OWN up - we've all pretended to be John Travolta in that scene in Saturday Night Fever, you know the one, with that white suit. Well, now there's news for all of you who still harbour those Stayin Alive moves in your heart; Arlene Phillips, director of the 1980s dance troupe Hot Gossip is in town to find the next Travolta.
Robert Stigwood, producer of the original movie as well as Evita and Grease, is now bringing the musical to the stage for the first time in the London Palladium next year. He, together with Paul Nicholas and David Ian - the team responsible for the stage production of Grease that is still playing in London's Cambridge Theatre - have decided to hold open auditions in Dublin next week.
After Dublin, Arlene and the gang are going to Glasgow and Manchester, after first auditions in London failed to turn up the perfect one. Phillips says she is looking for a fabulous dancer, singer and actor and will know in five minutes if somebody is right for the role - and if that hasn't put you off you can register for the audition before midday at The Factory on Barrow Street this Tuesday.
It is probable that one of Robbie Wootton's other tenants in the Factory, Eamon Farrell, will have some interest in the proceedings as he runs the would be Fame school in the building; The Performing Arts School and Agency. Quite apart from teaching numerous children of the city's rich and famous, Eamon has also groomed a fair number of kids for films, with brothers Sam and Jack Toner in the recently filmed Lord Lucan, Mary Murray in Paul Tickell's Hooligans and Daniel Kennedy in Isaac Newton - A Tale of Two Isaacs.