Where were you born?
Oldham Lancashire, England.
What did your parents do?
When we moved to Australia they both worked for Qantas.
Any siblings?
I’m the youngest of four kids. I have a brother and sister who are still alive and another brother that has passed away. I’m the only one involved in the arts in any way.
What was your early dance training?
We first lived in Adelaide and I took up Irish dancing there when I was about four-and-a-half. By the age of six I had won my first state championship and an adjudicator at the competition told my mother that she thought I had something extra special, so my mother searched for the best Irish dancing school so she could send me there. That was the Ransley School of Dance in Sydney. Joy and Dawn Ransley were my principal teachers there. They were (are) extraordinarily gifted women – they were such great teachers and disciplinarians and encouraged everybody to learn all the different styles of dance. I credit them for getting me into this business.
What is your first memory of dancing?
When I was very little, still in nappies, I somehow got side stage while my sister was dancing in an Irish dancing competition and popped out from the wings in my nappy with a bottle in my mouth and started jigging up and down next to my sister on the stage.
You eventually returned to the UK to join the Royal Ballet School. Do you have a memory to share of being there?
While I was at the Royal Ballet School, I saw my first proper musical on West End – Oklahoma! I loved it so much and was beside myself afterwards, singing the tunes for days. Spookily, my first professional musical theatre gig was that very same show in Australia with John Diedrich, replacing a girl in the ensemble who had injured herself.
Why did you return to Australia?
I originally came back to be with family and to figure out exactly what I wanted to do. I ended up working with the Opera Ballet and then got my first musical theatre gig. I eventually went back to London when I was 22 to really give musical theatre a proper try. I ended up staying for 14 years! I worked a lot in ensembles and as an understudy on the West End. It wasn’t until director Ian Judge invited me back to do Westside Story for the Victorian State Opera that I returned to Australia to work.
What made you move into musical theatre?
While I was dancing with Opera Australia I was in a production with Anthony Warlow and he’s the one that actually convinced me to audition for Oklahoma!.I always loved musical theatre and doing that show made me think that I could possibly make a career of it. I loved ballet too, but I realised that I wasn’t going to be the next prima ballerina and that I was always going to be the third swan to the left and I knew in my heart that I wanted to be able to do Juliet.
When did you realise you had a voice?
I used to be secret singer, kind of like that character in Little Voice. I had this habit of mimicking all of my idols – Ethel Merman, Doris Day, Mary Martin, Julie Andrews. They were my teachers really because while singing along with them I began to understand the workings of my own voice. I never dreamed of singing in public though. My audition for Oklahoma when I was 19 was the first time I sang!
Were you ever tempted to put back on the pointe shoes?
No. Once I started doing musicals, I knew that’s where I belonged.
'Anything Goes' is a big tap musical. Have you performed many tap dancing roles before?
A couple of years ago I did A Christmas Story on Broadway and then again in Madison Square Garden and my character Miss Shields had a big tap number in Act Two called “You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out”. The first and only other show prior to that that I tapped in was Me and My Girl in 1984. That’s almost 30 years between the two shows!
You have now established an international career performing in many of the most popular musicals. Has your dance training contributed to your success?
Enormously. It’s given me great discipline and a strong work ethic needed to make it in the industry. It’s also kept me show fit and opened up so many opportunities at the beginning of my career.
Do you still like to attend dance performances?
I still cry when I go to the ballet. I love it so much. I love the discipline of it. I have such a great appreciation for how hard dancers work and how much they invest for such a limited longevity. I really wish dance was appreciated more in mainstream entertainment and that dancers received the congratulations they deserve.
What word(s) would you use to describe your feet?
They’re certainly a lot prettier since I stopped doing ballet! No, I would say they’re petite. I treat them to a pedicure every two weeks now considering I’ve beaten them up for so many years!
This is an edited version of Caroline O'Connor's Limelight interview. See the full version on our app!
'Anything Goes' moves from the Princess Theatre in Melbourne to the Lyric Theatre in Brisbane on July 28. It goes to the Sydney Opera House on September 8.