THE SOCIAL NETWORK:Keith Duffy took some time out from training at the gym to attend the opening night of Chicago: The Musical on Wednesday evening in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. The singer and actor is competing in this year's Ironman triathlon in Galway, which takes place on Sunday, September 2nd, to raise funds for Irish Autism Action. His daughter Mia was diagnosed with the neuro-developmental disorder at 18 months old.
The former Boyzone member may have preferred if the musical was Showboat instead of Chicago since he was concentrating on all things nautical and preparing his speech for Thursday’s Tall Ships festival opening.
“I’m the ambassador to the tall ships – they call me the first mate,” he told me. Presumably the ships don’t speak.
Boyzone fans will be glad to hear that the band’s 20th anniversary will be marked.
“There’s talks at the moment of putting together a new album to be released in the summer of next year, and then to tour the album in Britain and Ireland and Australia,” said Duffy. “We’ve known each other all our lives – the opportunity of working together and getting back together is always a nice thing to do.”
One band definitely not getting back together is Six, said former member Emma O’Driscoll, who now presents the children’s programme Hubble on RTÉ. She was accompanied on Wednesday evening by her husband, Liam Cronin. They are not long back from their honeymoon, which they spent in Florida and the Caribbean.
Brian Ormond and his wife Pippa O’Connor haven’t had a chance to go on holiday yet. They are looking forward to heading to New York, as part of Ormond’s job with the National Lottery, in September. Pippa was over in London to cheer on her brother, Cian O’Connor, at the Olympics. She was also in the RDS last Friday to see Cian and his team-mates win the Aga Khan Nations’ Cup.
Marty and Maria Whelan were accompanied by their daughter Jessica, who has just finished social science in UCD, and their son Thomas, who is about to start a marketing and event management course in DBS.
Who we spottedBlue's Duncan James, who stars as Billy Flynn in the show; Model Rozanna Purcell; entertainment agent Tara Sinnott; Fair City actress Ciara O'Callaghan; Aonghus McAnally; TV presenter Diana Bunici; presenter Sean Munsanje and his partner, 98FM CEO Chris Doyle; Anne Cassin and her daughter Ellen; Sharon Ní Bheoláin, who entered the theatre via a different door to avoid photographers
