'That buzz never leaves, the audience reaction is incredible and every night is different'

For Killian Donnelly, returning to Ireland with Les Misérables feels like coming full circle.

The Kilmessan native has spent years performing on some of the world’s biggest stages, starring in productions across London’s West End and Broadway, but he still speaks about his beginnings here with the same enthusiasm and affection as someone only starting out.

Now reprising the iconic role of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables: The Arena Spectacular, which comes to Dublin’s 3Arena from May 29th to June 6th, Donnelly says bringing the production back to Irish audiences carries enormous emotional significance.

The arena production features a large cast and orchestra performing music from the world-famous musical, which has remained one of the most successful productions in theatre history.

“Everything, absolutely everything,” he said when asked what it means to perform Les Misérables on home soil.

“Les Mis changed my life. I went over for an audition in 2006 or 2007 and got the show in 2007, and I’ve been in and out of it over the last 15 years.

“Now I’ve a wife and two kids and I’m still lucky enough to pop back to it."

For Donnelly, the show has evolved alongside his own life.

When he first joined the production as a young actor arriving in London, he was learning the ropes as a “swing” performer — a demanding role requiring actors to cover multiple parts within the production.

At the time, life revolved around rehearsals, auditions, friendships and discovering a new city.

“I was a young, green, single guy moving to London,” he recalled.

“I was hungry to learn and enjoying every second of it. I was learning all the notes, meeting people, making friends, falling in love, getting my heart broken — all the best craic.”

But nearly two decades later, he says age and parenthood have transformed the way he approaches acting.

“You just mature as time goes on,” he said.

“Now I’m playing the dad who has a daughter and I am a dad with a daughter. Directors notice it too. They’ll say, ‘You can tell you’re a dad now because when you used to pretend to be a dad, you did too much. Now you do very little and it’s honest.’”

That emotional honesty, he says, is one of the reasons theatre continues to captivate him after all these years.

Unlike television or film, where scenes are often shot out of sequence over several months, live theatre allows actors to experience a character’s emotional journey in one continuous arc every night.

“A lot of actors prefer plays and theatre because your emotional arc happens within two and a half hours,” he explained.

“There’s something very special about that.”

Donnelly also credits his upbringing in Kilmessan and the local arts community for shaping both his personality and career.

“Meath is all about community,” he said.

“I still go back to see shows from the musical society I started in, I went to their production of Sister Act recently which was amazing."

That society was St Mary’s Musical Society in Navan, where Donnelly first discovered his love for performing as a teenager.

“I wasn’t into football or hurling — I couldn’t really find my thing,” he said.

“Then I got into musicals and it just made sense.”

He remembers school productions first sparking his interest before eventually joining St Mary’s at just 15 years old — technically below the required age.

Donnelly says he owes a huge debt to the late Tom Walsh, who allowed him to join despite the rules.

“He’s the guy I owe everything to because he signed me in,” he said.

“He basically said, ‘Sure we won’t say he’s 15 because we’re short on men.’”

The productions themselves remain vivid in his memory.

Among the first shows he performed in locally were Oliver!, Oklahoma! and West Side Story, which he describes as a landmark production during the early years of the Solstice Arts Centre.

“That was a huge moment,” he said.

“It felt so professional to us at the time — dressing rooms with light bulbs around the mirrors and all that. We felt like superstars! It brought young performers together and made musicals exciting for young people.”

He believes local theatre groups and arts organisations play a hugely important role in communities, particularly for young people searching for confidence, creativity or belonging.

“I definitely advocate for music and creativity in schools,” he said.

“Not everybody connects with sport. Creativity is so important because once you encourage creativity in someone, whether that’s music, art, drama or writing, you’re onto a winner.”

Despite his international success, Donnelly says the local theatre community always kept him grounded.

He fondly remembered the late Tom Walsh from St Mary’s Musical Society, who would greet him with a hug and a humorous reminder to stay true to himself no matter where his career had taken him.

“Every time I’d come back from a West End or Broadway show, Tom would give me a hug, hold my shoulders, look me in the eye and say, ‘You’re still shite,’” he laughed.

“That kept me grounded.”

Even now, Donnelly says the collaborative nature of theatre remains one of his favourite aspects of the profession.

“It’s never about you,” he said.

“You’re part of a company. There are 35 people behind you on stage and a huge crew backstage. It’s a joint effort every night.”

The demands of leading a major musical production are enormous, particularly vocally and physically.

Donnelly explained that preparing for a role like Jean Valjean requires constant conditioning and discipline.

“You’re training your voice like a muscle,” he said.

“I have a little studio at home and I’ll rehearse the full score over and over to get my voice back into shape.”During a run of performances, he says his lifestyle becomes extremely disciplined.

“There’s no drink, no late nights, none of that,” he laughed.

“It’s three hours on stage every night and you have to protect yourself physically and mentally.”

Still, after years in the industry, it is the live audience reaction that continues to excite him most.

“That buzz never leaves,” he said.

“The audience reaction is incredible and every night is different.”

While Donnelly now lives in Dublin with his wife and children, he says returning to Meath still feels like coming home.

“I grew up in the countryside and as a young fella I craved cities,” he said.

“That brought me to Dublin, then London, then New York. But now I appreciate the quietness of the countryside I grew up in so much more.”And although his career has taken him across the world, he insists he never planned any of it too carefully.

“I’ve just ridden the waves of life,” he said.

“I’m still on the surfboard. I’ve fallen off a few times and gotten back on again, but I absolutely love it.”