Inside the new Australian tour of The Sound of Music: we talk to the cast – Marina Prior

The well loved musical, The Sound of Music, will commence in Sydney at the Capitol Theatre on 13 December this year, followed by a season at Brisbane’s Lyric Theatre from 11 March, 2016. We sat down with the cast for a quick chat about the show and will feature our interviews on AussieTheatre.

John Frost announced the stellar cast of this acclaimed production this week.

“We have assembled a sensational cast to play these iconic roles. Cameron Daddo will be a wonderfully strong and stern Captain, and Amy Lehpamer, already with several musical roles to her name, will leap to stardom as Maria.

“We’re very pleased to be working with Marina Prior again, and to bring Lorraine Bayly to musical theatre audiences.

“And we’re especially pleased to bring acclaimed opera star Jacqui Dark to the musical stage.”

We chatted to the wonderful cast about this exciting upcoming production and what they’re all looking forward to about it.

MARINA PRIOR

Prior, one of Australia’s leading ladies in musical theatre, was introduced by Frost as the ‘glamour role’; Baroness Shraeder.

On her so-called ‘glamour role’:

“My life is a glamour role… The Baroness is the wealthy one with the lovely costumes. As earthy and fresh and honest as Maria is, the Baroness is the opposite of that. She’s glamorous, she’s sophisticated, she’s a hedonist, she’s worldly. She’s the antithesis of Maria.

But, I am really looking forward to being able to flesh her out. She’s a much more sympathetic character in the musical, than perhaps in the movie. She truly loves the captain, and she really gets her heart broken, but she’s incredibly noble to step aside when she recognises that there’s true love happening in front of her.”

On whether she intends to make the character more ‘likeable’:

“I’m not setting out to make her likeable. I’ll just discover who she is, and let her be who she is off the page. I like her, and it’s important I feel she’s valid in her standpoints. I like that she’s sassy.”

On her disappointment that she doesn’t share any scenes with Jacqui Dark:

“I’m wondering if I can slip into a habit and be an extra nun just to throw her. I look good in a habit.”