The transition year students of 2022/2023 took to the stage this past week to put on a stellar performance of the catchy, 19th century American biographical musical, ‘The Greatest Show'. An electrifying performance with an impeccable cast, incredible production team and killer choreography! 

Philius Taylor Barnum comes from nothing, loses his father at a young age and aspires to make it big. When he loses his job, he secures a loan from the bank and opens Barnum’s Circus of Freaks & Oddities. However, when he meets the impeccable opera singer, Jenny Lynd, he risks everything to help her become big in America; his circus, his family and his reputation.  

The reception of this musical has been nothing short of extraordinary over its six-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: 

P.T. Barnum – Mark O’Driscoll 

Charity – Aoibhinn Ferguson 

Philip Carlyle – Fin Browne 

Jenny Lynd – Kiely Lehane 

 The Circus Oddities: 

Lettie (Bearded Lady) - Maisie O’Callaghan 

Anne Wheeler – Sarah Hadden 

WD Wheeler – Donagh Leahy 

Tom Thumb – Anthony Coughlan 

Pierce – Roan Gilli 

The Strong Man – Colum Morgan 

The Tall Man – Sean Loughnane 

Tattoo People – Ria Henry & Damien McGee 

Pierced Lady – Evelyn Kingston  

Albinos – Jessica Bronikowska & Mia Monaghan 

Siamese Twins – Grace Meaney & Orlaith Kiely 

Clowns – Meadhbh O’Sullivan, Louise Lordan, Sean Dempsey, Danielle Crowley, Yvonne O’Mahony, Lauren Sadler, Lucy Kelleher 

Young Barnam – Ian Cullinane 

Young Charity – Ellie Coughlan 

Mr. Ledbetter – Sean O’Keeffe 

Geneveve Ledbetter – Sarah Graham 

Ralf Katona (Critic) - Sean Finnegan 

Caroline Barnum – Sophie Hurley 

Helen Barnum – Rosita Hogan 

Bank Manager – Ronan Hawkins 

Ms. Moriarity / Bank Secretary – Aoibhinn Keating 

Mr. TJ Barnum (P.T. Barnum’s Father) - TJ Buckley 

Queen Victoria – Lovis Urbszat 

Princess Helena – Chloe Buttimer Hennesy 

Maisie (Housekeeper) / Governess / Seller - Gabrielle O’Sullivan  

Tom Thumb’s Mother - Naoise O’Donnell

Laundry Nun – Hannah Ganly 

Carlyle’s Father – Fearghus Walsh 

Carlyle’s Mother – Pamela O’Donovan 

Thugs – Fin Hayes, TJ Buckley, Saoirse Hayes 

 CHORUS; Hana Zakri, Aly Cremins, Eabha McCarthy, Grace O’Riordan, Giulia Sanchez Bono, Aisling Rath, Gemma Whelan, Christian McCarthy, Lily Coughlan, Amy Casey, Aoife Stokes, Kate Cosgrove, Isabel Egan, Isabelle Hurley, Ana Fernandez, Annie O’Brien, Claudia O’Connell, Sean Woodworth, Ciara McGrath, Roise O’Donovan, Alicia Paloma Bueno Arias, Kate O’Sullivan, Clara Fehilly, Niamh Langford, Carly Helbrow, Amy Murphy, Lucyanne Grennan, Emer Prior, Nikola Wojnar, Anna O’Donovan, Shauna Price, Shauna McCarthy, Timothee Daubresse, Joey McCaughley, Matthew Cooney, Lucia Hendez de Vigo Herrero, Caoilainn Walsh, Grace McCarthy, Nina Schretzlmeier, Oonagh McCarthy, Katie Mulcahy, Charlie Hegarty, Malachy O’Daltuin.  

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 “I congratulate this wonderful group of people for entertaining us over the last six nights, and for showcasing what is absolutely and truly wonderful about our school. The resilience that you’ve shown, the creativity that you’ve shown, the inclusivity that you’ve shown, the magic, the music, the dance, it has been a fantastic showcase of our school and you’ve really done us proud, and I am entirely grateful to you.” 

This show would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our Director, Mr. Tony Cierans and our Producer, Ms. Niamh Hay. 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. Fergal McCarthy spoke very highly of these two teachers, showing his utmost gratitude and respect for all they have done for the students of this school. “I say this without fear of contradiction, Niamh Hay is the best TY co-ordinator in the country. The care that Niamh Hay extends to the students in our school goes so far and beyond what is to be expected of any TY co-ordinator, and I want to take this opportunity to thank you Niamh for what you have done for the production of this musical but also for the fact that there are seventeen students that are going to be traveling to represent Ireland in Dallas in the VEX Worlds Robotics Competition and that is down to you.”  

Fergal acknowledged the hard work and dedication put into this production by Director, Tony Cierans, comparing him to the titular character of the musical. “The Greatest Showman was never done in this school, and we like being first in Kinsale Community School, but we couldn’t have done it without the person who was going to take this movie and make a script out of it and make it stage applicable. We couldn’t do this without a person that had that creativity, that drive, and at a capacity to name a musical after himself, ‘The Greatest Showman’, Mr Tony Cierans.”  

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

Director: Mr Tony Cierans 

Producer: Ms Niamh Hay 

Assistant Director: Ms. Janet Forrest 

Assistant Producer: Ms. Chloe O’Regan 

Choreography: Ms Hollie Archer 

Choreography Team: Ms. Janet Forrest, Ms. Joanne McCarthy, Dearbhla Kelly 

Artistic Directors: Ms Deirdre Kelly & Ms Kathleen Fitzpatrick 

Costume Coordinators: Ms. Eimear Murphy & Ms. Niamh Hay 

Singing Coach: Ms. Sophie Cahalane 

Music / Videos: Ms. Niamh Hay 

Set Design / Script: Mr. Tony Cierans 

Lighting: Ethan Smyth 

Sound: Peter Lane Sound and Lighting 

Ticket Sales: Ms. Bev Scanlon & Footloose Kinsale 

Costume Team: Ms. Veronique O’ Toole, Áine Ryan, Róise O’Donovan, Kelly O’Shea, Saoirse Hayes, Sinéad Hynes, Kate O’Sullivan, Alana Crean, Lucy Kelleher.  

Stage & Set Construction: Mr. Brendan Barry, Mr. Owen Wright, Mr. Daniel Milner, Mr. Tom Clancy, Mr. Cathal O’Donovan, Mr. Brendan Duggan, Séan O’Keeffe, Ethan Smyth. 

Publicity & PR: Ms. Chloe O’Regan.

Set Dressing: Ms. Linda Dreelan, Ms. Eimear Murphy, Ms. Veronique O’Toole 

Video: Ger Timmons 

Prompt: Ms. Janet Forrest & Ms. Máire Fleming 

Technical Support: Mr. Eddie Farren 

Makeup & Hair: Ms. Hollie Archer, Ms. Mary O’Sullivan, Ms. Joanne McCarthy, Ms. Amy Harrington, Jessica Foley, Nicole Arletos, Stephania O’Reilly, Ailbhe O’Mahony, Chloe Moynihan, Sofia Forde, Orla Herlihy, Finola Gaffney, Caoimhe Hayden, Dionne Collins, Beth Reilly, Clara Jimeno, Jorge Gil Cepeda, Emma Kemp, Aengus Price.  

Photography / Videography: Ms. Niamh Hay.  

Raffle: Ms. Diane O’Shea, Ms. Maebh Delahunty 

Shop: Ms. Tracey Fleming 

Outtakes / Rehearsal Photography: Ms. Joshua MacCarthy 

Backstage: Ethan Smyth, Zach Norman, Ross Langford, Jennifer Cunningham, Caitlin Kelly, Sam Cantillon, Rory Wilson, Cian Kiely, Rowan O’Donoghue, Roan Buckley.  

The cast dedicated their final performance of the show to the late Mrs. Kathleen Cierans, the mother of Director, Tony Cierans, who passed away only a week before opening night. “Thank you, thank you. I think my mum would have really enjoyed that and the show being dedicated to her, so thank you.” - Tony Cierans. Tony acknowledged the challenge and the risk that they had to take in undergoing a show like ‘The Greatest Showman’, but it was a risk worth taking. “Myself and Niamh and all the other teachers coming in here every Saturday and Sunday for the last few weeks and for every other day of the week for the past few months for only one reason, that we love doing it and we hope we can envisage the finished product in our heads and we hope that, what we discussed maybe a year ago as being ‘could we do, could we get away with The Greatest Showman, no school has done it, it’s not in London so we can’t go to look at it to see what it’s done like, and we just auditioned, brought the kids together, and it was all about trust, and from day one, you trusted us, we weren’t too sure about The Greatest Showman and if this could be put on a school stage, but you really trusted us and we trusted you, and the magic happened, and we are just so unbelievably proud of you.” Through such difficult and challenging times, the students of the Transition Year Musical brought such joy and happiness into our lives, the Creative Team, the school community and so on. “You brought huge joy to us, to myself and Niamh and all of the rest of the creative team who put it together, we are just so so so happy, and thank you being the most amazing cast.”  

The wholehearted 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 Mr. Micheal O’Shea and Mr Fergal McCarthy, who featured in some of the videos that were created by Niamh Hay that were projected onto our amazing new projector screen with our new, state of the art projector. A special mention to some of our staff members who got involved with the show on the night, dressed as circus characters, including Mr. Kevin Madigan, Mr. Jamie Thorpey, Mr. Micheal O’Shea, Ms. Elaine Bennett, Mr. Daniel Milner, Mr. Owen Wright, Mr. Aaron Bowen, Ms. Orla Prendergast, Mr. Eddie Farren and Mr. Tom Clancy. A special thank you and well done to Ms. Claire Sheehan, Deputy Principal, who stepped in and performed as Tom Thumbs mother in the Friday production; she received a great reception from the audience. The cast of ‘The Greatest Show’ showed their appreciation to everyone involved in producing this show by gifting the staff bocas of flowers and chocolates.  

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 six nights to supervise the corridors, greet our audiences, deal with ticket admissions, run the shop, 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 finish up by thanking you as the audiences, the audiences of six nights in succession that came to a sell-out show, that gave us the atmosphere, the response that this beautiful group of sixteen-year-old, young adolescence deserved, but they couldn’t have gone about it without a responsive audience and an appreciative audience, and I really and truly am very very grateful to you.  

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 ‘The Greatest Show’ for years to come.