Hetty Hughes-
Last Wednesday, Players Theatre opened its doors once again for an array of musical themed entertainment. With acts ranging from Les Miserables to Wicked (not to mention a few of Players own composers’ creations) the evening was a good excuse for an old fashioned sing-along, all in the name of fundraising for this year’s 24 hour musical ‘South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut’.
Highlights of the evening included the recently elected committee performing a disorganised but surprisingly impressive rendition of “Seasons of Love”, from ‘Rent’, with Secretary Martha Mc Gregor delivering warm husky vocals and accompanied by Manus Cronin, who has startlingly powerful voice! The rest of the committee shifted rather awkwardly behind them, nurturing cans of cider and edging to get off the stage, but everyone sang along and it was really rather good! This was then followed by a very special rendition of “On My Own” by Owen Murphy, lyrics subtly modified to tell a tale of tragic unrequited love for straight best friend; the lucky Neil Fitzpatrick. The unsuspecting Fitzpatrick responded to his serenade by embracing Murphy onstage in a crushingly platonic manner!
This year’s Freshers Co-op ‘The Sweet Life of the Bassett’s Allsorts Man’ took to the stage by popular demand, revisiting “You caught my heart off guard” (music and lyrics by Owen Quinn) in a rousing chorus led by the super cute Sorcha Ni Dhuill! Other familiar faces from the Freshers Festival included Jack Toner, Eli Kaldwell and Kalya Walsh, who performed a quite frankly adorable group rendition of “A Man’s Gotta Do” from ‘Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog’. A special mention has to be given to Donal O’Cinneide and Amanda Martin for bravely staggering on through “If I Never Knew You” (which graced the Players stage originally in the notorious Hercules production of week six!) despite a dramatic technical failure which resulted in the backing track dying a very sudden death!
All in all, the evening could be pronounced highly entertaining, desperately funny at times and delightfully frivolous. All areas of committee came together, from Front of House Manager Darren Yorke’s appearance in no less than three of the night’s acts to the beautifully lit space, credited to Ilo Tarrant .
