EVERETT — Favorites with public television audiences since 2005, the ensemble called Celtic Woman has a local fan base sure to turn out June 3 for the concert at Xfinity Arena.
The group’s 80-city North American tour through June is celebrating the show’s 10th anniversary.
Led by violinist Mairead Nesbitt, the quartet and its back-up band are all talented musicians, most from Ireland.
Singer Susan McFadden joined Celtic Woman in 2012.
Born in Dublin, McFadden, 22, has a background in musical theater in London’s West End, where she starred as Sandy in “Grease” and Elle Woods in the musical version of “Legally Blonde.”
She began her professional career at age 11 in the title role of “Annie” at the Olympia Theater in Dublin, where during a tour break last year she performed in “Cats.”
“My parents are very grounded and realistic. They wanted me to approach show business as a hobby and not a career,” McFadden said last week on the phone from California. “Well, that hasn’t happened yet. In fact the audition for Celtic Woman came out of the blue. I just keep following the work.”
McFadden said she likely will return intermittently to musical theater, but the stability of the work with Celtic Woman is gratifying.
“I’ve always played a role, but with Celtic Woman, I have to be myself,” McFadden said. “It can be quite nerve-racking. But I love it and I am making hay while the sun shines.”
McFadden is one of six women who rotate in and out of the Celtic Woman quartet. She and others in the ensemble enjoy meeting fans and keeping up with them on social media.
“It’s lovely to meet the little girls who attend our concerts dressed in their ball gowns,” McFadden said. “I think we are better role models for girls than a lot of performers who wear less to sell more CDs.”
Celtic Woman had a good crowd for its Everett performance in spring 2014.
“In general, across America, we have enthusiastic audiences whose love gives us a good boost,” she said.
With all the flash of Las Vegas, the Celtic Woman show is best during the quiet songs, McFadden said.
“My favorites are song such as ‘Over the Rainbow’ and ‘Danny Boy,’ when it’s just us singing and Mairead on fiddle,” she said. “I do so love and enjoy those intimate moments when we listen to each other and there are no distractions.”
The group’s fusion of contemporary and traditional music and dance with an Irish twist includes glamorous new dresses, energetic choreography and an exciting stage production.
The 15-member ensemble includes Irish dancers, the Aontas Choir and a full band playing traditional Celtic instruments including bodhran, tin whistle, bouzouki, bagpipes and Uilleann pipes.
Celtic Woman’s eight PBS specials have ranked among the network’s most-watched music programs and topped the Billboard DVD charts. The ensemble also performed on TV’s “Dancing with the Stars.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
If you go
Celtic Woman, 7 p.m. June 3, Xfinity Arena, Broadway and Hewitt, Everett. Tickets, priced $48 to $102 plus fees, are available by calling 1-866-332-8499.
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