Newport hosts glittering show
The capacity audience rose to their feet to loudly applaud the cast for their performance as the curtain came down on Newport Musical Society Show for 2026.
It was the conclusion of third consecutive night of full houses for the glittering show ‘A Tribute to Julie Andrews and the Las Vegas Cabaret’ at the Community Centre, Newport.
The two hour show marked the 10th anniversary of the founding of the society, which has continued to grow from strength to strength and ‘pack ‘em in’ for the annual production which has become a steady fixture on the local social calendar.
This year's show had a cast and production team in excess of 50 spanning the whole spectrum of ages from the mid-teens to the ninety plus drawn from a broad spread of talents and occupations within the Newport area.
MC Paraic Kennedy set the scene for the opening numbers, a selection from the talented Mulcair Men's Shed Choir, which was a prelude to the three-part show getting under way with the ‘Holy Nuns’ scene raising the roof with their fine voices.
The tribute to Julie Andrews was a ‘Down Memory Lane’ journey of the popular numbers spanning over the decades of the celebrated English-born actress and singer now in her 91st year.
MANY HIGHLIGHTS
Among the many highlights of her career was the popular ‘Sound of Music’, a selection of numbers from which received rounds of applause for the producer/director duo, Marie and John Tuohey and musical director, the very accomplished musician, Claire Lynch.
The show continued with a fast pace smoothly flowing from number to number intermixing with song and dance and a multiplicity of rapid costume changes, colourful, glittering and bordering on the magical keeping the atmosphere constantly changing.
The overall show exuded from the excellent use of lighting, good sound and large variety of colourful costumes which left the audience wondering where the time had gone as it came to time for ‘curtain down’ on the final performance for 2026.
At the conclusion, a number of bouquets of flowers were presented with an added card of appreciation included for John Tuohey, director of the production.