Reagan Richards. Photo by Tonette Madsen
At Inis Nua Theatre Company’s fundraiser at World Café Live last year, singer Reagan Richards brought down the house with her finale—an a cappella version, in torch song style, of “Too Ra Loo Ra Loora”—after inviting her listeners to join in “if you know it, and if you don’t know it, I really think it’s considered a mortal sin.”
They knew it, which is how it ought to be when you’re out supporting the region’s only theater company producing contemporary plays from Ireland and the UK.
Richards will be making a return guest appearance at Inis Nua’s “Craicdown” on December 6, an evening of music mainly provided by actors, including some of Inis Nua’s regulars such as Mike Dees, who will be hosting the show in his character of Mr. Martyn Wallace from the company’s hit of last season, “Dublin by Lamplight.” (“Mr. Wallace” is an actor from the seedy “Irish National Theatre of Ireland” in the play, which marries Commedia dell’Arte and vaudeville. The play had a month-long run in New York as part of the city’s Irish Theatre Festival.)
Reagan Richards is the lone professional singer. She’s performed with the Les Paul Band, Lisa Loeb, and many other name acts. The Cranford, NJ, native has a powerful, emotional voice that would make her a tough act for even another singer to follow. But she’s the show’s closer—and worth waiting for.
One of her songs, “There Are No Accidents,” reflects her own “no coincidences” philosophy, which is how this non-actor got her annual “Craicdown” gig.
“I met Jared [Michael Delaney, Inis Nua’s associate artistic director] at a Duran Duran concert in 2007,” she explained in a phone interview this week from her home in New York, where she’s working on a new album. “He happened to be sitting next to me and we started talking. The thing is, we weren’t even supposed to be in those seats. The theater had some problems and the show was moved to Roseland. So he tells me he’s an actor and I say I’m a singer, and eventually we become the best of friends. So when he asked me to do the first year of Craicdown I got on board and I’m 1,000 percent on board.”
Last year’s Craicdown yielded more than just enthusiastic audience participation, which deepened Richards’ belief that everything happens for a reason. “Last year I walked in as the first or second act was on and I heard this girl and I thought, ‘I want to know her.’ PS, she’s now a backup singer in my band.”
That’s Jess Conda, who has served as actor, stage manager, house manager and casting associate for BRAT Productions, another Philadelphia-based theatre company founded in 1996 by Madi Distefano. Dublin native Fergus Carey, owner of Fergie’s Pub and several other local watering holes, is chairman of its board of directors. She’ll also be performing on December 6, along with fellow actors Stephen Lyons, Damon Bonetti, Jake Blouch, Jered McLenigan, Sarah Gilko, and Harry Smith.
Richards has been around the music business for many years. It’s part of her genetic makeup. “My mom was a big band singer and what gave birth to my involvement in music was hearing her and the music she listened to, like Bing Crosby and Judy Garland. Even when I was young I knew all the old standards. When my older sister started listening to the Beatles, I started singing them too. There’s nothing like hearing a 7 or 8 year old singing about ‘Father Mackenzie.’”
She warbled a few of the grim lyrics from “Eleanor Rigby”–“Father Mackenzie, writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear, no one comes near. . .”—then laughed. “Not the kind of thing you expect to hear coming from a child.”
Her own style defies definition because it’s evocative of all of her influences from her Big Band mother to Patsy Cline. “I’ve done alternative country,” says Richards, who recently moved back to the northeast from Nashville. “I do new wavey British pop. The truth is, an A-chord is an A-chord, no matter how you play it. Music is what takes me wherever I go and I feel lucky that I get to do it every day.”
Catch Reagan Richards and the actors-turned-singers at Inis Nua’s Craicdown event at 7:30 PM on Tuesday, December 6, at World Café Live, 3025 Walnut Street in Philadelphia. Tickets are available online or by calling 215-454-9776 for $20, or pay $25 at the door.
Check out Reagan’s video of her song, “OK,” with Billy Burnette, formerly of “Fleetwood Mac.”
