Hear his song - new Joe Locke show for Draoicht

'My heart and I' is a brand new show which traces the life and loves of the great Irish tenor Josef Locke. Interwoven with many of the songs he made famous throughout his long and astonishingly dramatic career, there are performances of 'Goodbye'; 'Hear my Song'; 'Macushla'; 'I’ll walk beside you'; 'La Donna é Mobile'; 'We all have a song in our Hearts'; alongside dramatic recreations of the triumphs of his career as well as the tragedies of his many marriage break-ups, personal feuds, moments of self-doubt, and of course, his well -known run in with the British Inland Revenue.

Shane McDonagh, a young tenor with an astounding voice takes the part of Locke while John White, writer and accompanist, fills in as the myriad of fellow artists, agents, and marriage partners of Locke’s long and eventful life. This is the many facets of Josef Locke, both good and not so good, with moments of transcendence by way of some of the most beautiful melodies ever written for the tenor voice.  

Draiocht caught up with John White to ask him more about the show:

Q: Why a show about Josef Locke? Why now? 

A: John White:
“Why would a 24 year old tenor be interested in this matinee idol from the 40s 50s and 60s? Well it’s simple really. As a theatre student in Colaiste Dhulaigh in 2015 he came into class one day singing ‘Goodbye’, from a Josef Locke Youtube clip – suggesting it as his big finisher for his showcase in a few month’s time.  I had already established that he had a remarkable voice which needed more training but with a huge range and when we rehearsed the Goodbye song  I suggested he hold on to the ‘ money shot’ note just a bit longer. – ‘Which one?’ he asked genuinely unaware of how difficult it was for most tenors to hold this high B at the very top of the range. With no formal training and anxious to make use of his talent – he had an audition with  a well-established singing teacher who was also astonished by the power and range of his voice and a series of lessons helped to sort out problems with his lower register – highly uncommon with tenors. 
So he asked me how to move things along and I suggested a kind of ‘evening with’ Josef Locke – whom I had seen on the Late Late Tribute show in the ‘84  (still intact on Youtube) and ‘Hear My Song’ more recently. Going to the fan base website in early 2017 a very helpful Peter established what were the hits to include in this ‘evening’ but as I roamed around the website -  I quickly realised that this man had had a heluva life that would make a brilliant piece of theatre.  
This man, like many entertainers, had feet of clay - and was all the more interesting for that.   The newspaper archives attest to his entanglements with the law and his chaotic relationships.  To avoid putting in spoiler alerts for people who will come to see this show I can only say that the list of people with whom he worked with is astonishing. His career often seemed to leap forward because he was the right man at the right time – Tito Gobbi becomes ill – in steps Locke – Jimmy O Dea loses a singer for his all Ireland tour -  in steps Locke. Even his name change to Locke from MacLoughlin was because the billboard was too short. 
So this is no ‘evening with’ nor is it a seminar. Our aim is to make an entertaining piece of theatre in its own right where the music carries the story forward – and be warned purists – yes things are condensed  and abridged to make it work. I don’t know if Jack Hylton smoked a pipe  or not and I know that Jimmy O Dea didn’t wear a moustache but in our show he does - it’s Theatre darling !”  John White.