It’s time to grab those lurid fluorescent costumes, ladies put on those the shoulder pads and men, hairspray that mullet and get down to Draíocht for a slice of eighties nostalgia!
“Think Grease in the eighties!” commented CYMS founder and director John Cryan. “In these economic times, this will be a great antidote to all the doom and gloom surrounding us. It’s time to shake off those recessionary blues and embrace the upbeat music of the eighties.”
The newly formed Clonsilla Youth Musical Society will be reliving the sights and sounds of this rather peculiar decade in a musical called Back to the 80s. The production will run for three nights at the Blanchardstown venue this month and will feature such classics as Footloose and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, as the story centers on the lives of the graduation class of William Ocean High School.
John is of course a highly popular teacher at St. Mochta’s National School, as well as being a local thespian of some note, performing everything from serious drama to pantomime dames in his varied career to date. He started CYMS this year largely due to the success of two shows that the school put on in recent years – Raise the Curtain (2007) and Joseph (2008)
“The two shows that we put on were brilliant,” he says, “but of course, once these highly talented pupils had left the school, there had no opportunity to participate in further musicals.
“When I first broached the proposal to form a youth musical society from, mainly but not uniquely, past pupils of St. Mochta’s, the response was overwhelming. We have been very fortunate to have such a highly talented group of young people available for our first production and they are loving it.”
Indeed, with a cast of over fifty drawn from local secondary schools, musical direction by the famous Caitríona Ní Threasaigh and choreography from Mr. Peter Pan himself Mark Rogers, Back to the 80s promises to be a spectacular debut from this new troupe and a surefire way to kick start the Christmas season.
Back to the 80s by Clonsilla Youth Musical Society plays Draíocht’s main auditorium for three nights from Monday 14th to Wednesday 16th December at 8pm.
Tickets are €18 / €15.
