A 29-year-old Kilkenny man has just landed the lead role in a hit Broadway musical. Darren Holden, from Mooncoin, has beat 3,000 other hopefuls for the coveted role in Movin Out which features the music of Billy Joel.
Last week, Movin Out, received 10 Tony nominations in New York, where it is currently the number one musical of the year.
It tells the story of six Long Island teenagers set in the 1960s.
Holden's publicist arranged a private audition for him in New York where he met the directors of the show and the casting agents.
They told him they needed a rock and roll singer with the stamina to perform 26 songs six times a week for one year.
He was asked back to play for the producers and directors with the band from the show, led by Billy Joel's guitarist Tommy Byrne.
Later that evening he was offered the lead part.
The main character narrates the story throughout the musical while playing a piano as well as playing with a 10-piece rock band.
The musical has been voted the number one musical of the year by Time magazine.
The Kilkenny man will work with Billy Joel at his home in the Hamptons in New Jersey during the month of August, where he will be doing some rehearsals before the show gets under way.
He starts on Broadway in December and then in January 2004 he will embark on a major tour of the United States taking in San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Memphis, San Diego and Chicago.
Holden has also been chosen to sing, The Star Spangled Banner at a Buffalo Bison's baseball game in Buffalo, New York, in front of more than 25,000 fans.
His latest album, Live and Learn, is being play listed on radio stations around the US.