Prior brings heroic tale to Melbourne

February 1: With rehearsals for Harp on the Willow getting underway in Melbourne this week, theatre veteran Marina Prior is busy again, not that she really ever stops. Prior took time out of her busy schedule to chat with AussieTheatre.com editor Troy Dodds this week...

It has been 20 years since Marina Prior took on one of the most defining roles of her career – Cosette in Les Miserables – and while it was far from her debut in musical theatre, it is regarded by many as the show that kicked off one of the most amazing careers in Australian showbusiness.

Prior has appeared in countless productions of musicals, one of her most memorable being Phantom of the Opera in which she played Christine, and while the jukebox era has in many ways stalled the roles that used to be at her beckon call, her career is showing no sign of slowing down.

Later this year she will appear in the Sydney Theatre Company season of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and she is currently in rehearsals for the Melbourne production of John Misto’s Harp on the Willow.

It is during her lunch break on the second day of rehearsals for the play that she sits down to chat with AussieTheatre.com about re-visiting the role of Mary O’Hara.

“I was heavily pregnant when I did the show in Sydney which made playing a nun a little bit tricky,” Prior said.

“It has been really fantastic to re-visit this play after three years and rehearsals are going really well.”

Harp On The Willow is a true story that focuses on the life of an Irish folk singer who became a star at 18, a bride at 20 and a widow at 21. Her life had beauty, intensity and tragedy, and Prior admits playing a role of that kind is challenging.

“There is certainly a different level of responsibility because firstly it is a true story, and secondly the person is still alive – it makes it quite interesting,” she said.

“Mary O’Hara is an amazing women that I am so privileged to be able to play. I’m really looking forward to doing it in Melbourne as well, it’s my favourite place to work in the entire world and really is a ‘theatre city’.”

Joining Prior in the production is Joan Carden, who was most recently seen in the Australian production of Titanic, along with Christopher Stollery, Tom Wren and rising star Lucy Maunder, who makes her mainstage debut in the play after graduating from WAAPA last year. Maunder plays the younger version of Mary O’Hara, and comparisons have already been made between her and Prior; both in looks and star potential.

“She is just delightful,” Prior says of Maunder. “I’m a great believer in nurturing and raising up young performing talent, which is why it is so great to have a place like WAAPA out there. It’s fantastic to see that young talent is thriving and that people really do want to get out and do theatre despite the many distractions that exist these days.”

Working at the Comedy Theatre – an intimate Melbourne venue – is something Prior is not used to given her history in commercial blockbuster musicals, but she says it is something she loves.

“It’s not about whether it’s big or small – it comes down to the quality of the piece,” she said.

“I loved doing Harp on the Willow at the Ensemble – I loved that intimacy and its probably one of the most satisfying things, to work with a smaller audience at a smaller venue.”

Apart from Harp on the Willow – which opens at the Comedy Theatre on March 1 – and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Prior is also working on a new album, which she hopes to have out by Christmas.