Full house for superb Stars In Their Eyes extravaganza in Mallow
A PACKED marquee witnessed a huge night of entertainment on Friday night last with 12 acts lighting up the atmosphere with a great array of music for all generations in the 2018 Stars In Their Eyes Finale at the Arches.
The show was hosted by Danny Buckley, who introduced and interviewed each act. This year a new screen was introduced to the back of the stage which allowed people at the rear of the Marquee ample viewing of the action on stage.
Gigantic names in the world of music were part and parcel of the three hour show, including Madness, Aerosmith, The Supremes, Thin Lizzy, Ray Charles, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, Wilson Phillips, Glen Hansard and Marketa Inglova, Earth Wind and Fire and ABBA.
At the break, while raffle tickets were sold by a team of helpers, members of Cor Meagh Ealla accompanied by members of Cope Foundation Mallow performed on stage as well as members Centre Stage, who also acted as backing dancers to many of the acts on the night.
Make-up supplied and executed by Vanessa Thompson was outstanding and the costumes were so colourful and very professional.
Certainly, all 25 ladies and 14 gents were true winners on the night but those acknowledged for their stage performance included Shane Kenny in a haunting piece as Aerosmith, Darren Curtis, Tim Lynch and Dan Cowman portraying a very lively Madness, and The O’Sullivan family, featuring Caroline Whelan, Linda Crogan, Sandra McCarthy, Alan O’Sullivan and Dan O’Sullivan, as a very colourful Earth Wind and Fire.
The winner on the night were the trio Breffni O’Rourke, Miriam Nyhan and Cliona Ruddy, who performed the Wilson Phillips song ‘Hold On’.
This year’s event was a fundraiser for both My Canine Companion and Cope Foundation Mallow. Dogs from the My Canine Companion organisation were introduced to the delighted audience during the show while Cliona Ruddy spoke about the activities of the organisation.
Geraldine Buckley of Cope and Sinead Ferris of My Canine Friend must be acknowledged for their Trojan work over many months planning this event. Special mention also to Aideen McAullife and her Centre Stage team for the many hours of rehearsals, and not forgetting the video, sound and lighting teams, the judges Mark O’Shea , Dermot Cogan and Niamh O’Connell - who had a difficult task in selecting a winner, to the sponsors and to Kieran Horgan of the Arches who made it all possible on the night.
The question on everyone’s lips is ‘will there be Stars 2019’? After Friday’s success, it is a huge possibilty.