Killian returning from West End for Dublin show

Meath's West End star Killian Donnelly is returning to perform in Dublin this October as part of the Abbey Theatre’s autumn/winter season of productions, announced by the National Theatre.
The Kilmessan man is to perform in a new musical play, ‘Donegal’, by Frank McGuinness.
Donegal is about family, place and country music. The Day family are Irish country music royalty and Irene is their queen. But as Irene’s star fades, the Days are facing financial destruction. With music by Kevin Doherty (Four Men and a Dog) and Conall Morrison directing, Donegal’s cast also includes Siobhan McCarthy (Evita, Mamma Mia! and Hairspray), and Megan Riordan (Once).
Killian is currently playing the role of Charlie Price in ‘Kinky Boots’, with songs by Grammy and Tony winning pop icon Cyndi Lauper, at the Adelphi Theatre in London.
With settings from the factory floor to the glamorous catwalks of Milan, Charlie is struggling to live up to his father’s expectations and continue the family business of Price & Son. With the shoe factory’s future hanging in the balance, help arrives in the unlikely but spectacular form of Lola, played by Matt Henry, a fabulous performer in need of some sturdy new stilettos.
Last year, Killian was nominated for a  a 2015 Olivier Award Nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. for the role of Huey Calhoun in Memphis at the Shaftesbury, and this year received a similar nomination for Kinky Boots, which was won by his co-star, Henry.
He previously played the character of Deco in Roddy Doyle’s ‘The Commitments’, in London’s Palace Theatre, made famous by Andrew Strong in the movie version of the book over 20 years ago.
Thirty-two year old Killian honed his talents on the stages of Navan, Dublin, across Ireland and in London. Some 20 years ago, he played the role of Fagin in a Kilmessan NS production of ‘Oliver’, and a decade later, was on stage in Dublin, with Suzanne McFadden in the Gaiety’s ‘Cinderella’ panto, and then in ‘Sweeney Todd’  at the Gate, as well as plying his trade with SMMS in Navan, writing and performing, and asking ‘Would you like fries with that?’ in a McDonalds’ advertisement.
He went over to London, where he played every character in ‘Les Miserables’, moved onto ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ as one of the three leads, then to ‘Billy Elliott’, before moving to ‘The Commitments’. He also had a part in the movie version of ‘Les Miserables’.