As you know our school musical kicks off this coming week. To mark this, here is a magnificent piece of writing by Mr O’Muiri. Niall wrote this passage after our 2019 musical, Grease. It chronicles what the FCJ musical is all about, and the people in the past and indeed the present who make it such a magical event🖋🎭🎼

‘The old concert hall is silent now. After eight weeks of having its ancient walls shaking all over with the sounds of Grease. Every two years it comes alive, with the buzz of a thousand students, singing and dancing and laughing and dodging classes, losing themselves in the magic of the school musical.

Its spirit is infectious spreading down through school corridors seeping in under closed classroom doors distracting studious students with heads bowed, one eye on the leaving cert and one ear on the concert hall, wishing they could experience it all just one more time. You can feel the buzz, the excitement, the stress, the anticipation as ‘Grease Lightening’ slides through the school grounds, as opening night approaches. The thought of a sold out hall and standing ovations. Proud parents, and past pupils, returning once more, to feel the magic, to reminisce and catch up with old friends and look back and remember…

How many kids who struggled with school, and life, and all it throws at them, were saved by the musical? How many kids blossomed and grew and found a new confidence and new friends? How many kids took to the stage and never looked back? How many kids found their way, found themselves, found a belief and a confidence in themselves that carried them through to adulthood? And all because, and all because…

There’s a framed collage of photos hanging on the wall in the concert hall. I wonder if anyone notices it now? A small humble tribute in memory of a teacher who, over 30 years ago, strolled in through the gates of the FCJ Convent and brought with him the magic of theatre. And us shadow artists and would-be-actors grabbed onto his humble coat tails and loved every minute of the journey in his company. Weren’t we the lucky ones to have been part of it all. And here on the eve of the first curtain call and in the madness and chaos and fun of those final days of rehearsal, I wonder if any of the kids stop and ponder, for just one split moment to look at the photos and ask…

And in the blink of an eye, after all the weeks, all the stress, all the fun, the last night, the last curtain call. The old tired hall packed to its dusty rafters, the low murmur of proud parents, past pupils, all remembering, all wishing. The dulled lights, the orchestra tuning, last night, last curtain call, you can feel the tension backstage. Then, Mr Earls with an acute awareness of history and the shoes he had to fill, steps forward, calls for a moment’s silence. And in that stolen moment he reminds us all as to why we are here, and he shares with every student the legacy of Pat Connaughton from the bog arse of Knockcrockery, in County Roscommon. How over thirty years ago he strolled quietly in through the gates of FCJ and introduced a thousand students to the magic of theatre. And musicals and without him there would be nothing. And our lives would have been all the poorer. Aren’t we the lucky ones to have experienced it all? All these years. Isn’t that a wonderful legacy to leave behind, after a lifetime of teaching, to have given so much to so many.

Mr Hennessey tunes up the orchestra in the pit. In the hushed silence backstage, Mr Earls calls on Leon to read Seamus Heaney’s ‘Digging’, in memory of Mr Connaughton and all he gave us and all he gave FCJ…

‘Between my finger and my thumb, the squat pen rests; snug as a gun.’

So, with that in mind, get your tickets for this year’s musical quick. Sure with this much history, you’d be mad not to!😁🎟