All-Ireland AIMS awards for two local colleges
The all-Ireland success St Finian’s College and Loreto College achieved for their musical productions was entirely down to the transition year students who worked on them and performed in them.
That is according to teachers who worked with those students on West Side Story (St Finian’s) and Legally Blonde (Loreto) – shows that won awards in the Association of Irish Musical Societies (AIMS) Schools Mentoring Scheme last week.
They won: Best Overall Show, West Side Story, St Finian’s College; Best Singer, Sean McDonnell as Tony, West Side Story, St Finian’s College; Best Choreography, West Side Story, St Finian’s College; and Best Chorus, Legally Blonde, Loreto College.
The wins were announced online last week, and the success was fitting acknowledgment of the work the two schools had put in to their shows.
At St Finian’s, they knew they had a “deep pool of talented students” including Hayley Mulvaney and Fiona Colgan, who were the choreographers for School of Rock in their TY year. They are fifth years now, and were brought in for West Side Story, thanks to their expertise.
One of the teachers involved, David Andrews, told the Westmeath Examiner about the production. He said: “Really, the students did everything, the set painting, a lot of the building as well, came in on their weekends and even during term time off – they also painted the side walls of the hall, set up the tables, chairs, the front of house – the students really do it all.”
They had support from four staff members. The stage manager teacher was Cian Harmon, Audrey Brown led the set painting team, Daniel Connell was the director, along with David Andrews; and Ray McDonnell “was a huge help, building the stage, putting it all together, and lighting”.
The AIMS judges singled out Sean McDonnell as best singer and Hayley and Fiona for best choreography, and among the large cast there were outstanding performances from everyone, in particular Niamh Darcy as Maria, Chloe Cahill as Anita, Jamie McDonnell as Riff and Ben Smith as Bernardo.
Mr Andrews said: “They were all wonderful – I think that’s why they won the best overall show, because every cast member was really good. We spent weeks and weeks on the casting to try and get it right.”
Laura Cahill, music teacher at Loreto College, said: “We were delighted to win Best Chorus in the AIMS awards, it really was a reward for a great team effort.” The director for Legally Blonde was Paul Norton; musical director and producer was Clare Gilmartin; choreographer was Leanne Carton; producer was Catherine Gallagher (TY coordinator); and Laura was assistant musical director. She pointed out that the production also involved TY students from Coláiste Mhuire.
“We absolutely delighted, we had three nominations, Best Choreography, Best Comedienne – Grace Doyle playing Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, and Best Chorus. So we were delighted to win Best Chorus because it really was a tribute to everyone and the great teamwork by both staff and students.”
The awards were in the AIMS ‘Schools Mentoring Scheme… aimed at fostering the growth and development of musical theatre among secondary school students across Ireland’. A pilot programme, it paired mentors from the AIMS network with 30 secondary schools to provide support and expertise to schools in staging musical productions.
AIMS said teachers have noted improvements in students’ teamwork, discipline, and creative expression, and that students have reported increased confidence and a deeper appreciation for the arts.