A musical rises from Ashes

ANGELA’S ASHES, the Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography by Frank McCourt, may not seem material for a musical.

It is often described as ‘misery lit.’

But Adam Howell has written Angela’s Ashes: A Musical, which opens at Limerick’s Lime Tree Theatre, Jul 17-20. Howell, the co-artistic director of Uncontained Arts, based at Derby Theatre in the UK, says the descriptions of impoverished life in Limerick’s lanes in the 1930s and 1940s are tempered by humour and strong characterisation.

Uncontained Arts is a touring theatre company “with a versatile repertoire. When we first put on Angela’s Ashes: A Musical, in Derby last November, it received standing ovations and we were very fortunate that Frank’s widow, Ellen, and his brother, Alphie, attended.”

Howell, who has Irish roots, was drawn to McCourt’s memoir when he read it at the age of 15. “I was inspired to write a musical about it. It became a labour of love. When I mentioned it to my drama teacher, and anyone I knew involved in theatre, what always came back to me was the question of rights. I thought it would cost me half a million dollars. It was only in the last two years, when I put on a little concert production, including two songs from my musical, that people said I ought to go after the rights. I happened to be going to New York and arranged to meet up with Frank’s other brother, Malachy. For so long, he had been just this little boy in the book. To meet him, in the flesh, was quite strange and daunting,” he says.

Once Howell got the rights to produce the musical, he teamed up with Paul Hurt, who adapted the book into a script. Hurt is a playwright and lecturer at the University of Derby.

Howell says the material is hugely appealing, particularly to Irish people. “I was brought up around a big Irish family. In Frank’s book, I recognise the humour and the language. Also, I’m technically a Catholic and can appreciate the funny events that happened when Frank was making his first communion.

“The language is so lyrical and funny, at times. I don’t see how Frank would have survived if he didn’t have his inner strength and sense of humour.

“There is a lot of sadness in the story. What’s important about Angela’s Ashes is that it’s a very human story, with an account of Frank’s first love.”

Angela’s Ashes, which was made into a film directed by Alan Parker, is the story of Frank McCourt’s childhood and adolescence, after his family is forced to move from America to Ireland, because of financial problems, and the tragedy of the death of an infant girl, seven weeks after her birth, in 1935. McCourt’s brothers, who were twins, died within a year of the family’s arrival in Limerick. (There were originally six sons in the family.) McCourt’s father was an alcoholic and found it hard to get work.

“That’s why the boys often went hungry. But Frank’s father’s wonderful character comes through in the story. Frank had a great love for him, because he was this great storyteller. He probably inspired Frank to write. I think all the sons wrote books. The father had a big influence on them,” Howell says.

There is a cast of 22 in the musical, a mixture of professional actors, community actors and students. The young Frank is played by Theo Hendricks, while the older Frank is played by Will Jessop. The older Frank narrates the story.

When the book, and, later, the film, came out, there was much controversy, with Limerick people objecting to the depiction of their city as a place of constant rain and misery.

“It’s less controversial now. I sat in on rehearsals with a Limerick-born-and-bred gentleman the other day. He said that a lot of what Frank wrote was the same story for him. This man drank out of jam jars, had no shoes, and no floor in his home. He shared one lavatory with all the people living in his lane,” Howell says.

The late Limerick-born actor, Richard Harris, “was quite outspoken against the book. He came from a better-off family, so that was his experience. Frank was, unfortunately, attacked by people for telling it like it was. They accused him of being horrible towards his own mother. I think that’s insane.

“I think the book is a testament to Frank’s respect for his mother and for the Limerick people. In a documentary clip that I’ve seen, Frank talks about the integrity of the people living in the lanes. He gets quite emotional talking about it. I feel he really loves the people he wrote about.”

For Howell, it’s important that Angela’s Ashes: A Musical has its Irish premiere in Limerick. He hopes it will tour. “If we can do it in Limerick, we can do it anywhere.”

* On Jul 20, New York’s Origin Theatre Company, in association with Lime Tree Theatre, presents an event entitled ‘The McCourts of Limerick.’ This free event will involve Frank McCourt’s brothers, Alphie and Malachy, and his widow, in conversation with Origin Theatre Company’s artistic director, the Limerick man, George C Heslin.