A Celtic Christmas – Boston Bound

November 9, 2025

Sixteen Shows at the BCA – December 2-7 and December 9-14

The Off-Broadway Irish dance revue, A Celtic Christmas, comes to Boston this holiday season, with 16 shows scheduled at the BCA in the South End. The show features some of the world’s finest Irish dancers and musicians, and bring the sounds of Christmas to life through Irish music and popular songs that blend ancient traditions with contemporary flair.

Two of the performers – a dancer and musician – have Boston connections, and we spoke with them recently from the road.

Dancer Hannah Cunniffe grew up in Basking Ridge, NJ, and has been studying Irish dance all her life, thanks to her parents, Marie Moore and Frank Cunniffe, both accomplished dancers themselves! Currently a student at Boston College, Hannah is a member of Boston College Irish Dance Club, an acclaimed collegiate dance troupe that performs on campus, at weddings and even at Boston Celtics halftime shows.

Hannah was at the Irish Dance Nationals in Texas in July 2024 when she heard about an open audition for A Celtic Christmas – A Taste of Ireland and decided to try out. The show reached out to her and offered her a spot on the Celtic Christmas tour, which she gladly accepted. She calls 2024 “the best year of my life.”

This year she was invited to perform on A Taste of Ireland’s Northern Tour. “I said to myself, ‘I have to do this, I really want to do this’ and I was able to work it out with my professors.”

After being on the road, Hannah is looking forward to getting back to Boston in December for the Celtic Christmas show, where she’ll get to see her friends from BC and the Boston Irish community and also her family, who are coming up from New Jersey.

Hannah credits her parents for giving her a love for Irish dance and other dance genres and also gives a shout-out to her fellow dancers and competitors who inspired her along the way, many of whom are in the show with her.

Her advice for young dancers coming up the ranks: “Never forget what made you fall in love with dancing in the first place. For me, it’s never been about the competitions, awards and reaching perfection, it’s always been about love of dancing.”

Musician Simon Lace is a member of the stellar band touring with the show. Growing up in Nevada City, Northern California, he got his start in music learning rock and jazz but, was exposed to Irish music from an early age through the traditional music community, which included legendary Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser, who lived nearby when he wasn’t touring the world.

Simon moved to Boston in 2021 specifically to be part of the Irish and Celtic music scene. Adept on the guitar, banjo and mandolin, he keeps a busy schedule in the Boston area, performing at the Irish Cultural Centre and the Boston Celtic Music Fest. He is a mainstay in the area’s vibrant session scene at Irish pubs including the Burren, McCarthy’s, Bebop, The Druid and Emmet’s. He describes Boston’s Irish music scene as ‘pure drop,’ devoted to authentic styles rooted in traditional Irish music.

In addition to playing, Lace has taught at CCÉ Boston Music School and the Baltimore Irish Tenor Banjo Summit. He won 1st place at the 2023 and 2024 Mid Atlantic Fleadh on banjo, mandolin and guitar accompaniment.

Simon got offered a slot on the coveted A Taste of Ireland Company’s tour thanks to the recommendation of fellow guitarist Adam Hendey, who had previously been on the show. Lace gladly accepted and after touring this fall, he is looking forward to getting back to Boston for the extended stay at BCA, where they’ll do 16 shows between December 2-14.

Lace has this advice for young musicians trying to get established as an Irish musician in the Boston scene: “Practice and learn the music. And listen. Especially in the sessions, listen to what the other musicians are doing and learn from them.”