A tartan dinner jacket is just the thing when you’re singing “Donald, Where’s Your Trewsers.”
He’s billed as the “Happy Man.” That’s the name of the song that rocketed Cahal Dunne to the top of the heap in the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest.
On Sunday night, the Cork native brought his show to the Philadelphia Irish Center for a night of tunes and G-rated jokes. With his white grand piano perched upon a temporary stage, he held court in the Irish Club’s Fireside Room for close to three hours.
Dunne is well-known for his charm, wit, expert piano playing, and superb voice–and he has an established following.
More than 70 of his fans filled the room, with even more perched at the bar. it’s pretty tight. There wasn’t a moment when he didn’t hold that audience in the palm of his hand, singing old Irish standards, Broadway tunes, and even ’50s doo-wop. He played for laughs (and got them), when he donned a tartan dinner jacket, and sang about a wayward kilt-wearing Scot (“Donald, Where’s Your Trewsers). Even more laughs for a tune of his own composition, “Here Comes Menopause.” More than a few of the ladies fanned themselves with their programs as he sang it.
The fans had plenty of chances to join in on sing-a-long songs, and later in the evening, they danced.
In short, a very big night for the Irish Center and its continuing fund-raising effort, emceed by Marianne MacDonald.
