West End Superstar Rebecca Storm takes to the Carlow stage next month in the new Irish musical “Letters from the Front”. Rebecca will reprise her role as Frau Breitner in the poignant drama which has already been presented to great acclaim in both Kilkenny and Dublin. Fresh from yet another much-lauded performance in her recent concert “Goin’ Back – A Lifetime of Song” in the Helix Theatre, Rebecca is one of the most popular leading ladies in musical theatre, having portrayed some of the most demanding roles including Eva Peron in ‘Evita’, Fantine in ‘Les Miserables’, Florence in ‘Chess’, Rose in ‘Aspects of Love’, Edith Piaf in ‘Piaf’, Joan of Arc in ‘Jeanne’, Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’, and Chris in “Calendar Girls”..
Written and directed by Don O’Connor (Kilkenny) and Ollie Hennessy (Carlow), this original musical drama inspired by real letters written by soldiers and family members from 1914-1918 and featuring a cast of 35, tells the story of three families, caught up in the turmoil of World War One. A story of love, hope, despair and loss, it follows the tale of young Irish couple Willie and Eileen, forced to separate as Willie enlists to fight on the Western Front. A young German boy Heinrich, falsifies his true age in order to fight under the German flag, while an embittered British officer prepares to lead his troops against the enemy in the trenches of Northern France. The poignant drama pulls no punches in depicting the horrors encountered by both German and British troops in the mud soaked trenches during the Great War and examines the effects of the war on those left at home as their husbands, fathers and sons marched into battle.
Joining the Carlow/Kilkenny cast will be renowned Ukranian baritone Maksym Lozovyi. Maksym lived in the Russian-occupied city of Kherson for 6 months where he was lead vocalist with the Kherson Regional Philarmonic from 2014 – 2021. However his life changed dramatically with the invasion of the Russian army in 2022. The Russians tortured and killed all Ukrainians who remained loyal to their Ukrainian country. One of them was his friend and conductor of the Kherson Philharmonic, where Maksym worked, Yuriy Kerpatenko. Russian soldiers came to his home and shot him for refusing to cooperate with the occupiers. Consequently, Maksym decided to leave his home with his family. Maksym will make his Irish dramatic debut portraying the character of German officer Kruger in the new Irish musical drama.
Featuring a Kilkenny cast including Mary O’Brien-Buggy, Brendan Corcoran, Peter Madden, Clare Gibbs and Rachel Leydon and Carlow stalwarts Rory Mortan, Richard Duffy, Oisin O’Reilly, Paul Dunne and Larry McNally, “Letters from the Front” runs from 1st – 4th May in the George Bernard Shaw Theatre, Carlow.
