Tag Archives: shannon musical society

AFTER a very long hiatus, Shannon Musical Society will be back with its show Little Shop of Horrors from February 14-18.  The show will be staged at St Patrick’s Comprehensive and will be directed by Aodán Fox.  Shane Farrell is Musical Director while Karen Barrett is Choreographer. The cast is led by Tom Barrett who is taking on the role of Seymour, a hapless florist shop worker. When the Society first produced the show 18 years ago, Eoin Sheedy had that role, and while he is still involved this time out he plays Mr Mushnik, the owner of the florists. The leading lady will be Olivia Parkinson, who plays Audrey. Ciarán Collins returns to the Shannon stage to portray Orin Scrivello, the nasty dentist and boyfriend of Audrey. Rounding out the cast is Colm McGuinness, who takes on the demanding job of voicing the blood thirsty plant, Audrey II. Speaking this week Aodán said that preparations have been going well. …

STEEPED in musical heritage, 25-year-old Hazel Park has chased her dream, and is now living it. After spending a few years teaching, she left education to go to London for an MA in Musical Theatre Performance and is starting her first professional role this week, playing Tinkerbell in the pantomime Peter Pan at University Concert Hall Limerick. She told the Clare Champion that Shannon Musical Society has been a big part of her life and her family. “My grandparents actually founded the society, my family have been in it over the years and I joined when I was 18.” Hazel has also been involved with Muse Productions and the Ennis Musical Society, while she was nominated for Best Female Singer in the Association of Irish Musical Societies Awards in 2020. She has always wanted to get into musical theatre as a professional, but didn’t go into it straight after the Leaving Cert. “It was always in the back of my …

SHANNON Musical Society and Wolfe Tones are coming together for a fundraiser, which tests how well couples know each other. Entitled ‘Mr and Mrs’, it will be held at Wolfe Tones at 8pm on November 18 and Karen Barrett, chairperson of Shannon Musical Society, said it will be a very fun night. “It’s based on a TV show that was on in years gone by. A couple are brought onto the stage and then one of them is brought away while the other person is asked a series of questions. “The partner comes back and is asked the same questions and hopefully give the same answers! “There’s another round when they’re given a paddle, one side of it is pink and the other blue, they switch it over for the appropriate answer.” Karen said that there are some couples with links to the two organisations. “It’s a bit of fun really and while it’s a fundraiser for Wolfe Tones and …

SHANNON Musical Society has announced plans to hold what will be its first show since 2020 on the week of February 12-18 of next year. The Society’s production will be Little Shop of Horrors, which it had planned to perform some months ago but decided to cancel due to continuing concerns about Covid-19. Director of the show will be Aodán Fox and he said they are looking forward to getting down to business once more. “Basically the new committee was elected and they decided that they’d continue with Little Shop of Horrors, which we were supposed to do in February just gone. “We’ve a slightly new production team in that our musical directors Carmel Griffin has stepped down and Shane Farrell is our new Musical Director. “Shane is from the Tuam area and he’d be well known from Operation Transformation. He’s just after winning a national AIMS award as best musical director for a production of Little Shop of Horrors …

HAVING first decided to postpone its 2022 show, Shannon Musical Society has now decided to cancel it altogether. Its production of Little Shop of Horrors was going to happen in April, but the Society felt that despite the loosening of restrictions, allowing it to go ahead could potentially result in serious problems. Aodán Fox was set to direct the production, and he said it had been a difficult decision. “It was a tough call to have to make to be honest, but there were several concerns. The fact that we could have been in a position financially to put ourselves in major danger if we had all the outlay and we were hit by Omicron, either the week before or the week of the show and have to cancel, that was a major concern. “It could put the Society in grave danger of not being able to continue. After chatting it out with the cast and the committee, it was …

THE Shannon Musical Society’s annual production has had to be postponed from February until April, due to Covid-19, writes Owen Ryan. Huge numbers attend the shows every year, and this year the Society are set to perform Little Shop of Horrors, but with a massive amount of Covid infections, the show is not set to be put back until the week of April 10-16. This year the group were set to perform Little Shop of Horrors and director Aodán Fox said that the postponement is disappointing, and he hopes the show will be able to go ahead on the new dates. “We kind of started very tentatively and when we were picking a show we picked a small cast, small band musical, because we knew it was going to be a difficult year. Rehearsals have been going on with major social distancing and breaks for air every half an hour, as recommended. It’s gutting to have to postpone it, it’s …

Shannon Musical Society  is still celebrating its most successful haul of trophies in 21 years, after capturing six awards at the “musical Oscars”. Members came home from the Association of Irish Musical Societies (AIMS) with awards, with arms full of trophies last weekend. More than 1,100 people attended the glittering awards ceremony in Killarney’s INEC at the weekend. The most coveted award is for Best Overall Show and Shannon were delighted to receive second place, against stiff competition. The last time they were nominated for this award was in 2006, for The Wiz. Prior to that, it was for The Hot Mikado in 2000. The society was nominated for six awards after its production of Jesus Christ Superstar, which was staged last February. These included nominations for Best Front of House, Best Ensemble, Best Director, Best Overall Show, Best Visuals and Best Technical. SMS has won many awards over the years but not since 1993 has it been nominated for …

Shannon Musical Society has been nominated for six national awards for its recent stage production of Jesus Christ Superstar. The society hasn’t had so many nominations for the Association of Irish Musical Societies (AIMS) awards since 1993, when they presented Half a Sixpence to the Shannon audiences. This year, the Shannon group has been nominated for best overall show, against stiff competition from around the country. The last time they were nominated for this award, it was for their production of The Wiz in 2006 and, prior to that, they were nominated for Hot Mikado in 2000. That show was directed by twins Sean and Brian Power. This year, Sean Power stepped out of the family partnership and directed on his own for the first time and he was delighted to be nominated in the best director category. The Shannon group has also been nominated for best visuals. This award encompasses costumes, props, hair and make-up. Jesus Christ Superstar relies …