Liam Butler added much to his considerable reputation as a musical theatre director with a powerful and at times stunning production of Evita for one of the best musical societies in the country. Ballinrobe Musical Society have established an impressive reputation for innovative and big-production musicals. They are...
Author: Liam Murphy
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Thoroughly Modern Millie
The Presentation Secondary School are to be congratulated for choosing a 2002 stage musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie, based on a 1967 movie of the same name. The transition year students delivered a first rate show with strong performances and characterisations, with excellent costumes, great dancing and a clever...
Review: Make Music To His Name
Review: Make Music To His Name
Waterford has many reasons to be grateful for the contributions that the composer Eric Sweeney has made to the musical name and fame of this proud city. But in his role as organist and choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral. He has brought forth an historic CD spanning nearly a century of sacred music and playing in...
Review: Between Waterford Land and Sky
Review: Between Waterford Land and Sky
Compass Writers are a diverse group of writers who have gathered in Waterford since 2007 to write, support and perfect their craft. Facilitated by PJMcAuliffe and with community support and funding from the City Arts Office they have brought out a fine publication featuring ten writers in their anthology Between...
Review: Events While Guarding The Bofors Gun
Review: Events While Guarding The Bofors Gun
Stagemad Theatre Company set up in 2005 and in the past six years have added much by way of new work, a strong admirable support for a new cohort of actors, mostly on a shoestring of financial support. Its artistic director James Power is dogged in his dedication to theatre and he followed new work at the fine...
Review: The Shaughraun
Review: The Shaughraun
Once again, it was the amateur, the community theatre company who are providing the drama of big cast plays, big broad brush spectacle and good value for money. Dungarvan Dramatic Club in the shadow of bereavement and in a time honoured tradition showed that the show goes on and their closeness of cast and crew...
Review: Barrack Street Band Disney Spectacular
Review: Barrack Street Band Disney Spectacular
The Theatre Royal was packed. There were Disney characters dispensing sweets in the foyer and there was a happy family feeling for the Barrack Street Band Disney Concert. Oliver Carroll was the MC and Mark Fitzgerald, the musical director, got the evening off to a fanfare start with a medley – a Disney Celebration....
TV Review: De La Salle Choir
TV Review: De La Salle Choir
It was great to see the De La Salle College Senior Choir compete so well in the Derry Millennium Centre on RTE1 in the All Island School Choir of the Year competition. Unfortunately, the Dublin Wesley Choir, Ballinteer under their conductor Helen Doyle won out in the end (they were runners-up last year). The De La...
Review: Come Back To The 5 And Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
Review: Come Back To The 5 And Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
Waterford Dramatic Society presented a curious choice of play, a bitter-sweet comedy from 70’s America, looking back from a small town where in the 50’s a group of hopeful dreamers The Disciples of James Dean met in a Woolworth’s 5 and Dime story to celebrate and idolise their hero. Written by Ed Graczyk and first...
Review: Love and Fury
Review: Love and Fury
Subtitled The Passion of Jonathan Swift, Catastrophe Theatre Company brought that fine character actor David Heap to the Theatre Royal in Love and Fury. Sadly, there was little passion and no fury except for the wind outside the theatre. Heap gave ten years of his career in Fair city playing Donal Maher and he was in...
Review: Trading Faces
Review: Trading Faces
Good Tuck, It’s Twink should have been the title of Robert C Kelley’s foray into ladies night out theatre. There was no programme, perhaps people are not buying them anymore but there was not even a printed off sheet of information or a press release to hand. But the proper (far from proper) title was Trading Faces –...
Review: The High Kings
Review: The High Kings
It was a night you wouldn’t put a politician out in the sheets and cascades of rain but the Theatre Royal was full to the roof for The High Kings – the new trad and ballad royalty – inheritors of the noble call, sons of the famous and themselves legends – Finbarr Clancy, Brian Dunphy, Martin Furey and Darren Holden....