As the rehearsals for Toy Show The Musical take place in Dublin, John Byrne catches up with three of the show's key players: Jamie Beamish, Clare Barrett and Sarah Travis.
Right. We’re all aware that Toy Show The Musical is happening. But it’s really only a concept until it takes shape and becomes a reality. With rehearsals taking place, now is the time that the show comes to life.
The plans and meetings are now history. What happens from now on will shape how the show will be seen by the general public. It’s not a time for faint hearts or self-doubt. It’s got to be right for opening night.
With that in mind, I caught up with three people who will be in the thick of things during the coming weeks.
They’ll be living and breathing Toy Show The Musical.
Jamie Beamish
"What the hell is this? Who’s mad enough to put on Toy Show The Musical?"
Jamie Beamish plays Brendan Mooney, the dad in Toy Show The Musical and he also co-wrote the story with Lisa Tierney-Keogh.
His CV includes Bridgerton, Derry Girls, Otto Bathurst's Halo, and Billy The Kid.
"The mad thing is my background is in music. When I left school, back in the 90s, I did a degree in music in Waterford, which is where I’m from. After that, I went to London to train in musical theatre.
"But, funny thing, just the way my career went, I ended up doing more kind of straight plays. Shakespeare, to be honest. And then I ended up doing TV and film, and stuff like that.
"So the last time I was in a musical, it was in I Keano in the Olympia. That was in 2007, 2008. It’s not today or yesterday.
"And suddenly I’m up in Dublin, at the Abbey, workshopping a new musical that they were looking at, and I get this email from my agent going, they’d like to talk to you about Toy Show The Musical.
"I thought, 'What the hell is this? Who’s mad enough to put on Toy Show The Musical?' Then I started looking into it and saw that the production team is pretty stellar.
"So I had a chat with the director, and he’s a great guy, Séimí Campbell, and the musical supervisor Sarah Travis, I’ve followed her work for years. I’m a huge fan of hers. And I was just going, okay, this could be tasty. Let’s see what the craic is.
"So they invited me to do a workshop, a script workshop, in August. I did that for three weeks and then after that, we started talking - and now my name’s on the poster!
"Everyone will have their own expectations, but I think people will be surprised by what they see. A community that reflects themselves and characters they recognise. And hopefully a story that will mean something to them.
"The story is about the Mooney family, specifically about Nell. And I play the dad. The Toy Show is a tradition and, like everyone else, they get together to watch it. It’s the night that Christmas starts, really.
"But this year we find the family a bit different because the mam has passed away. So Nell’s trying to make this night extra special because her dad’s lost his mojo a bit. He’s trying hard after everything that’s happened. Keep the family together. Make sure everything’s alright. But in that he’s kind of jumped into his work a bit too much.
"It’s also celebrating what the Toy Show is - and its history. And that’s the thing with the show. Whether you’re eight or you’re 80, you’re there that night and it’s the same oul’ buzz. And if it’s your kids, then you’re watching them having the buzz that you had.
"And there’s a little message there too: don’t grow up too fast. Keeping part of the child in you is what’s going to save you."
Clare Barrett
"When they sing a song, you’re wondering, 'Where did that voice come from?’"
Clare Barrett has been cast to play Nell's Mam, Áine Mooney in Toy Show The Musical.
Her CV includes Fair City, Medicine, Angela’s Ashes The Musical, Wild Mountain Thyme, and Trad.
"So I play Nell’s mum, and I’m there to support and guide her. What is lovely is that she’s not just somebody who appears as a vision. She’s very much a ‘present’ character, through memories and flashbacks. I earn my crust in that I’m not sitting in the dressing room and waiting for my one song - you know what I mean?
"And we’ve worked to make her not one rarefied kind of thing, that she is a human. And we get to see their relationship - and what it was - so that when Nell needs her, she’s there.
"The Toy Show is the driving force that brings all these people together. At half-nine on the night of the Toy Show, everybody in Ireland is sitting in front of their telly.
"And there’s that sense of community. I don’t know if you remember, but the year of the lockdown they couldn’t have an audience and there was that wonderful sequence with the diaspora.
"And then you realise, actually it’s not just Ireland, it’s in Australia, where there’s some kid watching it at nine o’clock in the morning. It’s like something that’s built into us. Like the coming home for Christmas. The Toy Show is the start of Christmas.
"I grew up doing musicals. And in the small world that Ireland is, on the first day in the workshop with Jamie, they were like ‘Oh, you probably don’t know each other at all’ but we’ve known each other since we were 18 or 19. We did the Waterford Light Opera Festival together.
"But then I took a very long trajectory in that I became a nurse. I studied to be a nurse and then I worked as a paediatric nurse at Harcourt Street Children’s Hospital.
"Then I went back to studying acting 20 years ago. I did a degree in acting at what is now TU Dublin, but it was the Conservatory of Music & Drama at the time. So I’ve been working as an actor ever since.
"Jamie, in the meantime, his acting took him to London. But we would’ve kept in touch through Facebook.
"It’s been great working with the exceptional children. They’re fantastic. I remember myself at 12, and I don’t think I would’ve been able to do that. They’re just unreal. And it’s what the Toy Show’s about because it’s showing you these exceptional children.
"And it’s not just about their talent. It’s about their attitude. The confidence! Maybe they are a bit shy in reality, but - my god! - when they sing a song, you’re wondering, 'Where did that voice come from?'
"There are fantastic set designers and production managers - it’ll be a big show. That’s exciting to be part of as an actor."
Sarah Travis
"I was brought up in Bristol so Toy Show was not on my radar - it is now!"
Sarah Travis is the Musical Supervisor & Orchestrator of Toy Show The Musical.
Her CV includes a plethora of West End musicals, and she won the Tony Award for Best Orchestration for her work on Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.
"My connection was Séimí [the director]. I think he’s one of the most talented people I’ve met in a long time. I met him in the lockdown by the wonders of Zoom.
"We did a couple of workshops together, and he told me about this project, and he started telling me about The Toy Show which, I have to say, having been brought up in Bristol, in the West Country in England, it was not on my radar. It certainly is now and it has been a voyage of joyful discovery, I have to say.
"And I’m not being patronising. It is something extraordinary. And I think that the passion, whenever you mention Toy Show to anyone from your neck of the woods, the passion and excitement that it generates, at any age, is infectious.
"I then met [producers] Jane and Kathrine, and they are certainly infectious. Wonderful women! So, yeah, it was a no-brainer really. I joined the project and did two workshops in the last year, the last one had Jamie [Beamish] and Clare [Barrett]. I find them really inspiring actors to work with.
"And what I love about Irish rehearsal rooms is that people are so open and so supportive. It’s very, very different to a UK rehearsal room. And that’s not belittling what happens in the UK at all, I think we’re just more reserved. We’re scared to just put ourselves right on the line. It’s been a very cathartic time to be in rehearsal rooms with these fantastic people.
"Certainly, the time I’ve spent on the show so far has been enlightening and uplifting, and quite good for my soul, actually. With wonderful people who love the craic. Who love to just enjoy what they’re doing.
"You have to have the joy in what you do and I’ve always let that if there’s no joy in what I’m doing - what we do is vocational. Obviously we earn a living from it, but we choose to do it, and if you don’t enjoy it, what is the point?
"I’m impressed by this phenomenon that has risen over the years and the statistics sound extraordinary.
"The closest thing I could sort of equate it to - and I’m in my mid-50s - is, as a family, we would sit down on Christmas Day and watch The Morecambe & Wise Christmas Special.
"It’s about the bringing together and I think the musical has definitely taken on that element of bringing families and communities together. And that togetherness is a very sort of wholesome. It moves me. Particularly with what’s going on in the world at the moment. The feeling of family and community and support and love are big things. And important things. We all need a bit of love.
"And also joy. It’s a joyous and anarchic event. And the kids lead. It’s great!"
Toy Show The Musical opens on 10 December at The Convention Centre, Dublin. Tickets are priced from €25. For further information and to purchase tickets, go to www.rte.ie/toyshowthemusical
