Image by Umpqua via Flickr

The legend that was Gary Coleman died yesterday, Friday at 7.05 pm Irish time after his life support machine was switched off. Coleman, the star of hit 80s sitcom , “Diff’rent Strokes” suffered from a congenital kidney disease that halted his growth. He was hospitalized after suffering an intracranial haemorrhage on Wednesday night at his home in Santaquin, Utah.

I decided to put together a short report/tribute in his honour:

[See post to listen to audio]

(Please note I do not own the copyright to anything in the clip and I will take it down if requested).

Ar dheis De go raibh a h’anam.

Some time back I wrote about the new RTÉ series “Fame – The Musical” in which director Robert C. Kelly, actor Simon Delaney, actress Jacinta Whyte and former “Kids from Fame” star Erica Gimpel are searching for an actor and an actress to play the roles of Nick Piazza and Serena Katz in the upcoming production of “Fame – The Musical” which begins its run at Dublin’s new Grand Canal Theatre before touring Ireland.

Little did I know back then that a great friend of mine, Michael Joseph (O’Brien) would be auditioning. Not only did he ace the audition, he has also made it through the “Fame School” bootcamp and is now one of twelve (six male and six female) contestants who have progressed to the live shows at The Helix in Dublin!

Michael has done very well to get this far in the competition, however to progress further and hopefully attain the role of Nick he needs YOUR VOTE.

His first appearance in the live shows will be on Sunday May 2nd.

On the night once Derek Mooney announces that the voting lines are open, please call 1513 71 71 11 or text FAME 11 to 53125.

How can I support Michael right now?

What a great question, I’m glad you asked!

You can become a fan of Michael’s on his official Facebook page and you can spread the word (and the voting numbers while you’re at it!)

Michael Joseph’s credentials

Born and raised in Waterford City, Michael is well known to audiences in his native city and further afield. He has played starring roles in countless local productions at the Theatre Royal, Waterford including Nanki-Poo in The Mikado, Tommy Keeler in Annie Get You Gun, Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors and John The Baptist in Godspell to name but a few.

Michael often teaches drama part time at The Richie Hayes Stage School (of which I am a member) and has also worked with Waterford Youth Arts, Red Kettle and the David Hennessy Junior Stage School.

Michael is a graduate of The Academy of Musical Theatre, Wales. Away from Waterford Michael has played the roles of Mac in 42nd Street (The Gaiety Theatre), Sweeney in Sweeney Todd (Riverfront Theatre) and Michael Spoffard in The Witches of Eastwick in addition to ensemble roles in Michael Collins (Cork Opera House) and The Pirates of Penzance (The Helix). Most recently he played Garavan Gobdaw (the lowly servant of the nasty Felix Fleshcreep) in the 2009/2010 Gaiety Theatre pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk alongside Fair City’s George McMahon (Mondo), Leanne Moore, Richie Hayes and Michael Grennell.

Not just an “actor who sings”, Michael has proven himself as an excellent concert performer. He has worked as a backing singer on Tommy Fleming’s A Journey Home at the INEC, Killarney and as a cabaret singer on board the “Oscar Wilde” cruise ship.

Suffice to say, he’s qualified!

When I watched the 2009 version of Fame in the cinema last year, (having first seen the 1980 version on DVD some months previous) I could never have imagined how much more this show would come to mean to me just a few short months later.

Auditions for “Fame – The Musical” (presented at the Theatre Royal, Waterford by Stella Maris Secondary School, Tramore) were announced in my school, in late November. I remember my very first thoughts were “please, don’t be full of 80’s cheese!” followed by “I hope I get in, this could be a lot of fun!”. I’m glad to say that I auditioned and got in, that there’s only a little bit of cheese and the craic is mighty!

Tramore’s own Anne O’Riordan (star of countless local productions and had a small parts in the RTÉ’s “The Clinic” and the film “32A”) is making her directorial début with a bang up-to-date production of the musical version of Fame. Music Teacher and all-round musical genius Damien O’Brien is Musical Director and is currently working on all the various songs with us and putting together our impressive harmonies.

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been sinking my teeth into the lead role of Nick Piazza, an “ambitious, enthusiastic, classical actor who is very serious about acting and has hidden romantic interest for Serena Katz”.

A lot of my closest friends are heavily involved in the show and I’ve made loads of new friends (for life) along the way too! Here’s to the best production of Fame ever seen, break a leg everyone!

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Just when I thought Fame couldn’t possibly seep into my conciousness any further, I was watching The Late Late Show last night when on came an item launching a new TV talent search produced by RTÉ and ScreentimeShinAwiL entitled, you guessed it: “Fame – The Musical“.

From the press release:

RTÉ Television and Screentime ShinAwiL (Popstars, You’re A Star, The Apprentice & Dragons’ Den) today (Friday 22 January), launched Ireland’s biggest ever musical-theatre search to find the male and female stars of Fame The Musical. The search for the male and female lead will feature in a 10-week TV series on RTÉ One television in April, with the winners embarking on a nationwide tour of the West End production, Fame The Musical.

Leading the search will be stage producer Robert C Kelly, actor and director Simon Delaney and actress and singer Erica Gimpel, who starred as “Coco Hernandez” in the original “Fame” TV series. Auditions will take place in Dublin, Cork and the heart of the West End in London where budding Irish performers can showcase their talent.

The judges are looking for singers with a strong dance and acting ability to step forward and wow them. After auditions and an intense workshop phase where performers will be put through their paces, the judges will select who will go through to the live TV shows and battle it out over eight weeks, on the Helix stage, live in front of the nation. Only two will be crowned the winners and take their pride of place in the nationwide tour of Fame The Musical.

In case you’ve never heard of Erica Gimpel before, heres a video of her in action in “The Kids From from Fame” performing “Showtime”.

A very experienced director, Robert C Kelly; an absolutely legendary actor, Simon Delaney and an actress who starred in the classic TV version of the show, what a super team!

So, it sounds like it’ll be a great show and an interesting watch for the Tramore cast of Fame given that we’ll know the script back to front by the time this show airs in April!

My name is Dónal and I’ve been a Gleek for three months now.

Glee.

Like High School Musical crossed with Top Of The Pops, this show has stormed to success across America and is catching on very quickly over here too! The show, which is less than six months in existence already has a huge group of hardcore fans known as Gleeks.

I first came across this show through a chance conversation at stage school and fell in love with it instantly. If you haven’t experienced the glee that is Glee (or even if you have) take a moment to listen to some of the best of the songs from the series so far.

Also, keep an eye out for it on TV. It’s currently showing on TV3 and E4 and will be on Channel 4 very soon too! Also, a friend of mine came across this particularly handy link to watch all the episodes in great quality, just make sure your pop-up blocker works! (Disclaimer: I don’t specifically endorse the use of this link, but reserve my right to share it! )

Image via Wikipedia

Some of the brilliant cover versions recorded by the cast

Episode 1 – Pilot

Don’t Stop Believing – Journey

Rehab – Amy Winehouse

Can’t Fight This Feeling – REO Speedwagon

On My Own – from the musical Les Misérables

Episode 2 – Showmance

Take A Bow – Rihanna

Episode 3 – Acafellas

Mercy – Duffy

Episode 5 – The Rhodes Not Taken

Somebody To Love – Queen

Episode 6 – Vitamin D

Halo/Walking On Sunshine – Beyoncé/Katrina & The Waves

Episode 7 – Throwdown

No Air – Jordin Sparks

Episode 9 – Wheels

Defying Gravity – from the musical Wicked

For all the songs from Glee check out LeelooDoyle’s Youtube channel (or you could just buy them on eBay or iTunes )

Image by paulafunnell via Flickr

Scottish singer, actor, and TV/Radio presenter John Barrowman had an unexpected top ten hit in the iTunes download chart last week, thanks to BBC Radio 1 breakfast presenter Chris Moyles and his team.

Having taken a liking to the singer’s version of the Barry Manilow classic “I Made It Through The Rain” which appears on Barrowman’s current album “Music Music Music”, Chris began to plug the song on the show on Monday, playing excerpts and having his whole team singing along, while pretending that John was standing just outside the studio door, serenading them every time they opened it.

On air and via Twitter, the popular breakfast DJ asked his listeners to download the song from any legal music download service, such as 7Digital or the Apple iTunes Store, so that it would be played on his station’s “Chart Show” (which plays the UK’s Official Top 40 Chart) on Sunday evening.

On Tuesday morning, Chris was joined on the phone by John Barrowman who had returned from Los Angeles on Monday, to a bombardment of text messages.

Through the week, the song got as high as number 5 in the iTunes Chart, but eventually it ended up at number 14 in the Official UK Singles Chart, becoming the singer’s first charting single (although I don’t think it was ever officially released as a single) to date, after his digital only release of the Gary Barlow written “What About Us?” from the same album failed to chart. The song was also last week’s highest new entry.

This is not the first time that Chris Moyles has raised the profile of a song so as to get it into the charts. “Chocolate Salty Balls” by South Park charachter Chef, “Mysterious Girl” by Peter Andre and (while testing new download chart rules,) Billie Piper’s “Honey To The Bee” have all been propelled up the charts by Moyles in the past.

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John Barrowman is no stranger to the BBC, having appeared on and presented many BBC shows on television and radio, including:

• BBC children’s Saturday morning variety show Live & Kicking (reporter)
• The Movie Game, a children’s television game show (presenter)
• Reading bedtime stories on CBeebies
• BBC One’s How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, Any Dream Will Do and I’d Do Anything musical talent shows alongside Andrew Lloyd Webber (judge/coach)
• Elaine Paige on Sunday, a pre-recorded BBC Radio 2 weekly musical theatre and film music showcase (presenter)
• Doctor Who / Torchwood (actor – Captain Jack Harkness)
• The Sound Of Musicals, a show with a live orchestra, showcasing some of the best songs from musicals (co-presenter/performer)
• BBC One’s Tonight’s The Night, a musiclal entertainment show, helping guests dreams come true (presenter). A joint venture between BBC Entertainment Productions and Barrowman Barker Productions (run by John and his agent, Gavin Barker)

He has also guest presented on ITV’s This Morning, filling in for a holidaying Phillip Schofield, and has appeared numerous times on ITV mid-morning show, Loose Women.

John will be appearing in La Cage Aux Folles at the Playhouse Theatre, London, for a limited run from 14 September to 28 November 2009 (excluding 20 November). He will play the role of Albin, a drag queen whose iconic number “I Am What I Am”, in which he comes out as being gay and proud of it,  has become John’s own anthem and appears on the album Music Music Music.

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Chris Moyles visited Ireland recently to film much of his appearance on Who Do You Think You Are? The TV show on BBC One, in which celebrities trace their family tree back as far as they can. During the programme, he discovered that his grandmother had lived for some time in Dublin, and worked at the Jacobs Biscuit factory, which ironically is now the home of the Irish National archive, which he had to visit to search for family records.

Eventually, Chris traced some of his family back to Ballina Co. Mayo, discovering that his family must long ago have worked for monks, hence his surname “Moyles” from the Irish “maol” which of course means “bald”! (It is historically regarded that many monks were bald).

The way things are going in this country at the moment, we all need a good laugh. You may ask “And where can I get a good laugh for free?”

My answer is simply: People. People in general say the funniest things, and it’s even funnier when they really mean it!

This weeks Great Sites are the “Overhead In” series: Overheard In Dublin, Overheard In Cork, Overheard In Manchester, Overheard In London and Overheard In Sydney.

Each “Overheard In” site contains a collection of user submitted overheard conversations, quotes, stories, and observations from the relevant area.

A large selection of submissions from Overheard In Dublin have been published in three very successful books.

If you have a funny quote from any of those places, why not post it there for the world to see, anonymously of course!

More Great Sites soon here at Musicalit.ie

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