Irish famine musical by Derek Warfield

Subject: Irish famine musical by Derek Warfield
From: Felipa
Date: 04 Jun 26 - 05:01 AM

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/i-dont-care-how-much-it-costs-me-wolfe-tones-singer-brian-warfield-80-on-selling-house-to-fund-famine-musical/a/154823869.html
Melanie Finn 4 June 2026

Wolfe Tones star Brian Warfield has put his money where his mouth is, selling his house to fund his passion project about the Great Famine.

The songwriter has branched out with a new project, Celtic Exodus The Musical. He hopes to eventually take the musical to Broadway.

Set in 1845 against the background of the Famine, and featuring two star-crossed lovers, the project has been over 20 years in the making.

Produced by Larry Bass, founder and CEO of ShinAwil, the musical will run for four weeks in Dublin’s Mansion House. Warfield (80) said it was a “story that had to be told”.

He added: “I said to Larry, ‘We’ve been talking about this since 1995. I want to go ahead with the musical’. And he said, ‘Well, you better have money, because nobody’s going to put their money into a musical because there’s a lot of failures.’ “But I’m not thinking about failure. I’m thinking of success.”

Three years ago, Warfield sold his house to ensure he had the funding for the show he devised. “It started way back in 1995. I had a passion to tell a story about the Famine,” he said. “It’s a very important story to the Irish people and the diaspora across the world, and very important to Irish-Americans. That’s how they all got there.”

During the Famine, a million people died of starvation and an estimated two million emigrated.

Warfield said he had a “passion for Irish history and the Irish story”.“It’s got to be told to the world,” he added. “I don’t care what it costs me. I sold a house to make this happen.

“I’m going to go on, and I’m aiming for America and Broadway. It’s unique, because there’s no Les Mis telling of the story of Ireland.”

------    Some of the songs could easily be out of a Disney film

Larry Bass ------

In 1999, Warfield released Celtic Exodus, an album of music inspired by the Famine. At the time, he was too busy with the Wolfe Tones to develop it further.

Despite a busy retirement – the band has tour dates in Ireland and the UK over the coming months – he has been able to bring his project to fruition.

Mr Bass, who produces RTÉ’s Dancing with the Stars, said Warfield’s attention to detail was “fascinating”. “When it was first pitched to me, it needed a lot of work because of the sheer volume of people [Warfield] had in it,” Mr Bass said. “To make it into a stage-orientated show, we needed less characters. So we did a bit of work to get it into shape.

“Then he played me some of the music and I went, ‘Oh my God’. I was expecting ... his type of music. It’s not that. “This has extraordinary musicality. Some of the songs could easily be out of a Disney film.”

The show tells the story of Seán (Jack Quinn) and Siobhán (Leah Barniville), who come from feuding families. They fall in love just as the Famine starts.

‘Celtic Exodus The Musical’ opens in the Mansion House, Dublin, on July 22. Tickets are on sale now at celticexodusmusical.com