I'm Actually Irish Lyrics — Adrift In Macao

Song Overview

This late-score reveal number is the moment Adrift in Macao stops teasing and drops its mask. Tempura, the nightclub pianist who has been playing inscrutable for the audience and for the characters, announces a new identity with a grin that is half confession and half prank. The title is the joke, but the mechanics are pure musical-theatre: a character turn delivered as a compact comic aria.

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

• A reveal song that re-frames Tempura as the elusive villain McGuffin, with disguise as the punchline.
• Track 13 on the 2008 cast album, performed by Orville Mendoza.
• Built for clean diction and fast comic turns, not vocal fireworks.
• In performance it lands best when played straight as a boast, not as a wink.
• It functions like a trap door in the plot: the audience laughs, then realizes the story just changed shape.

Adrift in Macao (2007) - stage musical - non-diegetic. This number matters because it resolves the show’s central bait-and-switch without asking the audience to do homework. The character tells you what happened, then makes you enjoy hearing it. The tune stays brisk and the lyric stays cheeky, so the reveal feels earned through timing, not through heavy explanation.

What I admire is the discipline. A reveal song can turn into a sketch if the performer leans too hard on mugging. Mendoza’s original casting reputation was that he could take a stock noir type and keep it alive with precise choices. As stated in a Broadway.com feature on his run in the show, he was getting laughs nightly as Tempura during the Off-Broadway engagement. That is the right kind of heat for this moment: controlled, not chaotic.

Creation History

The musical’s authors, Christopher Durang and Peter Melnick, built the piece as a loving spoof of mid-century film noir, then added a self-aware theatrical layer where the show occasionally admits it is a show. Composer commentary later compared this reveal to a movie concept built on identity shifts, describing the number as if it could have been written for Woody Allen’s Zelig. That comparison is telling: the song is less about Irishness than about the giddy power of reinvention.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

By the time this number arrives, the club has become a clearinghouse for secrets. Mitch is chasing the villain who framed him. Lureena and Corinna have been fighting for the room. Tempura has been present through it all, hovering in plain sight. Then the reveal: Tempura is not merely the quiet pianist. He is the person everyone has been hunting, and he claims he can become whatever identity suits the moment.

Song Meaning

The meaning is performance as power. The character boasts that identity is a costume he can put on and take off, and the show turns that boast into a comic anthem. Underneath the gag is a sharper point: noir is full of people who survive by pretending. This number just says the quiet part out loud, with a rhyme and a swagger.

It also plays with cultural shorthand, deliberately. Tempura has been presented as an "Asian" figure in the old Hollywood mold, and the song detonates that presentation by treating it as a flimsy role he has been playing. Done carefully, the moment reads as satire of the genre’s stereotypes, not a celebration of them. Done clumsily, it can curdle. The best stagings keep the tone fleet and let the audience feel the authors aiming at the noir machine itself.

Annotations

Production song lists (Ovrtur): Tempura is the credited singer for the number.

The assignment matters because it pins the reveal to the character who has been withholding information. It is not a narrator explaining. It is the culprit performing his own reveal, which keeps the comedy rooted in action.

Licensing music samples (Concord Theatricals): The track is listed under Orville Mendoza with a 2:59 duration.

That compact timing is part of the success. The writers do not linger. The song makes its point, flips the plot, and gets out before the joke wears thin.

Composer commentary (Peter Melnick blog): The song is compared to a identity-shifting film concept, framed through Zelig.

This gives directors a clue: play it with the confidence of a character who thinks he is brilliant at disguise, and let the audience decide whether they are impressed or alarmed.

Style and rhythm

The number lives on clarity. Crisp consonants, a forward pulse, and a hook that can be punched like a headline. It is not a torch song, and it is not patter for patter’s sake. It is a clean theatrical pivot disguised as a joke.

Technical Information (Quick Facts)

• Artist: Orville Mendoza
• Featured: None listed
• Composer: Peter Melnick
• Producer: Peter Melnick; Joel Moss
• Release Date: May 13, 2008
• Genre: Musical theatre
• Instruments: Piano-conductor; reeds; drums; synthesizer; bass
• Label: LML Music
• Mood: Brash reveal, comic threat
• Length: 2:59
• Track #: 13
• Language: English
• Album (if any): Adrift in Macao - The New Musical
• Music style: Classic Broadway pastiche
• Poetic meter: Conversational stress with refrain-driven hooks

Frequently Asked Questions

Who sings the number in the story?

Tempura sings it, revealing himself as the villain everyone has been chasing.

Who performs it on the cast recording?

Orville Mendoza is credited on the album track.

Where does it sit in the album order?

It appears as track 13, late in the sequence, right before the finale material.

Is it a villain song?

Yes, but it is a comic villain song: threat delivered through bragging and identity play.

What is the dramatic function?

It flips the plot. The chase stops being about finding McGuffin and becomes about dealing with him in the room.

Is it staged as a nightclub act?

Usually no. It plays as a story reveal rather than a planned performance number.

What vocal type is typically associated with the role?

Casting notices commonly list Tempura as bari-tenor, and one widely circulated notice specifies a C2 to G4 range.

Does it have documented pop chart peaks?

No standard pop chart history is commonly listed for individual tracks from this cast album.

What is the tone directors should guard?

Do not let the scene turn into a novelty routine. Keep the character convinced of his own cleverness, and let the audience supply the laughter.

Awards and Chart Positions

The track circulates as cast-album material rather than a single with mainstream chart reporting. The show itself, however, has a clear Off-Broadway accolade trail. According to Concord Theatricals, the production received Drama Desk recognition for the score, and season listings also include notable performance and design nominations tied to the original run.

Additional Info

This is one of the places where the show’s parody aim becomes legible: it is not mocking Irishness, it is mocking the noir habit of turning identity into a prop. Tempura has been playing a genre silhouette. Then he yanks the silhouette off the wall and waves it around like a party favor.

Composer commentary frames the moment as a cousin to Zelig, which is a useful reference for performance style: a character who changes skins with cheerful certainty, as if morality were only a costume change. And if you want a practical audition note, a Tempura notice that specifies C2 to G4 tells you what the music expects - workable range, high emphasis on acting and pace.

Key Contributors

Sources

Sources: Concord Theatricals show listing and music samples, Ovrtur song and production listings, Apple Music album listing, Spotify track page, Playbill cast recording coverage, Broadway.com profile feature on Orville Mendoza, Footlighters audition notice, Peter Melnick show commentary