 Casboiler, please forget. Always use a registered gas installer, or you could risk everything. Find one at orgii.ie. You're listening to Gene Cullen. And you're very welcome back. And the time here on Highland is just gone 18 minutes past seven this Sunday night. And as promised in the studio with me, I've got Maria Rush, who is director of Letra Kenne Musical Society's forthcoming production of the Adams family. Maria, you are very welcome. Thank you for having me, Gene. It's nice to see you. So for those of you who may have been tuned in to Greg's show on Friday, you've been treated to three of the characters performing in harmony. It sounded great in the studio. So what's it going to be like in the theatre? It's going to be epic. And I mean, that was, we chose that piece of music on Friday because it's kind of probably the most well known. You know, a lot of the music in this show isn't really well known. So we wanted to do something that people would recognise, but it's not the most beautiful piece of music at all. You know, so if anybody enjoyed that, they're in for a treat with the rest of the numbers when they come to the show. And of course, you're going to do the Adams family back in March, 2020, but after two nice COVID, unfortunately struck and that was the end of that. Was it hard to resurrect it again, Maria? It was, it definitely was, Gene. Like we had originally thought that we would bring that back as our first show post-COVID. But as Kenneth Tyne came close to sitting down as a committee to think about what we would do for our first show back, none of us really wanted to go back to the Adams family. We almost felt as a team that we would be stepping back. Now, we knew at some point we would come back to the Adams family. It just didn't seem right for us to pick up where we left off. We kind of wanted to take a break. So we went with something completely opposite with Kinky Boots. And I think it was the best thing we ever could have done, you know, for ourselves. It really gave us, it gave us that passion back. And I suppose after three years out, it also gave us the confidence to go back to it again, you know? So we did decide to go back to it, but we've come at it from a very fresh angle. We have a new musical director. We have a new choreographer. We have a new stage management team. We have a new Wednesday. We have a new Lucas. We have a new Pugsley. We did recast the adult parts in their original roles. We were delighted when we asked them would they come back? We kind of thought we might have to start to audition again, but thankfully all the adult roles were happy to come back. But we have quite a new influx of people into the ensemble as well, which is brilliant. So even as director, I haven't even looked back at the older version or the 2020 version. I didn't go back and revisit it. I didn't, I even got a new script because I didn't want to be in any way influenced by what I'd done before. So yes, it's our second time doing the Adams family, the musical, but this is a completely different show to what we put on in 2020. Yeah. And you were saying there that there's a mix of old faces and new ones as well. And just looking down the cast members, I say, well, Giles as like, I think the first one he did was the Pirate King a number of years ago. And it's been nearly in everyone ever since that. And the likes of Donald and Nicola. But there are lots of new faces there as well, Maria. Lots of new faces. So we have Sarah Terry Sweeney is back playing Morticia. She was Morticia the first time round. And then she played Lauren for us last year. Sarah, I mean, anybody who knows her, she's a, her voice is just such a force. And she's comically brilliant on stage. She really is. She can, she can go from the extremes have been really, really poignant and humble and vulnerable to absolute comedy gold. Her daughter now in real life, Ella, is playing Wednesday in the show. And they are a force to be reckoned with, the two of them. They're just whatever Sarah, and I don't think she'll make me say in this, whatever amazing voice Sarah has, Wednesdays or Ella's is just up again. You know, she's just, it's so nice to see the two of them together. We have Sean Bonner back as Fester and he is the highlight of the show. He's brilliant. Another highlight would be Granny. So played by Nicola Shields. This is Nicola's 23rd show with the LMS. So she's just, yeah, some of the one-liners that she comes out with is they're just brilliant. She's really, really funny. We have young Ethan Barron playing Pugsley. So Ethan would have been on stage just for a few moments in Kinky Boots, played young Lola, but again, an incredibly talented young man. And then we have the Beinegee family who are being played by Chris Dolly, Katrina Solon or Katrina Doherty. And Lucas is a new member to the society. So he's Jamie Lee Gallagher from Strabam and again is just taking the part as his own and really, really impressive since day one in rehearsals. And of course, Donal is lurch. And I just was about to say Donal is lurch. Donal, yeah, this part is, it's just so much fun to see Donal in this part. I suppose as assistant director as well, Donal's so busy trying to keep everybody else right that this part suits him down to the ground at the moment because he's able to, you know, he's not worried about lines, let's put it like that, but he has so much to do on stage. He's very much on stage the whole show. And sure, no better man for that role than himself. And I suppose like every other musical and play around, you were spoiled for choice. It was a difficult decision, I'm sure, to get the cast together, Maria. Well, we auditioned again for Wednesday and Lucas and Pugsley. I can't remember the numbers, but I know we had a full room of wannabe Wednesdays and every single one of them, the talent, it was like going to a concert the first night of the auditions. You were just listening to brilliant, brilliant vocals, lovely acting and all these young girls could all have played it. You know, they were brilliant. It came down to Amy, Galvin and Ella. Ella won the hearts of the cast the minute she opened her voice, or the committee, sorry, the minute she opened her mouth, she was amazing. Amy is playing Wednesday on the Saturday matinee. Often when you, as a director, have understudies working, there's always a little bit of a worry that the understudies stepping on stage is going to throw the dynamic of the show or is going to be something that you need to be nervous about or worry about, but not with Amy. She is for 16 years old. I mean, she's unbelievable. And herself and Ella have been working really closely together, so it's really lovely to see her watching everything that Ella's doing and even their rehearsal during the week where Amy played the role. Ella was there, taking notes and giving her feedback. And, yeah, that generation are just incredible. They're pushing each other on all the time, they're supporting each other, and both young ladies are going to just blow the roof off the theatre, they're brilliant. And last year, in Kinky Books, Emma Stewart was the choreographer, and he was on stage as well, but the choreography last year was just absolutely fabulous. Emma is, I mean, I travelled to London quite often. I go and see shows in the West End all the time. I've been on Broadway, and what Emmett can do with a cast and what he can do himself as a performer is would equally fit on a stage on the West End. Not only is he a wonderful choreographer, he has a way about him, and he can see gaps in things, and he can see where magic can be injected in. It's an absolute pleasure to work with him. I first worked with Emmett in Straban, probably around 2005 or 2006, where we did West Side Story, and he was only about 15 or 16 at the time. I played Anita, and to cross-pass with him again last year was amazing, but to see him now as an adult and as a professional, he's just fantastic, so I'm really, really excited to let people see not only what he has created on the stage, but also him, because he's on stage performing and dancing himself, and that in itself is a treat for anybody in an audience. Oh, he was amazing last year. And of course, Jared Bradley back as MD, Stewart, you couldn't have a veteran MD. Jared's back as a MD. Jared will have been MD in my first show 20 years ago, and then himself, Mark was there the last time his brother was there. I think Mark might be in the orchestra this time. I'm actually going to have to meet the orchestra now after this interview, so I'll see. But Jared has, again, to be able to work with such a big group of people and to bring out the best in everybody is such a gift, and between Emmett and Jared, like we were so, so blessed with the kind of lead group that we have. He has a great wit about him, great sense of humour, but is so incredibly professional and meticulous and will not lose the harmony or leave a line out just because it's difficult. He will keep at it until it's done. Yeah, no, he's a joy to work with. And I heard you saying to Greg on Friday that it's not like the film or it's completely different. It's completely different. And the story is crazy. You know, the actual plot of the show is if you sit and look at the actual storyline of it, you nearly think, what's this about? But because, and I said this to Greg, because we already know the characters and we're thrown into a moment in time in their lives, there's no need for us to try and establish who's who. And we're able to just jump into an ordinary day with them, but this is no ordinary day. You know, this is a day where all the ancestors from the afterlife have come back to Earth for this one particular occasion, which just happens to be the day that Wednesday announces to her father that she's getting married to what Gita refers to as a normal person, because the Addams family, as we all know, are anything but. And then there's that really famous line that grandma says to find normal, which opens up so many different, you know, thematic conversations and things. We have Fester, who's in love with the moon. So basically the family of Beinekees arrive into the Addams house and the Addams family and all their ancestors are trying so hard to be normal. And the comedy that comes from that is just incredible. And then you have the Beinekees who are also, while they're the, and I keep saying normal with inverted commas here, they're deemed to be not normal, but they have their own chaos going on in their lives. There's an unhappy marriage. There's a, the wife is just, Alice's part is one of the nicest parts in the whole show. She comes across at the start, has been really, really ditsy and just, she's just, for want of a better term, she's kind of a broken housewife, you know? She's, she's, and then as things develop, and she learns from Merteshe, and everything comes undone, everything's unraveled in both the Addams family and the Beineke family. And at the end, they realise that actually they're all the same, you know? So there's some, and the performance that Katrina gives in, at the end of Act One is, it's something special, it really is. And all of this happens within 24 hours. Yeah, within 24 hours. And it's quite a short show, you know? It's not overly long. There's no part where you're sitting and thinking, God, we have another 20 pages of script to get through here. It all goes so quickly. There's one musical number after another, and they get bigger and bigger, and more complicated and more beautiful as they go. Some really, really beautiful music in this, and some lovely kind of uplifting, upbeat pop type music as well. And the comedy is what keeps us going, even in rehearsals today. My husband came in to see what was going on, and he's laughing at parts that we weren't even aware that people would laugh at. So this is now where I love to see the audience response. And the lines, when you're listening to lines for six months, twice a week, and over and over again, you kind of forget the beauty of the comedy that's there, but people will be rolling in the aisles laughing. Yeah, especially with the likes of Granny and Mal and Lurch and Fester. I mean, this is a comedy, it's a slapstick comedy, but it's got a lovely message to it as well. And as with a fun show for all age groups, Maria? For all ages, a lot of the humour will be quite maybe dark, so I'm innuendo with such, but it's nothing that they're not seeing on The Simpsons or, I mean, my own two. My oldest girl is, she's in the show for about 15 seconds, just in a little clip we've put together, and then the eight-year-old, she's laughing away at her. So, yeah, definitely suitable for everybody. Yeah, it's fun, it's real good escapism. And I suppose the irony of it is that when we left that show in 2020, and it was all about, you know, deaths, and it was quite dark from that point of view. I think that's possibly why we didn't want to go straight back into it after the whole pandemic, but the comedy and it is beyond all of that. You know, it really is so, so funny. And it kicks off on Tuesday the 5th, runs to the night with the matinee on the ninth as well. Yes, so there's a matinee at half past two on the Saturday also. Our show is at eight o'clock every night, so we run. We have Monday night, we have our own dress rehearsal, then we open to the public Tuesday night, and we have two shows on the Saturday. The tickets are selling quite nicely at the moment. I think there's only about 40 tickets left for Friday, something similar for Saturday. Generally, as you know yourself, Jane from shows, when the Friday and Saturday sell, the rest will go very quickly where people realise, oh, hang on, I need to get this. And we're very lucky as a society in the town, there's so many societies and so many brilliant groups in the town, putting on shows all the time. So we're very grateful for the support that we do get from. The people come to see us every year, but the likes of the Adams family hopefully will bring a new influx of people who want to come because of the Wednesday connection and the whole idea of the Adams family from their childhood as well. And of course, it hasn't been put on locally. I don't even know if it's ever been put on in Ireland before. I don't know. I know that it was possibly done in Port Rush. I don't know. I think it has been done. I know it has been done in the country because the set is coming from Golley. And they have, you know, we're using a set and we've brought in a set that has been used before. It's a very popular school of production. It was done just in Oma there before Christmas. I think actually Emmett was choreographer for that one as well. So it's a show that a certain generation definitely know. And it's a show, I think, that will go on for a long time because it is so universal and it is so funny and it is so enjoyable. Well, I'm looking forward to having my tickets for Tuesday night. And as always, I'm sure the bar will be up there and the best of luck with it. And thank you so much for taking time off your rehearsals. Now we have a four hour rehearsal earlier this morning and now we're heading for our orchestra call, which is always a really exciting night for the cast. So thank you as always for your support, Jane. And we'll see you on Tuesday. Perfect.