Matt Hewson
Musical theatre lovers are in for a treat when the World of Musicals returns to Geelong after a sell-out Australian tour in 2022.
From Gilbert and Sullivan to Jim Steinman, from Les Miserables to The Greatest Showman, the ensemble of 12 multi-talented artists will perform some of the best-loved show tunes of the past century.
The broad range of material is something that personally appeals to Ciarán Olohan, one of the show’s stars and also its director.
Born and raised in Wicklow, Ireland, Olohan’s family members include opera singers, actors, comedians, musical theatre singers and folk musicians.
Unsurprisingly, Olohan’s performance history is similarly varied.
“I started off as a classical singer and an opera singer and sort of made a sidestep into musical theatre,” Olohan said.
“But I’ve toured with Irish traditional shows and Irish dance shows… all sorts of shows that I’ve been involved with have been very different.
“And it’s funny, I love performing, I love everything about it.I could be in a beautiful concert hall somewhere else in the world, or I could be in the corner of a dark pub in Ireland, banging out a few tunes on my guitar, and I’m just as happy.”
Olohan said the World of Musicals, which features established theatre, opera and TV performers as well as some of the brightest new talent from the UK, Ireland and Australia, strove to appeal to all musical lovers.
“We have wonderful classical singers, we have wonderful musical theatre singers, we have beautiful dancers, we’ve even got a couple of acrobats in there, all of them amalgamating their talents into one really upbeat, fun and colourful show,” he said.
“Something that we really pride ourselves on is that hopefully we cater for everybody’s taste, hopefully there’ll be something in there for everybody.
“It’s lots of fun, it’s a great night, and yeah, we’ve had a great tour so far and we’re really looking forward to coming to Geelong.
“A lovely thing about touring the show here in Australia is we pay tribute to Peter Allen in the show, and to see people’s reactions to his very iconic and very famous music is wonderful.”
The World of Musicals is at Costa Hall on Saturday, June 1. Visit theworldofmusicals.com for tickets and more information.
