STRANDS of the community came together on Monday February 17 for Limerick Musical Society’s launch of ‘Evita’, set for the concert hall from March 20 to 22. LMS president John B Ryan, PRO Gerry Ryan and chairman James Scanlon rolled out warmth and delicious nibbles to UCH’s Emma Foote and Marie Barron, the society’s members, well wishers, our First Citizen and press.
Mayor Kathleen Leddin addressed Dolan’s Bar with a public appeal ”to go out and support this event – so many groups in Limerick are putting time and work into a show for us” and praised this LMS winning “effort, commitment, professionalism and talent”.
International soprano Sarah Dolan showed up with endorsement and heard parents Mick and Valerie Dolan congratulated by the Mayor for their 2014 IMRO Live Music Venue of the Year award.
On to ‘Evita’, with copyright released in 2013 making a hot choice for City of Culture. “We are looking into upwards of €6,000 to pay for copyright, depending on box office receipts at UCH,” detailed James, chairing since 2011. ”It is costing €50,000 to stage this musical and we have a cast of 65. 110 people and more are involved altogether between set, orchestra, committee and of course, selling tickets and promoting ‘Evita’.”
Nine months work has already been invested. Director Des Henn committed weeks after last year’s wonderful oomph of ‘Oaklahoma!’ and his focus is “trying to keep the acting as real as possible. We could argue about Evita herself for years, was she good or awful? But we are doing it as per script with no stage gimmicks.
“It’s hard to stage as there has been the movie. It’s hard expense wise, the set is challenging and normally I like to see actors express their personalities coming into a role but with this, we cannot. The black and white footage is there on YouTube, we know what Evita and Peron were like”.
Still, Des is sure of Limerick Musical Society “pulling it off”. We will tell all the ways close to March 20-22, booking at www.uch.ie
via No cry for this Evita | Limerick Post Newswrite.
