Ballinrobe Musical Society took my breath away last week with the spectacular production of TITANIC - The Musical, and this was the first time this 1997 show was produced in the Republic Of Ireland (A Belfast company had the Irish premiere some few years ago). My admiration for this production began in Co. Galway as I headed out of Headford and as I crossed over the Mayo border, the advertisements for the show began. As you drove into the one-way street system of Ballinrobe, a town about the size of Dungarvan, solid posters in the shape of a lifebelt, advised that embarkation on Titanic was ahead.

Arriving at the Community College, the long Reception entrance was lined with tea-chests, wicker trunks and a most impressive set of White Star Line Memorabilia. Tickets for the voyage were collected and you passed over a white gangplank bridge into a gymnasium/auditorium where across a sixty foot width of the space a multi-towered structure of a ship. This width is three times wider than the Theatre Royal and the set was a wow in itself. With gangways and steps, multi-purpose acting areas, a radio room on castors that was researched and sourced in Co. Cork to establish museum class authenticity. A crowsnest would later winch down from the roof and two functional life boats would be winched down the sidewalls to later contain about twenty singers in each boat.

Not a note had been sung and that five hundred strong audience knew they were in for a night to remember, a spectacle to experience as their emotions were dragged this way and that by an eighty-strong cast all costumed by Hombergs of Leeds.

The orchestra were front of stage with a sixty-foot wide promenade section before them as the cast filed through the auditorium to establish one of the most impressive opening sequences I have seen. There were the officers, the owner, the builder, the First class, the second class and the third class, all gathering for a voyage of legend with all their hopes and expectations - a ship of dreams. The lyrics rang of 40 tonnes of potatoes, 1,100 pounds of marmalade, 20,000 crystal drinking glasses.

In rapid order you were introduced to many cameo performers whom often had only a few lines to establish mood and message. Knowing what the outcome was going to be gave the songs an added poignancy and you hoped the glorious cabin boy in red might be saved. There were twenty children in this production who acted, mimed and sang with such resonance and ability.

By the time the iceberg struck you were caught up in a moving powerful show that just sucked you into the vortex of musical theatre in a way you will not experience in the West End, with minimum characters and small casts. A piano player introduces the Autumn theme that dominates later stages. Shall we all meet in the autumn… love newly found may yet last… won’t be past.

The excitement of the second act was so tangible and exciting and a big chorus song towards the end We’ll Meet Tomorrow. Let one brief moment make eternal ties… let this embracing replace forever… keep us together evermore. The scenes of panic to get into the too few lifeboats were excellently done and a triumph of choreography for Peter Kennedy Director/Choreographer who hails from Belfast, adding another poignant layer to this engulfing spectacle. And Noel Kirrane’s musical direction was so moving and impressive.

The simplicity of a rising black gauze established the sinking ship far more powerfully than a too bright projection from a Night To Remember and at the end the audience rose for one of the most sustained and prolonged ovations I have ever experienced in the theatre and then applauded a superb and moving reprise of the Godspeed Titanic was powerful almost beyond description.

Mairy Yeston wrote music and lyrics. Michael Coen was an impressive Capt. Smith, Patrick Howley was a fine Murdoch, Niall Conway was impressive as Thomas Andrew, John Morley was the excellent Bellboy. Liz Kelleher was a wonderful Madeline Astor. Richard Crumlish was accurate as Radio Man. Gerry Hughes as Guggenheim was a tower of strength. Siobhan Campbell was amazing as Alice Beane and Lauragh Gill was radiant as Kate McGowan. Daithi Ryder was wonderful as Etches and he brought humour and pathos to the part.

Sean Costello deserves every praise and superlative for his Barrett, the Stoker and his wonderful voice especially in How Did They Build Titanic? Barrett’s Song and Proposal brought emotions flooding inside me.

The set took about 1,000 hours of work to build and had more timber than a large house and had nine sets of stairs and cost more than E7,000 to construct outside of volunteer labour. The show must have cost almost a hundred thousand euros to put on and it was a powerful reminder what a community can do when they have the inspiration and pride and leadership.

• This review appeared in the Munster Express newspaper, Co. Waterford. It was written by the paper’s theatre correspondent Liam Murphy.