Cary native returns home with 'Riverdance'
Cary native Rose Duffy jokes that her dad, Michael J. Duffy, was even more excited than she was when she joined the national tour of "Riverdance" as a fiddle player this past February.
"My last name is Duffy, so I'm very Irish," she said with a laugh in a phone interview from Davenport, Iowa. "My Dad's side is all Irish and he still has relatives there."
Duffy says being a part of "Riverdance" is "like a dream come true," and she's grateful to be on its "Farewell Tour," which strategically plays over St. Patrick's Day weekend in Chicago at the Oriental Theatre from Tuesday, March 13, to Sunday, March 18.
Duffy, 26, remembers how her parents took her to see "Riverdance" at the Auditorium Theatre in the late 1990s. She was inspired by its exuberant celebration of Celtic music and percussive dance.
Making music wasn't Duffy's main focus in school, though. As an undergraduate, she did a double major in psychology and Italian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She then obtained a graduate degree in occupational therapy from U of I Chicago before finding work in her field in 2010 at Swedish Covenant Hospital.
But throughout her schooling and work, Duffy played traditional Irish music as a hobby. She even helped form the local Celtic music group Chicago Reel.
Duffy's involvement with "Riverdance" came about when a dancer friend in another company alerted her about an opening for a fiddle player in the North American tour.
"She recommended me and put me in touch with the right people," Duffy said. "Then I basically auditioned over email by recording myself with music tracks."
This is Duffy's first time in a touring show, and she says she is loving the experience and getting to know the mixed company of dancers and musicians drawn mostly from Ireland, the U.K. and America. She's also really looking forward to showing off Chicago and its exuberant St. Patrick's Day traditions to the company.
Duffy says she's already getting together a suggested itinerary of places and events for the company to see.
"The cast and crew is excited because we have a week in one spot and we'll be able to explore the city," she said.
Yet Duffy's homecoming is bittersweet: Her mother, Margaret A. "Peggy" Duffy, passed away from cancer just before her daughter joined "Riverdance." Several of Duffy's aunts on her mother's side are coming from Denver to Chicago to see her here in "Riverdance," though.
"To be able to go home and share this with my closest family and friends in my hometown city on St. Patrick's Day - it's so overwhelming," Duffy said. "It will be quite a reunion and (my mother) wished she could have been here, I know that."
“Riverdance”
Location: Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St., Chicago. (800) 775-2000 or
broadwayinchicago.comShowtimes: March 13-18: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. SundayTickets: $30-$85