Gala concert at Cork Opera House marks 60 years of the Montforts College

THIS Thursday, September 1, the stage of Cork Opera House will reverberate with the sound of hundreds of voices raised in song and celebration for the 60th anniversary of director Eileen Nolan’s beloved Montfort College of Performing Arts.

In what is being billed as ‘the Musical Theatre Event of the Year’, more than 200 performers, backed by a 20-piece orchestra, will mark this wonderful milestone with a feast of song and dance, from current musicals to a recreation of some of the more iconic numbers from some of the Montfort’s best-loved shows like Camelot, Hello Dolly and West Side Story.

From humble beginnings come great things, and the show will take a look back over the incredible legacy of the indefatigable Mrs Nolan, whose working life began as a peripatetic solo drama teacher, travelling the length and breadth of Cork and Waterford.

Together with her t director Trevor Ryan, who came on board in 2012, the Montfort College of Performing Arts has now grown to more than 1,600 students, 12 outside studios, and 23 teaching staff offering a massive selection of classes, from musical theatre, acro and dance to vocal and drama studies.

Their flagship college in the South Ring business park boasts three sound-proofed vocal studios, three multi-purpose dance studios, a vast library of musical scores and drama books, an extensive collection of props, and a room specifically designated to house their 20,000+ costumes.

The tiny acorn has indeed grown into a mighty oak tree.

“Eileen is a visionary and was always way beyond her peers,” insists Trevor.

“The idea behind the show is to bring together as many students, current and past, as we could to give thanks to Eileen. 

"It has been amazing to see them all in the rehearsal room, reconnecting and rekindling old friendships and performing together this one precious time,” he explains.

“Formidable and hugely respected, Eileen has always been fair, gentle and kind. And, to this day, commands a room with her elegant and noble presence. It is incredible the goodwill that exists towards this celebration show for her. We have past students flying in from as far away as the west coast of America, , and the UK.”

So many of those past students who will appear in the Opera House on September 1 have gone on to forge professional careers on TV, stage and screen, like Corkonians Claire O’Leary, who stars in Les Miserables on the West End, her brother Stephen, who plays Zak Dillon in RTÉ TV’s Fair City, and comedic actress Norma Sheahan, who is currently packing theatres all over the country with her one-woman show, Shirley Valentine.

Others, like Shirley McCarthy, Catherine Mahon Buckley and Irene Warren, went on to establish their own successful teaching practices. There are more, too, who have come through the speech and drama programmes and gone on to become strong, confident teachers, lawyers, and marketeers.

“On the night, we will take a trip down memory lane with three AV sections that take us through the highlights of a 60-year career,” explains Trevor.

“From old theatre programmes and photographs, to stand-out quotes from theatre critics, each telling a little piece of the Montfort story.”

Trevor and his creative team intend to recreate some of the more iconic song/dance performances that were staged many decades ago from shows like Hello Dolly, Camelot and Music Man, where the unique Montfort choir sound was combined with top notch dance numbers by renowned West End choreographers.

However, while this is a night of reminiscing, it is also a night of looking forward - where the students of the present will stand shoulder to shoulder alongside those who have paved the way for them.

60 years and counting

Trevor Ryan is producing the celebrations and is holding nothing back.

“I am who I am today because of Eileen. I started in the Montforts 39 years ago as a young boy of 12. I was completely smitten from the moment I set foot in the drama room all those years ago,” he explains.

When he was invited, at the age of 15, to the legendary Montfort singers for their production of Camelot, it was a colossal accolade for the young teen.

“I was so infatuated with the magic of the theatre that I would scorch home from school, drop my school bag, wolf down some dinner, and dash off to the bus to be at the theatre hours before anyone else would arrive just to quietly soak up the atmosphere.”

Pat Murray’s opening scene in Camelot featured a hand-painted castle silhouetted behind a gauze which would be magically lit up each night to rapturous applause.

“I was only one tiny cog in that huge machine but I would get a tingle down my spine each night as I watched that opening sequence unfold. The audience loved it. And as I and the rest of the chorus walked down to take our bow at the end, the sight of a thousand people on their feet cheering and whooping was electrifying. I was totally hooked and realised I needed to be doing this for the rest of my life.”

Eileen’s greatest legacy is the way in which she nurtured and cultivated talent and gave the thousands who trained with her such incredible opportunities to grow their confidence and their craft.

Her ion and dedication to every facet of the business, her exacting attention to detail, and her insistence on an adherence to the highest standards, both on and off the stage, set Eileen apart from her peers. And it ensured the Montfort’s longevity over the decades.

Eileen also had a gift for inviting collaborators to work with the Montforts, often at her own expense.

She employed leading U.S and West End choreographers like Larry Oakes, Edmund Wesley and Michael Stuber, and renowned directors like Fr John Long from Jefferson City, Jimmy Bellchamber, and the late, great Michael Twomey, exceptional musical directors like Cathal Dunne, Jack Murphy, Ronnie O’Shaughnessy, and John Donegan. All of whom helped to shape the Montforts into a slick, polished and unparalleled performing group.

It was her long-standing collaboration with the utterly brilliant Corkman Michael Casey, however, whose exquisite and intricate musical arrangements created the unique Montfort sound, that cemented their reputation as a spectacular tour-de-force.

When Eileen asked Trevor to direct his first play, Brighton Beach Memoirs, he was just 21.

“I the honour I felt at being asked and my gratitude towards Eileen for having the courage to pick me, a mere whippersnapper, in the first instance,” he its.

“It was an incredible experience. I was blessed with a phenomenal cast and the play ran for two weeks in the Cork Arts Theatre. I was a stickler for detail, thanks in no small way to Eileen, and I recall one scene in the play in which the cast had to eat dinner. I thought it would enhance the realism in the play, and the overall experience for the audience, if we had the smell of roast chicken and gravy wafting around the theatre so our stage manager prepared a dinner every afternoon before the show and microwaved it pre-scene!”

From this quasi leap of faith in Trevor by Eileen came decades of collaborations with each other, until, 10 years ago, Ryan came on board as t-director to help steer the Montfort ship into the future.

“The success of the Montfort brand is all down to one woman. For the baton to be entrusted to me was daunting but a massive honour.

“Eileen and I share a mutual respect for each other, and a ion for our craft. Moreover, we are also dear friends,” he adds.

“The celebration on September 1 is our way of paying homage to not only the incredible body of work the Montforts has produced over the past 60 years, but to the Institution that is the amazing Eileen Nolan.”

Tickets €40. Montfort’s 60th celebrations in Cork Opera House, September 1, at 8pm. 

Directed by Killian Collins, Conductor John O’Brien, Produced by Trevor Ryan. Tickets on Sale now.