I think this is one of my most favourite pictures ever – and I haven’t even got around to looking at myself! Here I am with the gang from my Alternative Miss Ireland 2011 performance of the Circle of Life (from The Lion King, which should help to explain our costume choices). It was such a fun performance too. Amongst the madness, see if you can find Victoria Secret, Portia Diamonte, Davina Devine, April Showers, Veda Beaux Reves, Trudy Scrumptious, Bunny O’Hare, DJs Anto & Karen, RuPaul Ryder, “Pan-Pipe Faun Dyke” (whose real stage name I forget), Sinéad Burke (whose stage names are many) and little, old, Madonna-armed me.

Ironically, the Circle of Life means that all things must come to a natural end. When we performed this song, we had no idea that the Alternative Miss Ireland itself would be coming to an end so soon. But here we are, approaching the last ever Alternative Miss Ireland pageant. The final show will take place on 18 March 2012. 2012? That explains what that Mayan Prophecy was going on about…

As the AMI has been a massive fundraiser for HIV/AIDS charities in Ireland, it’s fitting that the tickets for the final show go on sale on December 1st, World Aids Day. That’s Thursday to you! My guess is that the tickets are going to sell very, very quickly so if I was you – and I know I am not – I’d be nabbing my tickets super-mega-pronto! The Best Boxes in the Theatre will go to Auction and Raffle. Check the AMI website for details.

Oh, and here’s another of my favourite AMI photos. Mainly because Panti is just about to clatter Dizzy across the face for telling her that she looks like yer man from Def Leppard.

These amazing snaps are by Mary Furlong, who has been taking stage-side,  post-performance photos of contestants (& crew) for as long as I have been involved with the AMI. You could waste an hour or two looking at the small sample of her collection at the Alternative Miss Ireland facebook page.

Here are some other shots taken (I think by Peter Fingleton) of the Circle of Life performance. (Click the image to see the next).