On The Town: A gangsta tale of murder, betrayal and courtroom drama, had a star-studded audience on the edge of their seats at the Point this week.
A cheer went up when Marti Pellow, playing the role of slippery, smooth-talking lawyer Billy Flynn, burst on to the stage singing "all I care about . . . is love".
Everyone fell for Pellow, the former star and frontman with the group Wet Wet Wet. After the performance of the musical, Chicago, which is set to run at the Point until Saturday, May 10th, many members of the audience strolled across the East Link Bridge on their way home to Sandymount and beyond, still humming the show's most famous lines: "They had it comin'," they sang, while others, chorus-style, joined in the refrain: "And all that jazz."
Keith Duffy, formerly of Boyzone and now a Coronation Street star, was at the opening with his wife, Lisa. His Corrie character, Ciaran McCarthy, is currently "in prison", but he'll be back for six more months, said Duffy.
Many of the actors from Fair City were also at the opening, including Tom Hopkins (who plays Christy), with his wife, Tina Hopkins. Nearby was his screen wife, Una Crawford O'Brien, with her husband, Brian O'Brien.
Valerie Roe and her sister, Gillian Quinn, wife of footballer Niall Quinn, were also both enjoying the opening night.
Odette Rocha and her daughter, Simone Rocha, thought the show was great. Gay Byrne, who was proud to say he'd travelled back from Co Donegal on his new Honda Deauville, having just auctioned his Harley-Davidson for charity (which helped raise €75,000 in total for Crumlin Children's Hospital), was with his wife, Kathleen Watkins.
Also there was Ciara Higgins, of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, who has another concert to attend tomorrow, at the RIAM's Katherine Brennan Hall. The chamber music concert, Trios@3, features musicians such as pianist Réamonn Keary and violinist Michael d'Arcy.
Adding to the razzle-dazzle of the occasion were other famous faces in the crowd, such as producer Bill Hughes, broadcaster Mary Kennedy, 2FM DJ Larry Gogan, TV3 presenter Alan Cantwell and music impresario Cathal McCabe.