Starring the winners of the hit TV show search

Ben Morris & Jessica Cervi

Ben Morris and Jessica Cervi won the hearts of the nation with their incredible performances in the Search for the Stars of Fame - the Musical. Now the pair will join the cast in a nationwide tour beginning at the Grand Canal Theatre from 19th August. Ben Morris wowed viewers with his powerful performances during the 10-week RTE Screentime ShinAwiL series and will now step into the role of Nick Piazza in one of showbusiness´ most enduring successes. The 23-year-old London-trained singer will be joined by fellow Dubliner Jessica Cervi. Jessica began performing at the age of ten and is a favourite with city audiences following appearances in the Olympia pantomimes for the past five years.

The show - which will be the biggest professional stage musical to ever play in Galway - will run at the Town Hall Theatre from Tuesday 2 to Sunday 7 November and tickets are now onsale.

Fame - The Musical is the inspirational story of a diverse group of talented students studying at the New York School of the Performing Arts. The show explores issues of prejudice, identity, self-worth, literacy and perseverance. The highs and lows are too much for some, but the kids' determination to find greatness shines through.

Describing the television show as "a real emotional roller-coaster", Ben paid tribute to his family and friends for their unstinting support. "I was amazed when they announced my name and said that I had won. I was delighted but it actually felt more of a win for my family and friends who had campaigned so hard for me all the way through the show. They have been unbelievable," he explained. The young actor cited his worst moment on the show was when he was in the bottom two and his fate hung in the balance. "One of the most talented female singers was in the bottom two with me and she got voted off, which felt like the worst time." There is no question about his best moment – it was winning the show, but a special live appearance came close. Football-mad Ben was asked to sing the U2 classic 'Beautiful Day' at the recent Republic of Ireland versus Algeria friendly in the national stadium. "It was out of this world" he said.

Jessica Cervi was thrilled, delighted and shocked to be named winner of the programme and to be given the role of Serena Katz in the forthcoming tour. While the role is different from others this talented young actress has played she feels it is all about a performer trying to achieve her dreams .... something she is determined to do. Like Ben, Jessica had very strong support from her family who were at the show each week, cheering her on. "My family were there every Sunday and then my Dad would spend all week watching the recordings. I think he drove my little brother mad!"

Fame - the Musical producer Robert C Kelly, who was one of the TV show´s judges - said: "This tour will give the viewers who supported the performers on the show the chance to see Ben and Jessica in the theatre in one of the liveliest shows in the world. I think the audiences who come along will have a real night to remember."

Rehearsals have begun at the Town Hall for a new production of Conal Morrison’s award winning adaptation of Patrick Kavanagh’s novel, Tarry Flynn, will be presented at the Town Hall Theatre from Tuesday 3rd to Sunday 8th August. The play is a moving evocation of rural Irish life - a time when life and the land went hand in hand but told with the wry observation and acerbic wit of Ireland’s best loved poet.

The production is extraordinarily ambitious in scale and content – it will be the biggest ever stage drama presented in Galway. Since it was originally written as a novel, it is freed from the normal constraints of drama: scenes merge into each other, characters transform themselves into animals and the whole seething tumult of a riotous imagination is on display.

Set in Cavan in the 1930s, it tells the story of Tarry, a farmer poet, and his quest for big fields, young women and the meaning of life. His sensibility is torn between two impulses: the poetic and the preoccupations of all young men! We follow his adventures as he uncovers the beauty in every aspect of nature and farm life, while keeping up his desperate campaign to get a kiss.

In the 1960’s the adaptation of this great work into a play by the Abbey Theatre gave this major Irish novel a whole new dimension and more recently a new adaptation by Conal Morrison incorporating choreography and movement was a huge hit in the 1990’s. Due to the size of the production and the cast, it was not presented outside Dublin. But this August, the Town Hall Theatre will produce Tarry Flynn using Morrison’s adaptation – the first since the celebrated Abbey production.

Directed by Andrew Flynn and designed by Owen MacCarthaigh, everything about the production is larger than life – there is a cast of over sixty, live musicians, choreographed animals – all dedicated to capturing the cadences of Kavanagh’s enduring portrayal of a rural community and the landscape they inhabit. The community cast are drawn from a wide cross section of Galway life including some leading actors from the amateur drama societies, present and former members of Galway Youth Theatre and a range of people new to the world of theatre. The production will feature live music led by Sean Moloney of the famous Galway traditional music family.

Please note that Duke Special is no longer playing on the 29th May. It has been moved to the Roisin Dubh on the 7th June

Full details can be found over on or you can book over at the THT page: Galway African Film Festival

On Friday 28 and Saturday 29 May the Town Hall Theatre presents a rare opportunity for Galway audiences: a full show direct from the West End – the original and the best version of Strictly The Rat Pack. The show is a celebration of the music of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jnr with all the trappings – a 14 piece big band including a full brass section and three top class lead singers – Louis Hoover as Sinatra, Mark Halliday as Martin and Ashley Campbell as Sammy Davis.

The original Rat Pack was a collection of pals and drinking buddies centred on Humphrey Bogart and a young Frank Sinatra. The name was coined by Bogart’s wife Lauren Bacall when after a particularly heavy night’s partying, she met them and announced “you look like a goddam rat pack”. After Bogart’s death, Sinatra became the central figure and joined by Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, they developed an upbeat entertainment style which became a Las Vegas trademark and played a huge part in that city’s rise in popularity.

No one has better credentials than Louis Hoover when it comes to celebrating the music of Ol’ Blue Eyes. Before joining the cast of Strictly The Rat Pack, he starred in Salute to Sinatra which played at venues such as the London Palladium and the Royal Albert Hall. Mark Halliday has appeared in a string of major musicals including two years with the American production of Disney’s Hercules and starring opposite Alvin Stardust in Rock Hard. Ashley Campbell has appeared in many stage shows including acting with the Royal National Theatre. His physical likeness to the young Sammy Davis is striking, but it is his deep resonant voice that really captures an audience.

The show features classic songs such as My Way, Fly Me To The Moon, Strangers in the Night, Volare, That’s Life, Chicago (My Kind Of Town) and of course, New York , New York.