Curtain up! is a hilarious comedy of five women who inherit equal shares in an old dilapidated theatre and plan to bring it back to life again. The females try various fund-raising schemes, but their most ambitious idea is to hold a concert featuring local talent and the world-famous star, Liza Minnelli, who agrees to appear for no fee. However, plans go awfully wrong, when they hear that Liza Minnelli has cancelled. It is a race to find someone to fill her shoes without the audience guessing the whole truth. A fast-paced and funny comedy with several songs and dances for five women.
In throwing together five women with a common connection (that of the deceased owner of the theatre building), a cacophony of emotions are thrown around the auditorium resonating up into the flies, as Michael (the deceased) continues to play with the emotions of his ex-first wife, Pam, in concocting a working relationship with his second wife, now widow, Jackie. In leaving the dilapidated theatre to the closest women in his life, through his will, Michael plays Puck from deep within his ashes’ cask. The women, including his daughter, his mother and his secretary, all knew Michael differently, and likewise, each woman brings a different dimension to the plot.
Mike Lawlor
Director
See Curtain Up! at the Millgate Arts Centre from 30 September to 7 October. Tickets £12 (students £6) from TicketSource.