Comedy, swing, Elvis tribute and Echo Boy play... it's a busy week on Cork's stages

A NEW one-man show by Mikel Murfi is on tonight and tomorrow (Thursday and Friday, April 18 and 19) at the Everyman. The Mysterious Case Of Kitsy Rainey features cobbler Pat Farnon as he decides to reveal secrets from his wife’s past life.

The hilarious sequel to The Man In The Woman’s Shoes, and I Hear You And Rejoice - and there is a post-show talk tonight (Thursday).

Now, how do you feel about getting out there and ‘Putting on the Ritz’? You can this Saturday night at the Everyman when Luke Thomas and the Swing Cats cavort into town with their Kings of Swing Tour.

Guests include Dancing With The Stars pro John Nolan, and The Runaways, best known for their marvellous a capella harmonies and slick dance moves.

Expect all the iconic songs and performances of the golden age of Hollywood cinema, from legends like Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and so many more. Singin’ in the Rain, Mr Bojangles, Let’s Face the Music and Dance, New York, New York, Somewhere over the Rainbow, King of The Swingers, Sing, Sing, Sing, Night and Day, and of course the great title number, Puttin’ On The Ritz.

More info on www.theswingcats.ie.

And still more exciting stuff coming up at the Everyman - next Tuesday brings the Irish National Opera to town with Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade, directed by Daisy Evans. Four young people, one an Olympic champion. Tangled relationships, forbidden love, an unsuccessful assassination, an execution avoided. And a royal father who has to accept his children as they are.

That’s followed on Wednesday (haven’t they crammed their programme delightfully at Everyman?) by Martin McDonagh’s modern classic, The Lonesome West, presented by Kilmeen Drama Group.

Part of The Leenane Trilogy, which also includes The Beauty Queen Of Leenane and A Skull In Connemara, this exemplifies McDonagh’s black comic style. It’s that group’s Festival Circuit play for 2024 and is likely to be spectacularly good, to judge by Kilmeen’s previous presentations.

8pm start for everything above. See www.everymancork.com or call 021 450 1673 for all bookings.

Paul Brady is already sold out at the Opera House tonight, but there were still a few tickets left for Flash Harry - A Celebration Of Queen on Saturday, last time we checked.

Then Niall Breslin is in on Sunday night with Where Is My Mind? Having led a colourful life and being no stranger to a slap from the dark side, podcaster Breslin has made it his vocation to excavate and discover what it is that makes us humans dive, survive, recover and thrive in the chaos of the modern world. Special guest Trisha Lewis.

Elvis will never be forgotten, and Ben Portsmouth has had a lot to do with that, in his show This Is Elvis. After winning many prestigious awards, it was in 2012 when Ben made history, winning the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest in Memphis, the first artist from outside the USA to ever win this prestigious title.

He is at the Opera House next Tuesday and Wednesday at 8pm. 021 427 0022 or www.corkoperahouse.ie for all bookings.

That eagerly-awaited show, The Echo Boys, opened last night at the Cork Arts Theatre and runs to April 27. A nostalgic jaunt down memory lane, it is packed with joyful memories of the ‘goings on’ of the newspaper sellers who were truly legends, and indeed part of the very fabric of our city.

The script, by Val Dennehy and Marion Wyatt, is a fictionalised account of the personal histories of former Echo Boys, celebrating their resilience, hopes and dreams. Ah, shall we ever see their like again? You can during April anyway, so get thee to the Cork Arts Theatre! 8pm nightly, matinees Saturday, April 20 & 27. See www.corkartstheatre.com or 021 450 5624.