MARINA PRIOR AM
Nettie Fowler
Marina Prior is known as Australia’s Leading Lady of Musical Theatre.
Marina’s first professional audition resulted in her first lead role – Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. She was subsequently invited to perform the role of Guinevere opposite Richard Harris in Camelot. Since then, she has performed over thirty lead roles throughout Australia, possibly her most memorable being the role of Christine Daae in the original Australian production of The Phantom of the Opera, which she performed for three years.
Other roles include Jellylorum in Cats, Cosette in Les Misérables, Hope Harcourt in Anything Goes, Maria in West Side Story, Lily in The Secret Garden, Magnolia in Showboat, Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, Mrs Banks in Mary Poppins, Baroness Schraeder in The Sound of Music, Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly, Mrs. Meers in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Violet Newstead in 9 to 5 – The Musical and more recently the roles of Birdwoman and Miss Andrew in Mary Poppins.
For Melbourne Theatre Company, Marina has played the roles of Rona Lisa Peretti in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Elmire in The Hypocrite, Frances in Jumpy and Judith Bliss in Hayfever. For Sydney Theatre Company, Marina played the role of Helen Bechdel in Fun Home.
Marina has performed with symphony orchestras throughout Australia including a critically acclaimed Australasian concert tour with international tenor, José Carreras and international vocal group, Il Divo. More recently she completed a concert tour with David Hobson performing over 180 shows throughout Australia.
She is also well known to television audiences through her appearances on such shows as Carols by Candlelight, as a judge on Channel Seven’s It Takes Two and as Iris in The ABC series The Divorce.
In 1999, Marina was guest of honour for the television program This Is Your Life, which paid tribute to her career so far. Over her career, she has received numerous awards, including the Advance Australia Award for her contribution to the performing arts and was inducted into Australia’s 100 Entertainers of the Century. Earlier this year, Marina was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her service to the Arts.
Later this year Marina will tour in concert throughout Australia with her close friend, Michael Cormick.
