Best in house as Tullamore Musical Society wins award

Tullamore man Colin Hughes is doubly delighted this week. Last weekend he successfully hosted the Association of Irish Musical Societies (AIMS) awards night, and on the same night a Tullamore Musical Society front of house team that he himself was part of won an award for 'Best House Management'. Speaking to the Offaly Independent after the event Mr Hughes said the award for Tullamore Musical Society was a particularly justified one, and added that his first experience of hosting the awards night went like a dream. Paul Norton of Clara Musical Society missed out on the night after being nominated in the category of 'Best Comedian' for his performance as Max Bialystock in the society's most recent production 'The Producers'. "I'm thrilled for Tullamore," Mr Hughes said this week. "Every year the front of house team put in an awful lot of effort." The Tullamore Musical Society team won its award for its performance front of house during the society's most recent show run of 'Beauty and the Beast'. The team beat off competition from Lisburn's Fusion Theatre and Thurles Music Society to scoop the win. Clara Musical Society wasn't so lucky, however, with Paul Norton losing out to Pat McElwain's portrayal of Man in Chair in Dun Laoghaire Musical Society's production 'The Drowsy Chaperone'. Mr Hughes was called up to present the prestigious award night only last month. Last year the show was hosted by 'The Voice' runner up Richie Hayes, while actor Simon Delaney filled the host shoes for some years before that. Before last weekend's event in the Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney Mr Hughes admitted to feeling "very nervous". However he said the experience ended up being better than he could have imagined. "The build up was extremely nervewrecking," he said. "It's a long night. The awards don't start until nearly 11pm, and it's a long day building up to that. Literally though, as the lights hit me when I came out on stage I felt very comfortable. It was an absolute dream." Mr Hughes cut his acting teeth in Tullamore Musical Society back in the 1993 production of 'Fiddler on the Roof'. He went on to make 14 more appearances with the group before beginning to work professionally as an actor and director in 2008. No stranger to the AIMS awards prior to being chosen as this year's host, Mr Hughes was nominated as 'Best Actor' three times in the past and won the category outright in 2007.