Sunday Business Post Review - Wildhorn & Bricusse

This was a landmark production in more ways than one. The Glasnevin Musical Society celebrated its 50th anniversary with a show that will be remembered – and not just by its own supporters – as one of the finest musical productions ever staged at the National Concert Hall.

First of all, the stage set was probably the best yet seen at the venue; second the lighting was a class above anything previously used in a musical there; and third, those in the leading roles were not just top notch singers but impressive actors too.

The top three – Eoin Cannon (Jekyll and Hyde), Sharon Sexton (Lucy Harris) and Claudia Boyle (Emma Carew) – were superb while lesser parts, often zweak links in the production chain, came up trumps with solid performances all around. I particularly liked Jackie Curran-Olohan as the toffee-nosed Lady Beaconsfield and Adam Lawlor as Spider.

Cannon, who has matured into a formidable talent since furthering his career on the London stage, put in a tour de force in the dual role as the doctor with the split personality. Boyle, playing his upper crust fiancée, sang exquisitely, but not unexpectedly, for one of Irish opera’s most exciting newcomers.

Sexton, in the meatier female role of the prostitute Lucy (think Nancy in Oliver), maximised every opportunity that came her way. Songs such as Someone Like You and A New Life were delivered with conviction without undue sentimentality.

The biggest surprise was the quality of the musical itself. Fast-moving (occasionally too much so), it was crammed with great songs and, thanks to Tony Finnegan’s taut direction, moved along seamlessly.

Conductor Colman Pearse also kept a tight rein on an exciting and fairly boisterous score.

The various choral groups moved crisply and sang forcefully, while the black-stockinged Red Rat Girls made the most of two terrific showstoppers, Girls of the Night and Bring on the Men.

The challenge now facing the Glasnevin Musical Society is that, having scaled new heights with this production, it will have to work its socks off to stay there. But it will be worth it.

Metro Review – Lucy White

Aristocrats, hookers, crooked clergymen and one murderous doctor collide in this entertaining morality tale performed by the Glasnevin Musical Society. An adaptation of the 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (which Robert Louis Stevenson apparently wrote while strung out on cocaine), this gargantuan production is faithful to its Gothic London roots and is a feast for the eyes as well as ears: Tower Bridge is silhouetted against a brooding sky, fog envelopes chimney pots and sumptuous costumes consist of top hats, capes, corsets and bustles.

Trouble brews as the audience take their seats – a gaggle of madwomen lark around an asylum, while in a scene running concurrently Dr Jekyll’s father is ‘Lost in the Darkness’ of mental illness. And so Jekyll (Eoin Cannon) announces to the board of governors his quest to cure lunacy by isolating the dual chemical compounds of good and evil. Accused by the clergy of playing God, the doctor’s proposal is dismissed but still he proceeds with his experiment and, in turn, creates a drug-induced monster – his lusty alter ego, Edward Hyde. Meanwhile the doomed love triangle with aristocratic Emma (soprano Claudia Boyle) and hooker-with-a-heart Lucy (Sharon Sexton) seals his fate.

First produced in 1990, Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical so wishes to be Sweeney Todd, only the score just doesn’t compare to the dark wit of Stephen Sondheim. Still, the GMS perform with spine-tingling aplomb and Cannon’s Jekyll/Hyde is a thrilling cocktail of Victorian conservatism, primitivism and downright lunacy.

Sunday Business Post Review

The Glasnevin Musical Society has been faithful to The Merry Widow down the years and audiences have been richly rewarded.

One is inclined to forget just how good Franz Lehar's musical is until you see a production such as this and realise there is not a nanosecond of waste space. Great music, songs and dancing, dollops of upper-crust rumpy-pumpy and non-stop fun propelled the plot along at breakneck speed. It had hardly started when it was over, always a good sign.

The storyline concerning the widow Anna Glavari, her millions and the state of Pontevedro is one of the cleverest of the nonsensical genre and it provides scope for a wide range of situations, not the least being the cancan side of Gay Paree.

Virginia Kerr has been this way before as the Widow and knows every note and nuance of the part and it showed. Her flawless performance was the anchor for everything.

As her pursuer Danilo the Norwegian Thorbjorn Gulbrandsoy looked underage but this young man has a glorious baritone voice that matches Baileys Irish Cream for smoothness and flavour. He is a fine actor as well.

Mary Flaherty as Valencienne, the ambassador's errant wife, has a bubbling stage presence and did not let even an eyelid flicker go astray. She excelled. Tenor Paul Byrom, her would-be lover, goes from strength to strength in this kind of role.

Des Managhan and Jimmy Dixon (the ambassador and his factotum) fizzled with comical chemistry and, sensibly, never plummeted into pantomime - a perennial danger is this area. Full marks too for Dave Green (Kromov) - and not just for clocking up a fifth Merry Widow for the Glasnevin.

Director Noel McDonough lists The Merry Widow as his favourite musical. This 100th birthday party was a fine tribute.

Back to Top