Disney delight for musician Shane
APPOINTED MUSICAL DIRECTOR AT DISNEYWORLD VENUE
A WELL-KNOWN local musician has landed a production job in a bar in Disneyworld Florida, taking charge of over 30 performers, after taking the leap and moving to the U.S. in the hope of finding better work opportunities.
Shane Ffrench, who hails from Carrig-on-Bannow, knew from a young age that he wanted to be a professional musician and was a well-known face in various music groups around Wexford for many years.
He is now a musical director for the Raglan Road bar in Disneyworld Florida and has created and coordinated a new show. He had originally performed at the venue as part of the Raglan Roots Coalition, a brand new act that he was invited to bring to Florida in 2015, made up mainly of recent graduates and students.
From there, John Cooke, one of Raglan Road’s owners, invited him to be part of setting up an entire show featuring singers, musicians and dancers.
‘We auditioned potential musicians and dancers all over the country. One of my biggest jobs in setting up the Raglan Road show was to arrange the songs. This took a long time. There were several obstacles that we encountered that are not normally an issue.’
One of the key factors, he said, was to ensure the show had the capacity for repeat success. With an eclectic selection of musicians and singers, finding the right key to suit the range of voices and instruments was an issue.
However, Shane relished the challenge and enjoyed working with a variety of artists, including some from Ireland. One band, ‘Swinging on the Gate’ took part in Raglan Roots’ first tour to Florida and Shane created an album with them entitled ‘In Full Swing’.
Closer to home, Shane is wellknown for his work with groups like Wexford Children’s Choir, Danescastle School of Music, and Wexford Symphonia. He credits a school musical, ‘Les Miserables’ as the moment when his spark for music really ignited. One of his fondest memories is playing Valjean in that production.
Shane went on to study in the Cork School of Music where he also became ensconced in live performance, mainly for weddings.
‘I felt as though I played with every single wedding band in the entire city! This was a hugely fun time and side of my life, I made some lifelong friends here.’
He also branched into professional theatre while in Cork, working as a musical director, assistant musical director and accompanist, amongst other roles, at venues including the Cork Opera House.
‘The Opera House was a huge learning experience for me. It was a window into large scale productions that are very rare in Ireland. I had the huge honour of getting to work with the late Bryan Flynn.’
From there, he found his way into RTE where got to work as an arranger and keyboardist for ‘The Voice’. He also got to produce music for the Late Late Toy Show in 2014.
Despite this list of accolades and experience however, Shane says that musicians still face financial struggle and stress caused by that.
With this in mind, Shane and his wife Rachael Curtin decided to take the leap and move on.
‘Ireland was just not presenting us with the right opportunities and I was ready to get a job with more stability where I could work to improve my lifestyle. That was when the Raglan Roots Coalition came along.’