2013 Press Releases
Mercier leaves lasting Testament on Broadway
Among this year’s prestigious Tony Awards nominees is Dr Mel Mercier, head of School of Music & Theatre at UCC.
Mercier is nominated for ‘Best Sound Design of a Play’ for the new production The Testament of Mary, currently running on Broadway. The Tony Awards celebrate excellence in live Broadway theatre and are presented annually by the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing. Mercier has also just been nominated for a Drama Desk Award, another prestigious New York theatre award, for ‘Outstanding Sound Design in a Play’.
Written by Irish author Colm Tóibín and driven by the internationally recognised director Deborah Warner, UCC graduate Fiona Shaw plays the lead role of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the one-woman show. The production has already received international acclaim since its opening night last week at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York.
Mercier, a composer, performer and academic, is the composer and sound designer behind the brooding score accompanying The Testament of Mary. He teaches Irish, African, Indian and Indonesian music at UCC, where he is a senior lecturer in Music.
Shaw completed a BA Degree at UCC in 1979. A heavy hitter in the world of international stage, screen and television acting, she will also be familiar to fans of Harry Potter (in her role as Petunia Dursley) and True Blood.
Mercier’s next theatre project in the US is Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a one-woman show also starring Fiona Shaw and directed by the mind behind films Mamma-Mia! and The Iron Lady, Phyllida Lloyd, at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music in December.
Mercier has also penned the music to Setanta (Fibin Theatre Company), which is currently on tour in Ireland and comes to Cork City, Ireland, in May.
The Testament of Mary will continue to run for the next 7 weeks at the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway.
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Selection of media coverage (click links):
Irish Times (see print edition Wednesday 1st May 2013, p.9)