish women exiled to the South Coast of Australia in the mid-19th century. It centers on the voyage of a prison ship called The Whisper, which brought women and girls to penal colonies. The characters include four prisoners, the ship’s crew and an exiled Irish priest.

The Producer Has a History. So Does This Civil War-Era Musical. - NYTimes.com

By Michael Paulson

Mr. Kirwan, best known as the lead singer of Black 47, said the idea for the musical was born of his curiosity about the Five Points, which he heard about from his grandfather, and his affection for Foster’s songs. He learned to appreciate the songs in Irish pubs, where, he said, he heard workers imbue them with emotion he had not initially recognized.

Learning that Foster had briefly lived in the Five Points inspired him to write a show combining the songs and the place; his initial version of the musical, titled “Hard Times,” opened to positive reviews at the Cell Theater in New York in 2012 and had a brief return engagement in 2014.

Broadway-bound tuner 'Paradise Square' set to premiere in November 2021 in Chicago

'Paradise Square' produced by Garth Drabinsky announces Broadway run

By Caitlin Huston

“Paradise Square,” a new musical about race relations in New York during the 1860s, has announced a Broadway run at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre this winter.

The musical, produced by Garth Drabinsky, will star Joaquina Kalukango (“Slave Play”) in a run starting Feb. 22, 2022 and an opening night on March 20. The musical will come to Broadway after a five-week engagement starting this November at Chicago’s James M. Nederlander Theatre.

Playbill - Ethel Barrymore Theater - Paradise Square - Opening Night 4/3/2022

A History of Irish Music
Larry Kirwan’s journey through Irish music is a memoir, a love story, a history of modern Ireland and thus unique. Irish music was ever the nation's chief export, but here one of the finest proofs of that fact takes us on a vivid, beautifully written adventure through that great Irish product,roots, trunk and branch. By Tom Keneally, author of Schindler’s List

Larry Kirwan is like a sports commentator who has actually played the game he is calling. As the frontman for Black 47 he is an insider who can write like an outsider. A History of Irish Music is part autobiographical, but never veers far from its central message that the island of Ireland, and its music, have been intertwined and intertuned for as long as anyone cares to remember, and that the world has benefited beyond measure as a result. This is a great story, and it is told by a musician and singer who can add consummate writing skills to his considerable repertoire. A great read that hits all the high notes. By Ray O’Hanlon, Editor Irish Echo and author of The South Lawn