Aoife presents a West End Wonderland

A Salthill woman who sparkled in West End productions returns to her roots next month to take part in a one-off concert.

Aoife Mulholland may not have won the English reality contest How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria almost a decade ago but she certainly impressed its creator, Andrew Lloyd Webber when she took part in it.

He offered her the part of Roxy in Chicago which she performed almost nightly for nine months, before playing Maria in a Sound of Music production by Webber.

Then it was back to Chicago again playing Roxy before securing a principal role in Legally Blonde.

But after living in London for a decade, the city lost some of its appeal when Aoife and her husband, Jason moved to the suburbs after she gave birth to the first of their three sons.

“When our third son was born, I knew it was time for us to come home to be among family,” she says. “Jason is from Dublin, so a year ago we settled here. London was great when I was single and had spending power to enjoy the bright lights.

“I still can’t believe that I performed every week on the Maria show in front of 10 million viewers. That was a buzz, being given the opportunity to perform as a principal, not once, but a few times on the West End,” says Aoife, a daughter of former Mayor of Galway City and bookmaker, John Mulholland.

Now that her youngest is 15 months, Aoife misses performing and has started to do a few gigs. She’s particularly looking forward to one in the Salthill Hotel on Thursday, December 15, with Dublin singer, Morgan Crowley who performed with her in Chicago, took part in Phantom of The Opera and even acted in Eastenders for a while.

Accompanied by Fergal Murray on piano, the singers will treat their audience to a selection of Broadway favourites as well as a few seasonal numbers in a show called West End Wonderland.

In Dublin, Aoife has launched herself as a music teacher. What started as a fun activity with other mothers has become  more serious and she’s teaching toddlers aged one to three, using puppets.

The Jolly Boppers is the name of the project, where mothers sit in and learn from Aoife how to encourage their toddlers’ musical abilities.

Aoife may miss the buzz of performing to London audiences but she’s really enjoying the interaction with the toddlers.

■ Tickets for the Galway show on Thursday, December 15 are €25, available at the Salthill Hotel. A similar show takes place in Moate on Thursday,  December 1.