Athlone Musical Society pulls plug on 2021 production

Athlone Musical Society has announced the cancellation of its planned 2021 production, The Wedding Singer.

The musical was due to be held in the Dean Crowe Theatre, Athlone, in March next.

But this evening, in a statement, the society said that by making the difficult decision to cancel the show now, it was giving certainty to everyone.

It said: "With heavy hearts Athlone Musical Society is announcing the cancellation of its 2021 production of "The Wedding Singer".

"We want nothing more than to get back to the stage and perform but unfortunately it is not possible to bring ‘The Wedding Singer’ to Athlone audiences in March 2021. The health and safety of all those who come together for the annual production is the absolute priority and the Society feels that providing certainty, by making this difficult decision now, is beneficial to everyone involved."

The society said that the arts industry had been badly hit during the pandemic and it hoped that a way of navigating a safe reopening of the sector could be found.

"As we all head into the next six weeks of restrictions we hope everyone stays safe, keeps positive and knows that when the time is right, we will be back with a bang!"

In June last, the society announced that The Wedding Singer would be its 2021 production, running from March 6-13.

A popular Broadway musical in recent times, 'The Wedding Singer' was a 1998 film starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.

The cancellation of the show will be a huge disappointment for the society, not least as its last production, 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' received four national awards at the Association of Irish Musical Society (AIMS) awards recently.

Athlone took the coveted best overall show prize in the Sullivan Section, the second of two categories in the awards.

It also took the top prize for best director, which was won by Alfie Kilduff, for best musical director, Ger Madden and best choreographer, Lea Carroll.