In much the same way that "Riverdance" was a surprise smash a few years back, so to is another Irish phenomenon - Celtic Woman. The brainchild of David Downes and Sharon Browne, Celtic Woman features four singers and a virtuoso fiddler. The group has seen its debut album dominate the Billboard magazine World Music chart since its debut last March 1. And its DVD also is a big seller, earning platinum sales status. Celtic Woman is back in North America for an eight-week tour that will include three shows in Connecticut - at the Chevrolet Theatre in Wallingford Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 and March 16 at Foxwoods Casino.
"It's doing very, very well, thank God," fiddler Mairead Nesbitt said in a phone interview Monday from Toronto. "People seem to like the music very much and identify with it. It's been great."
Nesbitt is joined in Celtic Woman by the four singers - Chloe Agnew, Lisa Kelly, Meav Ni Mhaolchatha and Orla Fallon - who each were pursuing solo careers before being put together by musical director Downes, producer Browne and executive producer Dave Kavanagh.
The collaboration was planned as a one-time concert recorded for DVD and a later broadcast on PBS stations. The audience response caught everyone off guard. "We are slightly surprised, pleasantly so," Nesbitt said. "We didn't envisage it going on this long. When we did the DVD, we thought it was just going to be the one night and then it was shown on PBS and PBS really backed the DVD.
"It has touched people in a big way, it seems." Seeing Celtic Woman performing in a theater is truly magical, Nesbitt said, because of "the energy from the performers on stage."
"The five soloists give very honest and passionate performances and I think it comes across to the audience," she said. "And the audience, in turn, gives us great energy. It really makes for a great live concert."
Even with the talented young women front and center, Nesbitt said there is much more to enjoy at a Celtic Woman concert.
"Because people pay a lot of money to see a show like this, it's extremely important to us to convey a very honest performance and to convey to the audience musically what we're all about," she said. "The costumes are beautiful, it has a lovely set and it's beautifully lit and it's all very tastefully done, rather than it being a spectacle."
And Nesbitt knows a thing or two about being in a spectacle, as she was the featured fiddler in Michael Flatley's "Lord of the Dance," an offshoot of "Riverdance."
"Celtic Woman is obviously not a dance show as it relies heavily on the music," she said. "It is a spectacularly beautiful show, but from the point of view of what's most important, the spectacle or the music, obviously the music is first and foremost."
Nesbitt has recorded a solo album, Raining Up, and also has recorded with the Afro-Celt Sound System, so she knows the value of Celtic Woman's success so far.
"It's a fantastic opportunity for me," she said. "It really only comes along once in a lifetime. I'm working with four beautiful singers and we work so well together. The five girls work so well together in the ensemble numbers and in the solos and we get on so well.
"And it's fantastic, from my perspective, because I'm the only solo instrumentalist and that makes me special straight away," she added with a laugh.
All the women in the group have solo albums and those projects have started to flourish in the wake of Celtic Woman. In fact, Nesbitt said, all of the solo records are in the Top 12 on the Billboard World Music chart, which hasn't been done since all four members of a certain heavy metal band released solo albums at the same time in 1978.
"All of our solo albums are in the Top 12 of the Billboard chart, which is fantastic for us, and Celtic Woman is still No. 1," she said. "Apparently, it's the first time since some '70s band, I think it was Kiss, that all members of the group would have their solo albums on the charts."
Naturally, the success of Celtic Woman has helped the sales of the solo records, but will that success also stand in the way of the members' prospective solo careers? Nesbitt doesn't think it has to be mutually exclusive. "It's so huge," Nesbitt said. "Celtic Woman is a huge priority and we're focusing on that, but we're focusing on our solo careers, as well. It all fits together."
Celtic Woman will perform Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 at the Chevrolet Theatre, 95 South Turnpike Road, Wallingford. Tickets are $35-$75 and available through all Ticketmaster outlets or by phone at 368-1000 (Bridgeport) and 624-0033 (New Haven).
Celtic Woman's March 16 concert at Foxwoods Casino is sold out.