Nominations for musical societies
TWO of the south east’s musical societies enjoyed some well-deserved recognition recently when they received nominations for the AIMS Adjudication and Awards for their musical productions.
New Ross Musical Society celebrated four nominations for its production of Ghost the musical, while Carnew Musical Society is celebrating three nominations for its production of Oklahoma.
The overall winners will be announced in September, but for the time being more than 1,000 people tuned in to hear the nominations being released via live stream by the Association of Irish Musical Societies.
Members of Gorey and Enniscorthy musical societies passed on their congratulations to New Ross and Carnew, as did Wexford Light Opera Society.
The first nomination for Carnew was for Best House Management, by Debbie Furlong and her front of house team which was the second time for the society to be nominated in this category under Debbie’s management.
John Young received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal as Jud Fry, which was described by the adjudicator as mesmerizing.
‘He brought real danger to the stage, and gave a chilling performance of “Lonely room “where he outlined his intentions towards Laurey. Mr Young also skilfully managed to create empathy for Jud. We felt that he was possibly misunderstood a bit even though he all but admitted to a previous murder he may have committed, by showing a vulnerability and possible mental disability. A Multi-layered performance,’ Adjudicator Tony McCleane Fay.
This is John’s 2nd nomination with Carnew Musical Society, having been nominated for his role of Scrooge in their production of A Christmas Carol, which just so happens to be the same year as Best House Management.
The competition continues as actresses from New Ross Musical Society and Carnew Musical Society both received nominations in the same category.
In Ghost, Ashley Doran received the nomination for her portrayal of Molly Jensen while in Carnew, Erin Hogan received a nomination for Best Actress for her portrayal of Laurey in Oklahoma, and was praised for her confidence.
‘She had an elegance coupled with a down to earth quality to her performance that was quite engaging. She also had good stillness in her performance that hinted that all was not as it seemed.
‘She played Laurey as quite disengaged, seemingly relatively indifferent to Curly’s advances initially and we were left wondering if she only chose him to get away from Jud. Ms. Hogan’s performance differed to that of the rest of the cast in that she, even more that Jud was like an outsider in the community. She seemed to be playing a role within a role which made her fascinating to watch,’ the adjudicator said.
New Ross Musical Society also enjoyed nominations for best technical (set, lights and sound) for the set which was designed by Derek and Ray Shannon.
Noel Bennett, Ray Shannon and Mark Hayden oversaw set construction for Ghost, with lighting design and technician by Anthony Quinn and sound by Abe Scheele of Scheele Sound.
New Ross Musical Society received a nomination for Best Stage Management under stage manager Mark Hayden, alongside assistant stage manager Lucy Goggin and their team.
Other nominations for Ghost included best programme which was produced by Sean O’Brien, while the nomination for best comedienne went to Joanne McCabe who played Oda Mae Browne.
Members of both groups said that due to the present restrictions, they were unable to meet up to celebrate as they usually would, but even apart they proudly raised a glass to their nominees.
All at AIMS extended a huge congratulations to all the nominees praising the immense talent they possess.