Mick’s musical ‘Evening Train’ gearing up to steam into Cork
BLARNEY MUSICIAN TO REVISIT SOME UNFINISHED BUSINESS AS DEBUT ALBUM TAKES TO THE STAGE
A BLARNEY singer/songwriter whose music has propelled him to global fame is set to return to his roots this summer to complete some unfinished business.
More than a decade ago Mick Flannery set out to write what he had envisaged would be a musical, but after numerous attempts at dialogue decided to record and release an album accompanied by a simple narrative thread.
Rising phoenix-like from the ashes of that idea, Flannery’s 2008 debut album ‘Evening Train’, a concept album of 11-songs painted a vivid, and at times vaguely disturbing, picture of two brothers, card playing in a bar, a girl, gambling debts, misplaced jealousy and a shooting. Two of the album tracks, ‘In the Gutter’ and ‘ The Tender’, had won awards at The 2006 International Song-writing Competition - making Flannery the first Irish musician to win accolades at the prestigious US awards.
While the album only reached 84th spot in the Irish charts, it received widespread acclaims from music critics and set the tone for what was to follow, with Flannery releasing four albums, two of which went to the top of the Irish charts, over the next decade.
Over the years Flannery had been approached on numerous occasions about the possibility of bringing ‘Evening Train’ to the stage or screen, a vision that is now set to become a reality. The world première of ‘Evening Train – The Musical’, adapted for the stage by writer Ursula Rani Sarma and director Annabelle Comyn, will take place at the Everyman Palace Theatre in June under the umbrella of the Cork Midsummer Festival.
“Ursula rang me one day to say she’d be interested in writing a stage adaptation of the album and I think she’s done a wonderful job of bringing the world to life, giving more meat to the characters, adding and subtracting with her knowledge of the theatre world,” said Flannery. “I’ve had a great time working on this with Ursula. It has been a long road getting this play to the stage and I thank everybody involved.”
For her part, Sarma said the world and the characters created by Flannery on ‘Evening Train’ “sprang to theatrical life in my mind” the first time she heard the album. “I felt instinctively that this album could become a beautiful and memorable night in the theatre. It’s been an honour to create a play that weaves around these incredible songs and a real joy to work with Mick in the development of this production,” she said.
In the story of ‘Evening Train’, we meet Grace, who dreams of a new life far away from her home town, as she waits for Luther, who is late- again. Elsewhere in town, bartender Frank surrenders yet another pay check to cover his reckless brother’s gambling debts, while Luther promises Grace that by Christmas he’ll have made enough money to get them out of town. Before long, a high stakes game is underway, in which everyone is a player, whether they like it or not.
Featuring a cast of talented Irish actors and a live band that will include Mick Flannery, ‘Evening Train’ will run from Thursday June 13 to the following Sunday. Tickets priced at €35, (concessions €30 & students €25), are on sale now from www.everymancork.com or from the box office on 021 450 1673.