Review: A BETTER PLACE… WHERE EAGLES FLY MUSIC PREMIERE at Union League

The Union League of Philadelphia was the beautiful and historic setting for a presentation of the songs and music for the upcoming musical, A BETTER WORLD... WHERE EAGLES FLY on November 8. With producer Michael Durkin and composer John Anderson present to answer questions and discuss their hopes for the show, a packed house received the concert enthusiastically. The full production is scheduled to open in Philadelphia in 2024 with a national tour immediately following. 

Although the characters are the Scots-Irish who settled in Pennsylvania and points west and south, their story of hard work, hope, and determination is true for the immigrant story in the United States as a whole, including today's immigrants. A family, led by the father, Robert (Ciaran Olohan) and their friends leave from the border fighting of Scotland to the landlords and famine of Ireland and then, desperate and hungry, make the arduous trek across the Atlantic to the port of Philadelphia in search of land they can call their own and a chance to make good. 

Although the full musical features a large cast with dancers, the choral presentation involved the show's narrator (GAME OF THRONES star Ian McIlhenney) and the actor-singer performers led by Olohan. The piece is primarily choral, with everyone singing in all pieces, bringing wonderful contemporary Irish sounds together with highly accessible modern folk music. Unlike a number of Irish musicals (see THE IRISH... AND HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY) this is not a jukebox collection of mostly well-known Irish songs, but new songs that are equally hummable (the whiskey still scene is ample proof of hummable tunes and humor).  The only familiar music is American folk of the western frontier expansion, including an arrangement of "Shenandoah" so lush and gorgeous as to raise the hair on your arms.