FROM the pen of Frank McCourt: “Sing your song, dance your dance and tell your tale.”
A fitting mantra for an actor rehearsing for the role of his grandmother in ‘Angela’s Ashes The Musical’ and one that Amanda Minihan repeats often.
Yes, indeed, Limerick’s own Amanda Minihan returns to the stage here to take up Granny’s mantle, the part for which she was first cast in the 2017 premiere here in Lime Tree Theatre. Next month the Pat Moylan production begins its Ireland and UK tour with a run from July 18 to 27, booking on its backer’s website www.limetreetheatre.ie
A health setback had scuppered showtime for Amanda and Clare Barrett came on to make a beaut of the job at brief notice.
“I am thrilled to be playing Granny and it is an honour to be asked back,” the young woman from Granville Park tells Arts Page.
One of girl triplets, her gift for song began young: “My parents tell me that I used to sing my sisters to sleep.”
Her talent as a performer was cultivated by various teachers – Salesians’ Mrs Cassidy, Jean Holmes of Limerick School of Music, Olive Cowpar, Maria Walsh, Richie Ryan, London’s Mountview Academy. The West End took her to heart, and big roles in ‘Blood Brothers’, ‘The Producers’ “for two years and I loved every second of it,” also ‘Sister Act’, ‘Dog Fight’ and ‘Carousel’.
Last summer, University Concert Hall booked her for their 25th Anniversary Gala Concert along with the RTE Concert Orchestra. Marie Boylan and Terry O’Donovan cast her in 2014’s ‘On The Wire’, nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award. She sang Jason Donovan off the stage in his sold-out UCH spectacular.
She has filmed a feature too and there is ancillary work in casting: “Seeing how casting works from the other side is an eye-opener. It’s like putting a jigsaw together.”
More again from Amanda specific to ‘Angela’s Ashes The Musical’, closer to curtain call.
Booking July 18 to 27 with matinées on www.limetreetheatre.ie
