Smash-hit show Fairytale of New York is coming to Derbyshire

An international cast of performers will bring all your favourite Christmas songs, including Driving Home For Christmas, White Christmas, Oh Holy Night, A Winter’s Tale, Silent Night and of course The Fairytale of New York.

Just when you think the party couldn’t get any better, this world class show also features some of the greatest Irish singalong songs of all time, including The Galway Girl, The Irish Rover, Danny Boy, Dirty Old Town and The Black Velvet Band, ensuring people of all ages will be singing, laughing and dancing in the aisles.

Fairytale of New York visits Derby Arena on November 1 and Buxton Opera House on November 6, 2023. If you can’t make those dates, you can catch the show at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall on November 20.

Set in Central Park, New York on Christmas Eve, Fairytale of New York's musical content is punctuated throughout with a celebratory dose of hard-shoe Irish dancing popularised in the UK via Riverdance, as well as soft-shoe dance. There’s contemporary jazz and pop numbers, too, all of it in the capable hands (and feet) of a cast of 11 dancers, musicians and singers.

The show’s creator Ged Graham conceived the idea during lockdown, when pondering what do you see at the theatre at Christmas when the kids have outgrown panto?

After launching Fairytale of New York in October 2021, Graham quickly realised he had a hit on his hands, with all tour dates in 2021 and 2022 selling out. Despite working in the industry for nearly 50 years, there is no way Graham could have predicted the runaway success of Fairytale of New York. He said: “During lockdown, there was absolutely no guarantee that theatres would ever reopen. I was approaching my 60th birthday and I honestly doubted I’d ever step back on a stage. Then, given that audiences might venture out again, would they like a Christmas show with a strong Irish theme?”

He needn’t have worried. The 2023 tour is now set to build on the show’s incredible success, with advance ticket sales so strong that several venues have already sold-out,

Tickets for Derby cost £28.50,go to www.derbylive.co.uk, Buxton tickets cost £29.50, go to www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk, Nottingham tickets £29, go to www.trch.co.uk