Musical set in 60s Cork has hate, revenge, deception and addiction as its theme

AMBITION and a real feeling for his subject matter have fuelled Kevin Fitzsimons to write a musical that is influenced by his late father’s gambling addiction.

Directed by Valerie Murphy, with musical direction from Paul Linehan of The Frank and Walters, Twin Flames, The Musical will have its premiere at the Palace Theatre in Fermoy in October.

It is a project that Kevin, who is based in Kilbeheny on the Cork/Limerick border, was determined to realise, despite initial criticism of his efforts. A big fan of The Beatles, in particular Paul McCartney, as well as The Who and The Jam, this pensions manager working in the financial services industry is used to setting goals for himself.

But when it comes to music, it hasn’t all been plain sailing for him.

“I tried to break into the market of writing songs for other people, but that didn’t work out. I tried to set up my own band at secondary school, but it was disbanded,” said Kevin.

“But one day, when I was having one of my songs recorded in a studio, the guy recording it said to me: ‘Listen, Kevin. Every time you come in here with an original new song, it always strikes me that it’s something that would really fit in with a musical’. I took no notice of this guy at the time. But six months later, his words came back to me. 

I started to wonder... if my songs were in a musical, what would it be about?

For Kevin, writing his debut musical has been “a long road. I love musicals such as Rent, Blood Brothers, The Sound Of Music, and Fame. It struck me that there are no modern musicals that are in the style of old-fashioned classical musicals. I wanted to write one. The worst thing that can happen is that it might fail.

“I knew I had to have a strong storyline, some good comedy, well drawn characters, universal themes, and outstanding music.”

Kevin describes Twin Flames, the Musical’ as a love story that has hate, revenge, deception and addiction themes, as well as redemption. It’s set in 1960s Cork against the backdrop of the Ford motor plant. The central characters, Phil and Fiona, are at a difficult stage in their relationship. Fiona dumps Phil when he refuses to face up to his gambling. His addiction spirals out of control, threatening the loss of his job, his home, his best friends, and his girlfriend, who is his ‘twin flame.’

When he was growing up in suburban Cork, Kevin’s father “gambled quite a bit when we were young. In fairness to him, he gave it up completely in his mid-40s. He was very disciplined in his own way. He was a smoker as well up to the age of 60. Overnight, he stopped but unfortunately the damage was done at that stage. He died at 73 from oesophageal cancer. 

He had been smoking and gambling since the age of 14.

As a small child, Kevin says he didn’t really suffer from the effects of his father’s gambling habit.

“We didn’t have a lot going on money-wise. Did that make us unhappy? It didn’t really. We just got on with it, playing games that didn’t cost anything. But I would have seen the effects on my mother. She had the frustration of having to deal with (limited housekeeping money), knowing that there was probably sufficient money if the gambling addiction didn’t exist.”

In the musical, Phil works at Fords, where he ends up stealing from his employer. He gets caught but is in denial. Phil didn’t think he was stealing but rather borrowing. He managed to replace the money on several occasions.

Kevin wrote a rough version of his musical in 2004.

“Since then, I caught the bug and wanted to take it further. But when I presented it to various professional script doctors, they told me that I didn’t know what I was doing. It was hard to take but I took it on the chin. The story and characters weren’t developed. One guy said to me that if I wanted to take it further, I had a mountain of work to do. I believe I have done that.”

He approached Cork theatrical stalwart, Pat Talbot, for advice.

“Pat was very good to me, helping me to develop the storyline and characters. He was tough to deal with. He’d tell me it wasn’t good enough and I’d rewrite it, only to be told that it still wasn’t right. 

I went through a process of meeting Pat on and off. All that back and forth and Pat being tough on me has paid off.

The ‘twin flames’ of the title are Phil and Fiona. Kevin says the phenomenon of twin flames (with which he has taken artistic license) is often confused with soul mates.

“But it’s the opposite of that. It’s quite a spiritual phenomenon. It’s when the same soul is incarnated in two different people. The theory is that this was set up even before a person is ever born. You will meet your twin flame at a certain stage of your life and that will trigger a spiritual awakening in you. It can lead to the most incredibly exciting love affair imaginable. But something always comes between the couple. Something separates them and prevents them from getting back together. It leads to a dark night of the soul and it’s all about the death of the ego. Phil has a very big ego at the beginning of the story.”

Kevin believes that as a species, “we’re incredibly arrogant to think that (we know) all that’s going on. There is a lot more going on. We have five senses we live through. Who’s to say there’s not 50 or 100 or 1,000. We think we know it all.”

When Kevin approached Paul Linehan to become involved in the musical, The Frank and Walters’ lead singer said he had a reputation to protect and that the songs would have to be really good. Kevin was thrilled when Paul gave them the seal of approval.

He has taken songs that were OK and transformed them into really strong numbers.

The songs, all written by Kevin, “have a Beatles influence. Paul McCartney would be my hero.

“Paul Linehan was a dream contact for me. I’m a huge fan of his band. They’re not a million miles away from ’60s oriented music. Paul has produced all the songs, orchestrating them. I like to say he knocked the edges off them. He made subtle changes, so there was a little bit of collaboration going on.”

In the story, Phil reaches rock bottom. He experiences a dark night of the soul and his life will never be the same again. The question is, can he transform his life and win back his twin flame before she emigrates to Liverpool to start a new life?

Aged 55, Kevin is funding the musical himself and hopes to make it back on the door. He would like Twin Flames to be staged at the Everyman or Cork Opera House after its Fermoy premiere. “Personally and professionally, I’ve always set goals for myself. I was fascinated with the idea of setting a big audacious goal, something completely out of my range.”

Let’s hope the gamble pays off...

Twin Flames, the Musical will be at the Palace Theatre, Fermoy, from October 21-28 (excluding October 25).

Tickets for the musical can now be booked, for €25 plus booking fee. See www.gr8tevents.ie/twinflames