Ryan Tubridy and friends at the Cork auditions on Monday.

Late Late on Toy Show audition tour

Work is already underway on the biggest Late Late Toy Show opening ever, it has been revealed, as the programme hits the road in search of the country’s best young performers to take part in this year's extravaganza.

The producers behind Irish television’s biggest night have revealed they are planning the most spectacular opening number in the show’s history. In fact, the undertaking is so big they have drafted in students from IADT Dun Laoghaire to help make their epic vision become a reality.

Toy Show producer Katherine Drohan revealed: “This year’s opening number is the most ambitious we have ever staged. More than 60 students from IADT Dun Laoghaire are working on special pieces to feature in the opening of the show. Sworn to secrecy, these students have been working tirelessly on the project for weeks now. The giant characters they are creating will be an integral part of an opening that will stretch the limits of The Late Late Toy Show studio and the imagination”.

The news comes as The Late Late Toy Show hits the road again, touring the country to find the best and brightest of Ireland’s young dancers, singers and musicians to take part in this year’s production. Arriving in Dundalk tomorrow after being in Cork and Galway, Toy Show producers will see hundreds of kids at the regional auditions.

Host Ryan Tubridy said: “I am tremendously excited to be taking the show on the road again. We did this for the first time last year and we uncovered some hidden gems that we really wouldn’t have discovered had we not taken the Toy Show to them. Their contribution to last year’s show was immense. There is so much untapped talent in this country and I’m really looking forward to getting out there and finding it”.

The Toy Show team received thousands of applications to perform on this year’s show and has been working tirelessly to pick the very best to audition.  In a closed audition process, they’ll meet singers, dancers and musicians from as young as four-years-old and from all across Ireland. Some will perform alone and others will be part of choirs and groups with as many as 70 members.

 “I am told the standard is even higher this year,” said Ryan Tubridy, “Which is some feat given the sheer breadth of talent we unearthed on our travels last year. It’s going to be great”.

The auditionees are all working toward the same goal – to appear on the biggest and most beloved show on Irish television on Friday, December 2nd. Last year’s Beauty and the Beast-themed Late Late Toy Show was the belle of the ball with Irish viewers with a total consolidated audience of 1.56 million viewers and is the second most watched programme on Irish television this century.

Once again, The Ryan Tubridy Show on RTÉ Radio 1 are joining The Late Late Toy Show on the road with live broadcasts from The English Market in Cork; Charlie Byrne’s Bookstore in Galway and MacAteer’s The Food House Cafe in Dundalk, where auditions are taking place at the Ballymascanlon House Hotel on Wednesday 26th.