Due to popular demand, The Commitments is to extend its current booking period for the second time to 13 September 2015 (the show originally opened at the Palace Theatre in September 2013).
On announcing the further extension, producer Phil McIntyre said: “We’re extremely happy to announce that The Commitments has extended its current booking period for the second time to September 2015. The response from audiences has been quite incredible and we are thrilled the show will continue its residency at the Palace Theatre.”
Since September 2014, the lead role of Deco has been played by Brian Gilligan, who played drummer Billy ‘The Animal’ Mooney last year, after a quite remarkable turn of events.
Gilligan’s appointment to the role was serendipitous. The associate director of the production, C Jay Ranger, was backstage at the Palace Theatre, making her way upstairs to the offices when from the stairwell she heard the most astonishingly powerful, stirring voice launching into the vocals of Marvin Gaye’s soul classic ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine’. Completely taken aback by the raw, soulful sound, she followed it up flight after flight of stairs, until she discovered Gilligan, headphones on and in a world of his own, in a musical moment that would change his life.
Ranger immediately recommended Gilligan to director Jamie Lloyd, who saw him for an audition and the actor and singer was cast only a few weeks later. Gilligan is delighted to be playing Deco; a role he has coveted and admired since being enthralled by the way Roddy Doyle brought him to life in his bestselling novel.
The show has been adapted for the stage by Booker Prize-winning Doyle, from his original novel. It is directed by the award-winning Lloyd, famed for directing the critically acclaimed Macbeth.
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