'Greased Lightning'

The transition year students of 2021/2022 took to the stage this past week to put on a stellar performance of the catchy, 1950s, blues classic musical, ‘Greased Lightning'. An electrifying performance with an impeccable cast, incredible production team and killer choreography!

When bad-boy Danny Zuko meets good-girl Sandy Dubrowski during a 1950s summer break, they fall in love until Sandy must return home at the end of the holidays. But by a twist of fate, Sandy ends up staying in America and even attends the same school as Danny, Rydell High. There, she is met with the wise-cracking, hip swinging Pink Ladies, the leather-clad, bad-boy gang the T-Birds, and a very different Danny to the one she encountered on the beach that summer. Danny knows he loves Sandy, but can he juggle his T-Bird reputation with his feelings for her?

The reception of this musical has been nothing short of extraordinary over it’s five night run and this couldn’t have been achieved without the hard work and dedication put into this production by the staff & students of Kinsale Community School. The cast, listed below, were nothing short of amazing and we are immensely proud of every single one of them.

Cast:

Danny Zuko - Evan Lehane
Sandy Dubrowski - Arwen O’Donoghue

Pink Ladies:

Rizzo - Jessica Moloney
Frenchie - Isobel Bergin
Marty - Dearbhla Kelly
Jan - Louise Hurley

T-Birds:

Kenickie - Ross McCarthy
Bobby - Zach Allen (who also played Teen Angel in ‘Beauty School Dropout’)
Rodger - Aaron Courtney
Teddy - Ted O’Callaghan / Éamonn O’Leary

Cha-Cha - Azra Dervish
Leo - Tom O’Mahony
Georgina - Amy-Sue Broderick
DJ Kelly - Evan Kelly
Ms. Lynch - Lilian Gleave
Vince Fontaine - Joey O’Callaghan

Cheerleaders:

Patty - Grace Monaghan
Lulu - Isabelle Linehan
Kim - Aoife Roche
Eugene - Enda Gallagher
Eliza Duncan
Mary Clare Murphy
Ellen Crowley
Eimear Crowley
Eimear Dineen
Chloe Carroll
Jenny Foley
Jeanne Murphy

CHORUS:

Lauren Farrissey, Morgan Caraher, Niamh Barry , Áine O’Rielly, Lucy McCarthy, Clara Freitag, Sophie Peare, Shay Reynolds, Claire Crowley, Paula Martinez-Campo, Sophie Collins, Lauren O’Regan, Erhan Farley, Lauren Green, Anna O’Mahony, Iseabeal O’Toole, Sean Cumiskey, Mercedes Ruiz-Mateos, Maya Birkner, Laura Whitehead, Franca rose, Euan Tobin, Lily O’Leary, Kate Farley, Sarolta Kardkovacs, Caoimhe Heffernan, Paula Wolkstein, Emma Maetzel, Conor Bailey, Amelia McCarthy-Cleary, Orlaith Rice, Paule Ereno, David Healy, Hannah Gerken, Lauren Hubert, Jenny Farley, Eoin Deasy, Hayleigh Owen, Conor O’Donovan, Darragh Collins, Conor MacCarthy, Gemma Sadler, Marta Llompart, Zoe McLaughlin, Aisling Lowney, Saoirse O’Brien, Evan Corkey, Miguel Dilig, Hebe Cordara, Rachel Synott, Kate Deasy, Hazel O’Kelly, Garrett O’Donovan, Nicole Buckley, Aoife Hurley, Rachel Bogue, Leah Farley, Jane Fehily, Sean Hynes, Oscar Lee, Kali Woodcock, Gerard Gillen, Fia Linnane and Rachel Harrington.

Principal, Mr Fergal McCarthy addressed the cast and the audience at the end of the production and congratulated the students on their incredible performances night after night saying “you have so far out done yourselves than anyone could have expected from a school musical, and the comment that has been made most frequently to me after every one of the five nights that you have performed is that this should be on the Opera House., such is the standard of it.”

This show would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our Producer & Musical Direction, Ms Brid Kearney, and our Director & Choreographer, Ms Sinead Brennan. The staff and students are astonished by the amazing production these two fine teachers put together and the cast are eternally grateful to them both. Arwen O’Donoghue, our leading lady in the role of Sandy, said “a huge thank you to Ms Brennan and Ms Kearney, this wouldn’t have been anything without you,” as she and leading man, Evan Lehane presented the two teachers with a boca of flowers each. Mr Fergal McCarthy spoke fondly of the memories that these students have made over the course of putting this musical together and noted that “the people who have made those memories for you are Brid Kearney and Sinead Brennan.”

Mr Fergal McCarthy acknowledged the hard work that was put into this production since October of 2021, and due to government health guidelines, had to be postponed from it's original date in December of 2021. However, that didn’t stop Brid Kearney, Sinead Brennan or the cast from continuing their hard work and long hours of rehearsals to make this show possible at it’s postponed date in late March of 2022. “The resilience and resolve that you have shown, because this show was to go on before Christmas, and you’ve kept our halls and our classrooms alive with a buzz in respect of the music and the excitement and so on. You’ve lifted the spirits of our school during a really really difficult time, and for that I am really grateful to you for that.”

This show could not have been possible without the collective efforts from the staff, students and parents of Kinsale Community School, putting together the set design, the props, the costumes, the choreography and so on.

Producer & Musical Director: Ms Brid Kearney
Director / Choreographer: Ms Sinead Brennan
Script Writer: Ms Maria Kennedy
Choreography: Ms Hollie Archer
Artistic Directors: Ms Deirdre Kelly & Ms Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Costume Co-Ordinators: Ms Eimear Murphy, Ms Niamh Hay and Ms Yvonne Croghan
Stage & Set Construction: Mr Brendan Barry, Mr Owen Wright (Grease Car) & Mr Emilo Burke
Publicity & PR: Ms Maria Brosnan, Mr Tony Cierans, Ms Chloe O’Regan and the members of the PR Team
Photography & Videography: Ms Niamh Hay and Mr Joshua MacCarthy
Prompt: Ms Janet Forrest
Lights Assembly & Guidance: Mr Jamie Torpey, Mr Kevin Madigan, Mr Tony Cierans and the VEX Robotics Team
Sound: Peter Lane and Mark from Sound and Lighting 64
Makeup & Hair Co-Ordinators: Ms Hollie Archer, Ms Mary O’Sullivan and Ms Joanne McCarthy
Raffle: Ms Maire Fleming, Ms Ita O’Donovan, Ms Diane O’Shea, Ms Mary O’Sullivan and Ms Joanne McCarthy
Parents: Carol Heaslip, Kathy Gillen, Judith Moloney and Ludovina Sintrao
Ticket Sales: Mr Tony Cierans and Footloose Kinsale
Live Band:
Piano/Conductor: Ms Brid Kearney
Saxophone: Mairead Scully
Drums: Damien Magee
Electric Guitar: Shay Ahern
Backstage: Frank Sullivan, Jack Cremin, Tuan Reynolds, Samantha Barrett, Grace Coyle, Kieran Desmond, Lioba Kappner, Dylan Collins, Klaudia Macugova, Shay Reynolds, Alex Connolly, Ryan McCarthy, Janis Gómez Navarro, Paidi O’Farrell, Cerys Morris Coughlan, Oisin Joyce, Saoirse Long, Callum Hannigan.

A special mention was made for Ms Niamh Hay, the Transition Year Co-Ordinator, who, without her and the hard work and dedication she puts into every single transition year group year after year, this show and all the other incredible events and opportunities that occur in TY, would not be possible. “I want to thank Niamh Hay, for what she does in respect of transition year, the programme that is put on offer in transition year, this is an element of it but it is an unrivaled transition year experience and I am really grateful to you.” - Mr Fergal McCarthy.

The cast took a moment to thank Ms Maria Brosnan, one of the TY Deputy Year Heads and head of Public Relations in the school, who could not be with us during the school event, “she was a great background worker up until February.” They were sorry she couldn’t share in the remainder of the experience with them as is on maternity leave from the school.

The cast acknowledged their own peers throughout their speeches on the final night of the performance. One of their own transition year students, Grace Coyle, who was originally casted in the role of ‘Jan', unfortunately could not continue in the role due to an injury, but continued to support the cast and assisted backstage throughout the performance. Louise Hurley, who was cast as ‘Jan’ in Grace’s place, said “I have an extra special gift for Grace Coyle, she was originally meant to be playing the part of Jan but unfortunately due to injury had to pull out but pulled through and continued supporting the show and doing the lighting and everything.” The whole hearted support and friendships that these students have made over the course of putting this musical together is extraordinary and they have made friends for life.

A special thank you to our own past student, Charlie O’Shea, and his father Cathal O’Shea, who’s generosity was greatly appreciated by the staff and students of our musical as they brought their fabulous vintage cars to KCS and helped us to film some exciting scenes that featured in our musical. A special mention and thanks to Ms Claire Sheehan, Deputy Principal, Mr Ger Hogan, Deputy Principal, Mr Kevin Madigan, TY Deputy Year Head, and Ms Catherine Coughlan, Science Department, who gave up their time to feature in the video as well. They received a great reception from the audience every night.

Our very own VEX Robotics team, who are currently making preparations to represent our school, our community and our country in the VEX World Championships in Dallas , Texas, this coming May, were on hand to operate the lighting for the musical over its five night run as well as during dress rehearsals. Evan Lehane thanked the VEX team on behalf of the cast for giving up their time in supporting the school show and helping with the lights. “the VEX team doing the lighting, it’s a tougher job than you may think.” He continued on to thank the backstage crew for all of their help and support, the show would not have run as smoothly as it did without all of their professional help. Many thanks to Mr Jamie Thorpey, Mr Kevin Madigan, Mr Tony Cierans and Ms Chloe O’Regan who assisted them over the course of the musical.

Evan extended his thanks to Mr Joshua MacCarthy who has been on hand all week taking photographs for the students to help in creating and holding onto these amazing memories, many of which can be seen in this article and on the KCS Twitter account. “Mr Josh MacCarthy, who is here tonight who took loads of photos and has captured loads of memories for us.” A special thank you to our own 6th year student, Kaitlynn Compagno, who also provided photographs from the musical, which are featured in this article as well.

We would also like to extend our thanks and appreciation to all of our staff and students who volunteered their time over the course of the five nights to supervise the corridors, greet our audience, deal with ticket admissions, run the shop, in which all proceeds have gone to the Red Cross and the VEX Robotics Team, for selling programmes and posters and many more. These things would not be possible without the generosity our staff and students give to events like this.

Mr Fergal McCarthy extended his gratitude to the audience and the parents of our school community. “Can I thank you, the audience and the parents because it’s you who makes the musical, we cannot have a musical unless we are supported by the patrons who come and pay their tenner and come out here on a Saturday night and dance with us and sing with us and clap with us and tap your feet to the music, you’ve made it and I’m really grateful to you for your support and for being with us tonight.” Due to government health guidelines, our transition year students of 2020/2021 were unable to have a full live audience to the same capacity as previous years for their school musical, so we are very grateful that the community came back in full support of this transition year musical now that we can have live audiences once again.

The Transition Year School Musical is always one of the highlights of the entire school year. Previous transition year students always reminisce on their experience participating in the musical and note it as being one of the best experiences of transition year, and this group are exactly the same. We love seeing this young group of people build friendships and blossom into mature young adults through this incredible experience. We hope they cherish the memories of ‘Greased Lightning’ for years to come.