Cork Opera House Announces Cast of SUMMER REVELS!

Today Cork Opera House revealed the cast for its upcoming premiere of Summer Revels! - a new home-grown musical-comedy summer show, based on the similarly titled long-running production seen at the venue throughout the 1970s and 80s.

The 100% Cork company is led by one of Cork's brightest lights on London's West End - Claire O'Leary, fresh from her recent run at The London Palladium in Andrew Lloyd Webber's new Wizard of Oz and following her West End debut in Les Miserables. Claire is joined by Cork theatre icons Declan Wolfe (RTE's The Den, The Improv Panto), Michael Sands (The Sound of Music, Annie, The Young Offenders) and Trevor Ryan (Cork Opera House Panto and Montforts).

The 17-strong professional ensemble also includes several Cork musical theatre performers who have been entertaining audiences nationally and internationally for years. Marie O'Donovan (Cork Adult Panto, Hysterical Histories), Therese O'Sullivan (Elf: The Musical), Alex Glennon (Disenchanted, West Side Story) and Fiona Kennedy (Sleeping Beauty) are all joined by Bandon's Alison Arnopp of The Royal Shakespeare Company, who makes a welcome return to the Cork Opera House stage following her acclaimed appearance in Broadway - Cork Opera House Proms 2023. Emerging Cork artist Precious Abimbola makes her professional debut surrounded by this stellar company.

"Excitement for Summer Revels! is building at Cork Opera House," said Cork Opera House CEO, Eibhlin Gleeson,"as the last couple of pieces of what will be an extraordinary summer show fall into place. This will be a vibrant, colourful show full of comedy, music, dance and laughter - all that you would expect from Cork Opera House's well-established family shows."

This multi-disciplinary, eclectic cast also features characters from the worlds of circus – with Cormac Mohally (Lords of Strutt, Body Brothers), magic – with local psychological magician Daniel Cremin, and music – with musical director Cathal Synnott (Riverdance, Gate Theatre's Sweeney Todd, Once) leading a versatile band of Dylan Howe (Rowan), Patrick Lynch and Anastacia Beary in the jukebox musical score of pop hits and musical theatre favourites.

Acclaimed Cork directors Killian Collins and John O'Brien lead the creative team of writers, designers and performers in this epic, fun family show. O'Brien describes the show as a mix between a summer musical and a panto: “It's a riotous family show with pop, musical theatre, comedy, sketches, magic and circus all combining to make a super fun show celebrating the creativity of Cork.”

The Summer Revels! writers' room brings together Cork playwrights Katie Holly (Sharon, Crowman) and John McCarthy (Snug, Whale) with award-winning sketch and musical comedian Sally O'Leary (Adele is Younger than Us) and chart-topping podcast presenter Kevin Twomey (I'm Grand Mam).

Summer Revels! follows in the footsteps of Cork Opera House's home-grown and much-loved summer shows through the years.

“We're very excited to work with such an amazing professional ensemble of multi-talented artists,” says Collins. “There's a great blend of youth and experience with an energetic, all-singing, all-dancing company of brilliant Cork people.”

With a nod to the legendary Summer Revels! that lit up Cork Opera House during the 70s and 80s, this new script will follow the hilarious and haphazard characters of Summer Revels! as they perform their show-within-a-show against all the odds – the talent, the egos, the hilarity and the magic that goes into making sure that the show must go on.

Previews will begin at Cork Opera House on July 24th ahead of a July 27th opening night and a run to August 11th.

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