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Phoenix Productions – Songs of David Friedman

Phoenix Productions will present “Listen To My Heart: The Songs of David Friedman,”  for two nights on 29th and 30th May 2010.

The Source - May 29th and 30th

In preparation for their forthcoming 2010 Summer Production – the timeless classic that is ‘Oliver’, Phoenix Productions will take to the stage of  The Source in May for two unique performances of ‘Listen to My Heart: The Songs of David Friedman’.

Directed by Gerard O’Brien and accompanied by Internationally renowned musical director David Wray, (Latter founder member of Music Theatre Ireland)  ‘Listen to My Heart’ sees this company stripped down to just five voices familiar to Thurles audiences from Phoenix Productions and Thurles Musical Society; Michelle O’Connell, Maria Griffin, Deirdre Ryan, Clifford Killeen and Shane Willoughby.

‘Listen To My Heart’ is a musical written from the heart, addressing universal issues that chronicle all the lives, loves and losses of our modern world.

The first performance of its kind here in Thurles, ‘Listen to My Heart‘ takes you on a musical journey that will lift your spirits and sooth your soul.

Tickets are very affordable, priced at €10 and €12 for students and adults respectively.

Warning: As with previous performances from this company, both these nights are guaranteed to be a sell out, so please do not be disappointed.

Booking: Contact The Source direct by clicking here or email boxoffice@sourcearts.ie

Health Warning – The Irish Canon (Abridged)

The Irish Canon (Abridged) comes on stage in The Source Arts Theatre, Thurles, on Thursday night next, 29th April,at 8.00pm, and is an absolute must for all involved with drama groups of all ages in Tipperary.

Completely and unashamedly abridged, watch The Irish Canon flash before your eyes dragging Irish plays kicking and screaming into the future.

This show is a high-speed roller-coaster type compression or condensation, and is carries a strict health warning. “If you suffer from  bladder problems, inner-ear disorders, heart ailments and/or you are inclined to motion sickness,” best to give it a miss.

From the pen of very talented writers, The Irish Canon (Abridged) sees Irish Theatre of the last century condensed down to a rip-roaring 10 plays, 70 characters, and 3 actors all in the spate of one hour.

The stage will come alive with Irish figures who have dominated theatrical circles for over a century. Names like Kathleen Ni Houlihan, Christy Mahon, Bessie Burgess, the Bull MacCabe and many, many more, will grace the stage in quick succession, running breathlessly through iconic Irish theatre and unfurling into what can only be described as sheer mad comic chaos.

The result is a show that’s crammed with culture, comedy and hilarious hysterics. One of the funniest performances you will catch this season!

Don’t miss three actors hurtling themselves headlong through the most famous Irish plays ever written. On second thoughts, forget the health warning,I don’t know of anyone who died laughing.

Book now through the box office: Tel – 0504-90204 Tickets only €10

Weekend Of Laughter In The Source Thurles

Economic Recession, Water Charges, Mortgage Rate Rises, and with all that depression about, what we all need is a good laugh. This ‘sure cure remedy’ is ready and available this weekend here at The Source Theatre, in Thurles.

God’s Official

To some people, football is a matter of life and death, to others it is even far more important than that great love of the sport itself.

Two football fans have just seen their side relegated after a referee disallowed a perfectly good goal and allowed the opposition to go down to the other end and score. This can be just one step to many, however the referee’s decision is final…or is it?

Two lads, Degsy and Cliff, decide to take matters into their own hands and kidnap the referee to force him to change his mind on this all important goal, with hilarious and the most unexpected consequences. This is a madcap comedy starring legendary Irish actor, Mick Lally, George McMahon of Mondo and Fair City fame and rising star Edwin Mullane.

Kidnapping a referee (and a Christian referee at that, hence the title) may seem a corny plot for a play. After all, we have all wanted to do something similar after a certain clash with a recent French team, but this script is a tremendous piece of writing, and superbly acted. Ostensibly about football, God’s Official is a powerful play about passion and commitment, a welcome relief in these dark and cynical times.

The play was a massive hit at the Edinburgh Festival winning the Spirit of the Fringe Award.  Now, with Irish men taking up the roles, it’s on a nationwide tour set to amuse and delight soccer fans up and down the country.

So for all you football fanatics and soccer widows, why not make a night of it together, with a show that promises to entertain everybody.

God’s Official will appear at The Source Arts Centre for one night only on Fri next the 23rd April. Time 8.00pm.

Kevin McAleer

On Saturday night the 24th of April, complete your therapy with a dose of the veteran County Tyrone stand up comedian Kevin McAleer who will be in attendance at the The Source Arts Centre also at 8.00pm.

Is it possible for a comedian to be too Irish I ask?  No, not when Kevin McAleer oozes that whimsical spirit of Flann O’Brien with almost every deadpan utterance. “Sure you couldn’t have a famine in Ireland now, people would just go and eat out.”

It’s nearly twenty years since Kevin lit up our hearts and the screens of our television sets with his psychedelic folk tales of Kojak, Dana, Gary Glitter, the Woman and the Washing Powder, Closedown, and dozens of other cultural icons too numerous to mention.

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McAleer has been hugely influential in comedy circles for a whole generation of comedians, not just in here in Ireland, but in the UK as well. Our own David O’Doherty, for example, tells how he decided to become a comedian after seeing the original Nighthawks show in the Olympia back in the middle of the Nineties.

His owlish storytelling occasionally rambles down a funny side, not often identified by the average man, and then finds it way back in a similar vein, leading you always into continuous bouts of uncontrollable laughter.  His grossly understated absurdism’s will have you in stitches and most certainly he deserves to demonstrate his unique and talented wares to packed audiences.

This show is a must for economic depression sufferers.

To book for one or both shows call 0504-90204 or visit the Source website www.thesourceartscentre.ie

Tickets to both shows on both nights will cost you less than a trip to your doctor and no trip to the chemist for that medication needed later.

Phoenix Productions Caberet Set For Two Packed Performances

Phoenix Performer Deidre Ryan

The guys and gals of Phoenix Productions have a little something special in store for their followers this weekend when they take to the stage in The Source for their annual fundraising cabaret.

This year’s ‘Heart and Music’ will see fifty or so of Thurles’ ever so talented youngsters take to the stage in what promises to be one of Phoenix’s most diverse and contemporary cabaret set lists yet.

All the big hitters are in here this year, the Michael Buble’s, Michael Jackson’s and the Abba’s are all there, as too are more of the stalwart musicals we’ve come to expect from Phoenix Productions,e.g. Chicago, Beauty and the Beast and ‘Heart and Music’s’ shared namesake, the classic musical, Cabaret with the superb renditions we have come to expect from Deidre Ryan, Shane Willoughby, and Garry Butler, to name but a very few.

Despite recessionary times, this will be a sell out folks with only a small number of tickets still available. (This statement is true, there is no sales pitch intended here folks, so to avoid disappointment don’t wait for the night, we’ve warned you.)

These tickets can be booked online or in the Source booking office for both the Friday and Saturday performances right now and will set you back all of €10, a measly sum for the kind of high quality performers that will be on stage.

With musical direction by David Wray and production by Gerard O’Brien you are guaranteed a polished, professional and enjoyable performance.

Thurles Musical Society To Stage Jekyll and Hyde

Thurles Musical Society Committee 2010

Noel Dundon, senior reporter with the Tipperary Star Newspaper and PRO for Thurles Musical Society, posts this exciting community news.

Thurles Musical Society will premiere the hit show Jekyll and Hyde in the Premier Hall, Thurles from Tuesday March 23rd to Saturday March 27th,  2010 with the promise of great music, entertainment, song and dance.

With music by Frank Wildhorn and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, Jekyll and Hyde has become one of the most popular musicals on Broadway and the West End and has packed theatres throughout the world.

The mammoth role of Jekyll and Hyde will be played by Michael McLoughlin, a well known and popular figure in Thurles who has starred in many previous productions. This is a huge role for Michael whose last outing was as Coalhouse Walker Junior in Ragtime – a role which earned him an AIMS nomination.

Linda Ryan plays the part of Lucy Harris; Joan Farrell is Emma Carew; Jonathon Gleeson plays John Utterson; John Scott is Sir Danvers Carew; John Hayes is Mr Simon Stride; Dixie Byrne – Lord Savage; Brendan Bailey, taking his first outing with Thurles Musical Society, is the Bishop of Basingstoke; Nina Scott is Lady Beaconsfield; Brian Gleeson is Sir Archibald Proops; Barry Derby is General Lord Glossop; Shane Willoughby is Spider; and Nellie is played by Michelle O’Connell.

Almost everywhere it has has been staged, Jekyll and Hyde has thrilled audiences with it’s passion, secrecy, darkness and of course single-minded desire.

Thurles welcomes back Director Tony Finnegan for this show. Tony has previously directed the society’s huge success Jesus Christ Superstar in 2009, and The Hot MIkado in 2000, which won Best Overall Show at the annual AIMS Awards. Tony will be ably assisted by Mary Butler as Assistant Director.
Mary Rose McNally is once again the Musical Director/Conductors chair while the Choreography is being looked after by Trisha McElgunn and Rosalie Butler. Tommy Sweeney returns as Stage Manager while Rita Callanan will be Stage Director.

The original stage conception for Jekyll and Hyde was by Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn. The music was composed by Wildhorn and the lyrics were written by Leslie Bricusse. Adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” Jekyll & Hyde tells the story of Dr. Henry Jekyll, a brilliant young doctor and research scientist who, distraught over his father’s mental illness, embarks upon a quest to isolate the dual elements of good and evil that are constantly struggling for supremacy inside every human being. However, when his experiment backfires, Jekyll inadvertently gives life to Edward Hyde, his evil alter ego, a murderous being who will let loose a reign of terror on the city of London and those who had ridiculed Jekyll’s research.

Jekyll & Hyde was originally produced in 1990 at the Houston’s Tony Award-winning Alley Theatre. An instantaneous success with audiences and critics alike, it went on to break box office records, and its original run was extended four times during that first summer. In 1995, the show was remounted by Houston’s Theater Under the Stars and Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theater. Adding to the shows momentum, stars such as Liza Minnelli and The Moody Blues soon began to record songs from the show. Finally, on April 28, 1997, Jekyll & Hyde made its Broadway debut at the Plymouth Theatre. Another resounding success, this production was nominated for 4 Tony Awards. Robert Cuccioli (Jekyll/Hyde) won the Drama Desk award for Best Actor in a Musical. And Linda Eder (Lucy) won a 1997 Theater World Award for Outstanding Debut Performer in New York City. The show ran for 1,543 regular performances, closing on January 7, 2001 and is the longest-running show in the history of the Plymouth Theatre.

Tickets can be booked at the Booking Office in Hickey’s Pharmacy, Liberty Square, Thurles  (0504 21423).

Note: Balcony seats cost €20 for adults and €10 for children. Tickets for downstairs  are €15 for adults and €10 Euro for children.  OAP’s will be half price on Tuesday and Wednesday’s only. Family tickets costing €50 for balcony and €40 Euro downstairs are now also available.
Watch this site for further news as TMS go into rehersals and remember to book tickets early to avoid disappointment.