Tonight, I'm going to be...

THE anticipation is building and Westport is on tenterhooks ahead of the very first Stars in Their Eyes extravaganza, which will take place in the Castlecourt Hotel on Friday, February 3. The anticipation in the air is because no one knows what will actually happen on the night, writes Padraig Burns.

It’s a well established formula where the performer adopts the persona of some well known music star but given the cross section of ‘singers’ (we use that term lightly) lining up to lip sync their way through the occasion the reality is that anything could, and most likely will, happen on the night.

With respect to the other 13 artistes lined up to perform, we’re all dying to see who Fr. Charlie McDonnell will be. He wasn’t for budging last week though when we contacted him.

“Peter Flynn would kill me if I told anyone. It’s going to be good craic though. All I will say is that my performance will be relatively benign compared to the rest of the cast,” he said.

Giving nothing away then but enough of a teaser to properly set up the night.

The rest is an eclectic mix of gardaí, publicans, teachers, quantity surveyors and journalists.

As I said earlier, Fr. Charlie was not divulging much but he did say something about Rory Brennan and the potential of his act to bring the house down. And that’s before you get around to the likes of Kipper, Rosco and Jester. The mind boggles at the thought of what that trio could get up to. We can’t wait.

The full list of performers is Rory Brennan, Kenneth Lavelle/Neil O’Neill, Fr. Charlie McDonnell, Dave Hoban/Kevin Joyce, Sarah Corcoran, Catherine Roddy, John Conroy, Michelle O’Toole/Maura McLinden, Ronnie Ring and Regina McCormack and her Brat Pack.

The event will be compered by someone you might have heard of before - Dermott Langan (apparently he has some experience) - but the names of the three judges are not available for public consumption . . . . . . yet.

There’s a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes in ensuring that everything works on the night. You’d be mad to miss it.

Tickets are currently on sale. They cost €12 if bought in advance from any of the performers and €15 at the door on the night. Sales are quite brisk at the moment and the organisers are expecting a big night so it might be an idea to buy in advance. We bought our tickets from Darryl O’Toole so pop into his barber shop at the Octagon and he’ll sort you out.

 

* Read Padraig Burns' Under the Clock column every Tuesday in the The Connaught Telegraph