Picture: Cormac Figgis
Moonlight: The Philip Lynott Enigma at the Eventim Apollo, London.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Back in the day, when vinyl record sales ruled, the era produced some iconic live albums, among them Thin Lizzy’s ‘Live and Dangerous’. Any self-respecting rock fan simply had to own a copy. How fitting then that Moonlight: The Philip Lynott Enigma musical premiered at the famous Hammersmith venue where part of that best-selling LP was recorded some 50 years ago in 1976.
It seems incredulous that five decades have passed since Thin Lizzy, one of the tightest sounding rock bands that every strutted their stuff on stage, was at the top of their game – fronted, of course by the almost impossibly charismatic Philip (Phil) Lynott who was lost to the music world at just 36. Cause of death was pneumonia and heart failure bought on by severe drug and alcohol dependency.
As intriguing as this production’s take is on the influences that would shape Lynott’s creative output, for much of Act I this feels not so much live and dangerous, but more live and ponderous. It’s not that the early appearances of Oscar Wilde (Riley Clark) and Brendan Behan (Padraic O’Loingsigh) don’t hold the interest, it’s just that after a while the literary lesson wears a bit thin – clearly the Eventim audience hadn’t really come out on a wet and windy night for a lengthy lecture on Irish playwrights.
Produced by Fatdan Productions, writers John and Danielle Merrigan state that: “Though Moonlight is a standalone stage production, it is the third in a trilogy of our works about great literary artists who emerged from Dublin onto the world stage. The other two being Vengeance (2021) about the demise of Oscar Wilde and Brendan – Son of Dublin (2023) about the life and times of Brendan Behan.”
The saving grace here is the assured, multi-faceted performance of actor and singer Peter M Smith as Lynott. Being able to get ‘under the skin’ of such a complex character is no mean feat. Being a Dubliner, like Philip Parris Lynott has clearly aided his creative process. There is a suspicion though that this portrayal of him is somewhat sugar-coated, but growing up in an age when landlords openly displayed signs saying ‘No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs’, all Lynott needed was a canine in tow to complete the set. You just didn’t survive without a very hard shell and didn’t find success without a burning desire to achieve it.
After a turbulent early childhood, Lynott was sent to live with his grandparents in Crumlin, a working-class Dublin suburb. His eventual rise to fame was anything but easy. Musically, this is a familiar tale of bands formed, broken up, new bands formed, travelling to venues up and down the country in a van, living on baked beans and just getting by – Lizzy even supported hugely popular glam rockers Slade at one point.
The band’s line-up, throughout their success is simply legendary and included the likes of such incredible guitarists as Gary Moore, Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson and drummer Brian Downey. Adding much musical spice to the Hammersmith premiere, original founding member, Thin Lizzy guitarist Eric Bell was making a special guest appearance while Mazz Murray (Mamma Mia!, Sunset Boulevard) starred as Philomena Lynott, Phil’s mother.
Just when it seemed that despite all their efforts, big success would elude the band, a last throw of the dice saw them record a version of ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ (1972), a traditional Irish folk song said to date back to the 17th century. It was the catalyst that would see Lynott lead the group throughout a successful 14-year recording career of 12 studio albums, writing or co-writing almost all the band’s material.
What is highly admirable about this production is its willingness to not just include all the big Lizzy hits, as fabulous as the likes of ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ is, but other impressive original material such as ‘Skid Row’ (John and Danielle Merrigan).
At times, with the band stage right on a separate stage, ‘Lynott’ strikes an isolated figure instead of being right in the musical mix where many will remember him for what he was – one of the best front men ever. But maybe that’s very fitting for Lynott, a huge musical and literary talent, who was always a bit of an outsider. Genius has always had a way of marginalising people from mainstream society.
Derek Smith
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