'Inferno' opens with enthusiasm

With some 130 names on the programme of 'Disco Inferno', the Cross & Passion College Fourth Year Musical which began last night is very much an all-involvement piece for the Transition Year students.



OK, maybe not all of them are on stage, but sometimes it seemed that they were, such was the energy in the opening scenes.

The story is essentially another remake of 'Romeo and Juliet' via 'West Side Story', 'Grease' and 'Saturday Night Fever', and that's not denigrating any of those or 'Inferno' itself.

But the enthusiasm, and displays of several individual and collective talents is a complete antithesis of the conventional wisdom that young people are selfish, unthinking and not interested in anything except each other, cigarettes, booze and internet chatrooms.



As CPC principal Paul Tyrrell puts it in his programme introduction, the annual musical presentation is one of the highlights of the school year. And more.

"Through their involvement they come to realise the importance of teamwork and they establish new friendships which help them to create a stronger bond within the year," he says.



Though the cast are all students, as are the front-of-house and back-stage crews, the success of the annual productions is also in no small measure due to the dedication and experience of those who are affectionately known as 'The Producers'.

They include Director Brendan Fox, Musical Directors Brian Brady and Phionnagh Gibson, and Choreographer Erica Delaney.

Production Managers for this presentation are Amy Phibbs, Alison Brady and Celine O'Brien.

Key characters are played by Joe Junker, Tammy Moran, Eoin Moore, Rachel Neary, James Sheen, Elaine Hanlon, Liz Kilgannon, Colleen Curran, John Brown and Lorcan Delaney.

Other students do their bit as extras, orchestra members, in set design, props management, organising tickets and seating, and handling costumes and makeup.

The whole operation couldn't have been managed without the aid, financial and in kind, of a number of patrons, most of them parents of students in the college.

And nobody would have known what was going on without the work of a number of students in editing and producing the Programme.

Take a bow Laura Doyle, Gillian Murphy, Lyndsey Swaine, Georgina Ward and Clair Farley.



Brian Byrne.

[ED NOTE: We'll be featuring pictures from the Reception for Patrons tomorrow.]