School Musical

SCHOOL MUSICAL

Every year, the Transition Year students, guided by producers Ms. G. McNulty, Ms. N. Nevin and Ms. R. Hurley stage a spectacular piece of musical theatre to the delight of the huge audiences that gather from the locality. This is a core element of Transition Year and every student is offered the opportunity to showcase their talent and take part.

 The Transition Year Musical 2020…

John the Baptist Community School presents “Sister Act”

This years musical is going to be “Sister Act” produced by Ms. McNulty, Ms. Nevin and choreographed by Ms. McInerney. “Sister Act” is an amazing Musical. “Sister Act” is about a lounge singer forced to join a convent after being placed in a witness protection programme.
The “Sister Act” Musical will be on the 28th and 29th of February

Cast

Grace Slattery as ‘Deloris Van Cartier’

Amy Kennedy as ‘Mother Superior’

Ciara Nash as ‘Sister Mary Robert’

Ruth Maher as ‘Sister Mary Patrick’

Sinead McCarthy as ‘Sister Mary Lazarus’

Barry Donovan as ‘Monsignor O Hara’

Shane Whelan as ‘Curtis’

Liam Kelly as ‘Officer Eddie Souther’

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Michael Gammell as ‘TJ’

James Callinan as ‘Joey’

Eoin O Loughlan as ‘Pablo’

Sophie Naughton as ‘Sister Mary Martin’

Chloe Naughton as ‘Sister Mary Theresa’

Sarah-Jane Cooke as ‘Michelle 1’

Joanne Meany as ‘Michelle 2’

Caoimhe Real as ‘Tina 1’

Kate Nelligan as ‘Tina 2’

James Dollery as ‘Ernie’

 

Tickets will be sold in school and on our website here

Tickets

Adult         Child

 €10             €8

Previous Musicals are listed below

2020 – Sister Act

2019 – The Wedding Singer

2018 – School of Rock

2017 – The Adams Family

2016 – All Shook Up

2015 – Hairspray

2014 – Disco Inferno

2013 – Poptastic!

2012 – Back to the 80’s

Click here for all previous Musicals

Special Mentions:
Mr. Larkin, Ms. Mortell, Ms. O Toole and Ms. Daly who helped the production.
Kate Kennedy, Ellie Mallone, Emma Heavy, Samantha Musgrave, Shauna Tierney as the Dance Captains

Music performed by the school orchestra.

Costume design by Ms. O’Toole.

Set design created by Ms. Mortell and members of TY.

Some Musical Memories…

The Addams Family

 by T.Y. students Tara Daly, Emily Dollery and Rebecca Timmons

This year the Transition Year Musical was “The Addams Family”. The show tells the story of how Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with Lucas Beineke, a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family- a man her parents have never met. And if that wasn’t upsetting enough, Wednesday confides in her dad and begs him not to tell her mother, thinking she’ll go mad and wreck the whole thing. Now Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done before-keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday’s “normal” boyfriend and his parents.

At the beginning of the year, after the TY musical students learned that the show they would be performing was “The Addams Family”, the first thing they did before any auditions was have a look at the Broadway version of the opening number “When You’re an Addams” and learn that fully. Even during this, the talent was prominent and efforts were being made. When the auditioning process began, the bars and expectations had been set very high. A lot of brave, determined students auditioned for lead roles. During these, you could most definitely see the outstanding talent the 2016-2017 Transition Year students had to offer this school. After two, nerve racking, weeks of call backs and small scene performances in front of the class, the lead roles were cast to ten strong willed and remarkably talented individuals. We started by learning the opening song and dance number, “When You’re an Addams”. It took a lot of hard work and determination to get this number perfect as well as the other big dance number, “Full Disclosure”. There was a lot to learn for lead roles and chorus alike, meaning a lot of hard work had to be put in after school, during lunches and over the February midterm break. After a long six months of preparation, all of the hard work of the lead cast, chorus and the teachers involved, paid off. So much time and effort went into making sure all the dances and songs were perfected, even taking time out of classes, lunch times and the February midterm break, to get it all stage worthy. At the end of it all, it turned out to be an absolutely fantastic and extraordinary performance by the Transition Year students of 2016-2017, one that was so well received by the audiences. It will most certainly not be forgotten anytime soon.

Nothing would have been possible if it wasn’t for the relentless work and effort of all the teachers and crews involved- Ms. McNulty, who along with teaching all the songs and made sure the cast knew their lines, single handedly organised the student orchestra, which played all the songs perfectly and really had a positive effect on the show, Ms. Healy, who organised all the props and made sure that everything was backstage and on stage when needed, Ms. Hurley, who helped with teaching all the songs and who was very much involved also with making sure the leads knew what they were supposed to do, Ms. Donovan, who helped the chorus learn all their singing lines and knew when to come in and helped backstage making sure all the props went on and off stage and that the singing was loud enough back there, and Ms. Nevin, who came back to the school to give great help to all the cast and chorus with the singing.

Many thanks also go out to Ms. Ryan and Ms. Mortell’s art and set design crew, who painted the entire set and spent countless hours making sure it looked perfect for the performance to really get that creepy Addams Family feeling, it’s safe to say it was absolutely outstanding to look at, to the Coffee Brothers who came in during the midterm break and set up all the fabulous lights and sound systems that were seen and heard on the nights of the shows, all the microphones and speakers were provided by them. Thanks are also to be given to Ms. O’ Toole, who took the time to find and give costumes for every single member of the lead cast and chorus, they really looked amazing on stage. A thank you to Mr. McCaffrey and Mr. McCarthy and their stage crew who were made backstage throughout the shows making sure that everything was in order, props were ready to come off and go on stage, panels of canvas being moved and such, it really was a huge help, Mr. Tim Hartnett and Mr. John Cleary who took time to set up and built the stage,  and thanks go out to the fabulous show choreographer, Pam McGlynn, who took the time and had the patience to teach all the dances, and go back over and over them until they were finally show ready, it all worked out brilliantly in the end. To say the students involved were extremely grateful would be a massive understatement!

Through the musical we learned quite a bit about collaborating and how if you work hard, you can achieve anything. Also, through the musical, we made and cemented new friends and got to know new people. The musical gave us a newfound confidence and we found ourselves performing in front of thousands of people over the course of the shows when some of us wouldn’t have ever dreamed of singing or dancing for a crowd before. Before the musical, we had no idea of the amount of effort that goes in, between acting, lighting, sound, choreography, singing and costumes and to say that we’re grateful is an understatement.  It was an amazing Transition Year experience for most, a definite highlight of the year. A performance such as this one really won’t be forgotten easily or anytime soon. [/toggle]

 

All Shook Up

 

Hairspray

The halls of John the Baptist C.S. have once again come alive with the sound of musicals! TY students took the stage on the 28th of February and 1st of March for their outstanding production of “Hairspray!”. Based on John Walters’ iconic film, the story follows Tracy Turnblad (Maeve O’Mahony), a “larger than life” teenager with all the right moves. She is obsessed with “The Corny Collins Show” in 1950’s Baltimore. Every day after school, she and her best friend Penny (Gráinne Kennedy), run home to watch the show and drool over hunky Link Larkin (Jamie Dumas), much to Tracy’s mother Edna’s dismay (played by Dylan Reeves Wasik). After one of the stars of the show leaves, Corny Collins (Michael Whelan) holds auditions to a replacement. With the guidance of new friend Seaweed (Thomas Breen) and the support of her father Wilbur (David Moloney), Tracy makes it on the show, angering the dance queen Amber Von Tussle (Rachel O’Connor) and her scheming mother Velma (Meabh McCarthy). Tracy then decides that it’s not fair that the black kids can only dance on “The Corny Collins Show” once a month, and with the help of family and friends such as DJ Motormouth Maybelle (Grace Garvey), she’s tries to integrate the show, all without denting her impressive ‘do!

It was a hugely lively and colourful affair, with sixty seven students wowing sell out audiences each night. Audiences were thrilled by the spectacle of colour, dance and singing, awarding the cast with standing ovations each night. Many thanks to the dedicated producers Ms. Geraldine McNulty, Ms. Richelle Hurley, Ms. Rachel Hayes and Ms. Naomi Nevin, who worked tirelessly to bring the show to fruition. Also, while many schools have to hire professionals to perform the music, the school provides its own orchestra, made up of very talented students from across the years, under the direction of Ms. McNulty (Drums: Michael Hickey 5thYear, Flute: Rachel Flynn 3rd Year, Bass Guitar: Conor Bogue 5th Year, Violin: Roisín Kelly 2nd Year, Guitar: Tara Sheehy 6thYear, Saxophone: Jessica Shorten 2nd Year, Keyboard: Mary Rose Walsh 5th Year and Charlotte O’ Donoghue 6th Year, Percussion: Emma O’ Neill 5th Year, Piano Ms. Geraldine McNulty). The show was beautifully choreographed by Ms. Pam McGlynn.

It was a whole school affair, with many other staff members helping out: Ms. Caoimh Ryan, Ms. Suzanne Mortell and a team of students designed and painting the beautiful set, Mr. John  McCarthy, Mr. Michael John English, Mr. Tim Hartnett and Mr. John Cleary and their team erected the impressive stage, while Ms. Deirdre Brennan, Ms. Elaine O’Donnell and another impressive team worked on costumes. Mrs. Rafferty, Mr. Martin and team also sold tickets, while Ms. Helen Clifford led another band of volunteers in the make-up department. Special thanks to the following: Ann Copeland for creating the body suit for Edna, Laura Henebry for providing wigs, Emma Rodahan for helping with make-up, Laurel Hill Secondary School for the stage, Shannon Musical Society for use of the large hairspray can and protest signs, the caretakers of the school (Tim Hartnett, John Cleary & John Welsh) for all their help and time, local hairdressers for empty hairspray cans (sourced by Geraldine O’Donoghue & Catherine Wood) and to all those who contributed props and costumes of any kind.

Congratulations to all involved on an excellent show.

 

Disco Inferno

Grab your platforms and throw on your flairs, the 70s has once again hit Hospital!

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Poptastic

February 2013 saw the highly anticipated staging of the Transition Year musical “Poptastic!” at John the Baptist C.S. The school was thrilled to be staging the premiere performance of the show in Ireland, as it had never been staged by any group in the country before this. The show followed Charlie Fosdyke (Sarah Kennedy), a young girl who dreamed of making it as a big popstar. However, when she missed out on performing for the BBC talent show “Starmaker”, she thought her one chance of fame and fortune are lost forever. Yet, what she didn’t know was that help was around the corner, from the most unlikely of sources: the figure of Pop (Michael Hickey), musical inspiration and talent personified.

The production was an energetic, fun-filled affair, which played to packed out audiences on the 22nd and 23rd of February. Well done to all the sixty-six talented Transition Years who lit up the stage with their talent and the shows three producers: Ms. G. McNulty, Ms. R. Hurley and Ms. R. Hayes. A big thank you also to everyone who helped out in anyway, from set building to costumes to selling tickets and programmes. It was a whole school effort!

 

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Back to the 80’s

The musical “Back to the 80’s” was staged on the 23rd, 24thand 25th of February, 2012 in John the Baptist Community School, Hospital. The cast of sixty-five Transition Year students played four sold out shows in total, two matinees and two night shows. Each of the packed-to-capacity shows were hugely exciting and electrifying affairs, featuring all the great songs of the decade including “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”, “Footloose”, “Time of My Life” to name just a few of the twenty-four hits part of the show.  This very exciting musical, set in the USA, tells the story of the senior class of William Ocean High school graduating in the 1980’s, as remembered through the eyes of Corey Palmer (played by Jason Gubbins) years later. The then 17-year-old Corey (Martin McCormack) is madly in love with his next door neighbour, Tiffany Houston (Michelle O’Reilly), one of the coolest girls in the school. However, she barely notices this, as she, like her friends Cyndi (Tara Sheehy), Mel (Enya Moran) and Kim (Leah Kenny) is too busy mooning over Michael Feldman (Diarmuid Murphy), the hottest guy around. Michael and his friends are athletic and good-looking – the kind of guys that Corey and his two best friends, Alf (Tomás English) and Kirk (Niall Corkery), dream of being. Yet, while they may not be the coolest guys in school, they are still one up on the geeky Fergal McFerrin III (David Tynan). Presiding over this group, stands teachers Ms. Brannigan (Emma O’Donnell) and Mr. Cocker (David Prendergast). Into the mix, arrives Eileen (Rachel Jones) whose life becomes a nightmare when Michael and his gang decide to play a practical joke. Each student gave their all to each performance, their almost professional production garnering standing ovations each night.

To stage this fantastic concert, a huge team was assembled at John the Baptist Community School. Mr. John McCarthy, Mr. Michael John English and team constructed an impressive stage, with various levels, incorporating a full car (donated by the O’Carroll family) that emerged for one particularly memorable and exciting scene. The very colourful array of costumes were designed and perfected by Ms. Niamh O’Toole, Ms. Deirdre Brennan and team, accompanied by very stylish and colourful make-up, expertly applied by Ms. Helen Clifford and a large team. The school is also extremely fortunate to have its own orchestra, made up of students from the school and lead by Ms. Geraldine McNulty. While many schools have to hire a professional orchestra to play for the school musical, this dedicated group of musicians toiled for months over the songs, to produce a sound that would rival any professionals. Their dedication was surpassed only by that of the sixty-five Transition Years students who have worked tirelessly, during school, after school, during weekends and even during their midterm break, to make the show the success it was.

At the centre of this entire process were the three producers – Ms. Geraldine McNulty (also the musical director), Ms. Rachel Hayes and Ms. Richelle Hurley. These three highly dedicated and focused individuals guided and shaped the entire group to stage such a wonderful show, often uncovering undiscovered talent and abilities. They became a common sight around the school during weekends and the midterm, as well as many evenings for various practices. Such hard work, not surprisingly, resulted in one of the best shows seen in the local area for many years.

A huge congratulations to all those involved, and a sincere thank you to all those who helped in anyway.

 

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