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The Phelan File
Wilkinson 'mizzes' his home town
Amid great hype they've brought him home and the irony is that, having come back here, he hardly recognizes his birthplace.
Colm Wilkinson has been drenched in fame and acclaim since his Broadway debut in Les Miserables in the eighties. Now he's come full circle and on Tuesday night at the Point, he stars as Jean Valjean, the role that changed his life forever. The opening night of Les Miz, which has broken box office records all over the world, promises to be one of the most glittering spectacles of the year.
The first night audience will be star-studded, but there will be no one prouder of the star of the show than his Deidre and his four children, Aaron, Judith, Simon and Sarah who arrive in town this weekend.
Aaron has followed in his father's footsteps and is now an accomplished singer/songwriter; he flew in from India on Thursday night. Judith is studying at York University in Toronto, where the younger Wilkinsons, now 15 and 18, are also at school.
"We have all enjoyed Toronto, it's very much been home to all the family especially the younger ones who have had most of their education there," Colm told me during the week. But it's his native Dublin that has literally taken his breath away.
"Dublin hasn't changed for me - it's disappeared. It's a very strange feeling. I honestly would hardly recognize the place. While I've been back over the years, I never had very much time to walk around. Last weekend I had dinner with my sister at her home ranelagh and I walked back to the hotel. Apart from Whitefriar Street Church, just about every other landmark I knew was gone."
But if Wilkinson is nostalgic for the Dublin in which he grew up, he's excited about the new vibrant city that has welcomed him back, "I'm so gobsmacked by it all. I've, never before had a chance to take it all in. You can feel it, the vibe has changed. It's such an up thing, with so many things happening and so many confident young people everywhere."
If Colm is feeling up about Dublin, he's positively lyrical about this production of Les Miz. "It's a wonderful production. It's my first time working in The Point and the show looks so spectacular. There are some wonderful voices in the cast." And is he in good voice himself? "Yes, I'm working very well. I'm very hapy with everything about the show."
Indeed, so happy is Wilkinson that he thinks he and the family will possibly move back here within two or three years. "We'll probably buy a house and the younger ones can continue their studies here, but I don't know if they'd fit in here now. They'll have an opportunity to get a feel for themselves during this visit."
Beyond Les Miz, he has no other plans to perform in Dublin. It's 10 years since he last performed here, in a memorable concert with the RTE Symphony Orchestra in the Gaiety.
"I'd like to do The Phantom of the Opera in Dublin," he says. Of course, that's the role Andrew Lloyd Webber has often said he wrote specially for Wilkinson's voice. Colm was a smash hit as the Phantom in Toronto for four and a half years, and then on tour throughout Canada.
Recently, he has has worked with son Aaron; he's done PBS television, a concert in the Royal Albert Hall and other TV projects. A short while ago, he completed a month in Les Miz in Toronto.
I'm really looking forward to performing for an Irish audience again and having all the family, relations and friends around. As I said, I'm gobsmacked by the change in Dublin, but it really reminds you that you're getting older!"
By Angela Phelan
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