I've been looking for an opportunity to catch this for years now, and here at long last is a chance. :-)

After receiving critical acclaim and overwhelming demand by sold out New York audiences, Larry Kirwan’s Stephen Foster musical ‘Hard Times’ will extend performances thru Sunday, February 16th at The Cell, A Twenty First Century Salon (Founding Artistic Director, Nancy Manocherian) (338 West 23rd Street).

The production will play the following additional performances: Feb. 6 – 16, Wed. - Sat. at 8:00 p.m. and Sun. at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are $35 and are available online at www.thecelltheatre.org or by calling 1-800-838-3006.

Set in a saloon in Lower Manhattan’s notorious Five Points in 1863, Hard Times combines the story of America’s first great songwriter Stephen Foster and a neighborhood under siege and about to explode with ethnic frictions that will determine the destiny of contemporary New York. Through a re-imagining of Stephen Foster's songbook, combined with new music material by Mr. Kirwan, Hard Times explores New York City Civil War tensions with a modern musical and dramatic sensibility.

"By the end of the evening, the audience is up, cheering and stamping. In “Hard Times,” Mr. Kirwan has not only delivered a knockout entertainment, he’s done a public service, reacquainting us with the Foster songbook and the striving, teeming America for which it was written." -- New York Times

"Hard Times at the Cell in Chelsea is a chamber sized musical with a heart and soul bigger than any Broadway show."
  -- Theatrescene.net

Hard Times was originally produced as part of the 2012 1st Irish Theatre Festival. Produced and curated by Artistic Director George Heslin, the annual September festival is a celebration of the best of Irish theatre.