Rebecca Storm with cllr Fintan Phelan during the launch of ‘Letters from the Front’ musical in the Seven Oaks Hotel in Carlow. Photos: michaelorourkephotography.ie
Rebecca Storm, cllr Fintan Phelan, cllr Andrea Dalton (cathaoirleach Carlow County Council) and Paul Doogue
Rebecca Storm with Ollie Hennessy and deputyJennifer Murnane-O’Connor
Rebecca Storm with Ollie Hennessy (writer), Cllr Andrea Dalton (cathaoirleach Carlow County Council) and Cllr Tom O’Neill (Mayor of Carlow) and Fergal Browne during the launch of ‘Letters from the Front’ musical in the Seven Oaks Hotel in Carlow. Photo: michaelorourkephotography.ie
Rebecca Storm shares a laugh with Maurice Browne, Fiona Lennon and Jennifer Murnane-O’Connnor
Co-writers Ollie Hennessy and Don O’Connor and Max Lozovyi (cast member)
Pictured at the launch of ‘Letters from the Front’ musical in the Seven Oaks Hotel in Carlow were co-writers Ollie Hennessy and Don O’Connor cast members Rebecca Storm and Max Lozovyi, Cllr Andrea Dalton (cathaoirleach Carlow County Council) and deputy Jennifer Murnane – O’Connor
Rebecca Stormsings ‘My Son Walks a Path’ accompanied by Ollie Hennessy
Star of musical theatre Rebecca Storm with some of the cast at the Carlow launch of the musical Letters from the Front Photos: michaelorourkephotography.ie
Louise Keegan grabs a pic with Rebecca Storm at the launch of Letters from the Front
Rebecca Storm with the musical’s writer Ollie Hennessy and co-star Max Lozovyi at the Carlow launch
Rebecca Storm sings ‘My Son Walks a Path’ during the launch of ‘Letters from the Front’ musical in the Seven Oaks Hotel in Carlow
By Charlie Keegan
INTERNATIONAL singing star Rebecca Storm provided a sample of what Carlow audiences can expect when she captivated the assembly in the library area of the Seven Oaks Hotel on Thursday evening with a wonderful rendition of one of the original songs from the upcoming new musical show Letters from the Front.
Following sell-out runs in Kilkenny and Dublin, Letters from the Front, written by Carlow’s Ollie Hennessy and Don O’Connor from Kilkenny, goes onstage at Carlow’s George Bernard Shaw Theatre on Wednesday 1 May for a four-night run (8pm nightly), with tickets still available at €32 each.
Ollie wrote the original music score, while Don penned the lyrics. Olivia Murphy Smith from Carlow also co-wrote Winter snow, one of the musical’s showstoppers.
The show has a cast of 35 and the musical unfolds to emotional narratives of three families caught up in the turmoil of World War I.
Thursday’s 45-minute launch for the show was highlighted by Rebecca Storm singing one of the musical’s original numbers My son walks a path.
The song brought spontaneous applause from the gathering in what was a wonderful cameo from a singing West End star.
Rebecca will recreate her role as Frau Breitner for the Carlow run and the cast will be joined by renowned Ukraine baritone Maksym Lozovyi.
Maksym lived in the Russian-occupied city of Kherson for six months, where he was lead vocalist with the Kherson Regional Philharmonic Orchestra. However, his life changed dramatically with the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army in February 2022.
After Maksym’s friend and conductor of the Kharkov Philharmonic, Yurly Kerpatenko, was murdered by the Russians, Maksym decided to leave Ukraine with his family.
Currently living in Carlow, Maksym, who attended Thursday’s launch, will make his Irish debut playing the character of German officer Kruger in the Carlow musical drama.
Three leading cast members are from Carlow – Rory Moran, Oisín O’Reilly and Larry McNally – while there is further local involvement through members of enCÓRe.
A number of the cast attended Thursday’s launch, with five students from St Mary’s CBS in Carlow inducted into the musical – all turned up in costume and will play the parts of British and German soldiers. The CBS students are: Wojciech, Senan, Yan, Donagh and Jack, the latter also has a separate narrative part in the show.
The importance of the occasion to Carlow was highlighted by the presence of a number of local politicians, all of whom were high in their praise of Ollie Hennessy’s musical accomplishments and enterprise in bringing his new show to Carlow audiences.
There were brief speeches from cllr Andrea Dalton, cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council, and TD Jennifer Murnane O’Connor, while Ollie Hennessy also spoke. Also in attendance were mayor of Carlow cllr Tom O’Neill, deputy mayor cllr Fergal Browne, cllr Fintan Phelan and cllr John Cassin.
Don O’Connor was MC and observed that many of the cast, including Rebecca, have family links to WWI.
“We were unaware of the scale of Irish participation in the conflict, described as ‘the war to end all wars’. We didn’t realise until we started the musical that over 200,000 Irish men served the British military, with 30,000 losing their lives,” said Don.
Rebecca Storm told The Nationalist “I’m absolutely thrilled to be a part of Letters from the Front and to bring this incredible story to Carlow for the very first time. It’s a powerful and moving piece of musical theatre. I actually have the letters written by my great grandfather, who fought in the Battle of the Somme. So these four performances in such an intimate venue at Visual will be very special not only for me but also the other cast members, many, who like me, have ancestors who fought in WWI.”
When the speeches and singing concluded, the cast beat a hasty retreat – they were on their way to rehearsals, in keeping with the showbiz motto that ‘the show must go on.’
Tickets for Letters from the Front are available by ringing 059 9172400 or emailing [email protected].
