Marina PriorAM (born 18 October 1963) is an Australian soprano and actress with a career mainly in musical theatre. From 1990 to 1993, she starred as the original Christine Daaé in the Australian premiere of The Phantom of the Opera, opposite Anthony Warlow and later Rob Guest.
Early life
Prior was born in Port Moresby in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, Australia,[1] where her father was working in the shipping industry. Her parents were members of the local Gilbert and Sullivan Society.[1] The family returned to Australia when she was a young child and she grew up in Melbourne, where she attended Syndal South Primary School and Korowa Anglican Girls' School. She began to take singing lessons at the age of twelve and also learnt piano, flute and guitar.
In 1982 Prior started studying for a Bachelor of Music degree at the Melbourne State College (which later became a faculty of the University of Melbourne).[2] To raise money, she worked in coffee shops and tried busking.[2] In September 1983 she auditioned for the Victoria State Opera production of The Pirates of Penzance. She was cast as "Mabel" and this started her career in musical theatre.[2][3] Initially she had tried out for the chorus, she reflected "When they told me it was 'Mabel' I nearly fainted ... I could not believe it ... It was like a fairy tale".[2] She deferred her studies due to performance and "touring commitments".[2]
Prior toured Australasia in 1994 with José Carreras. She has performed concerts with many Australian symphony orchestras. She is a regular performer at Melbourne's Carols by Candlelight and regularly appears at Opera in the Alps with David Hobson. She also appeared with Hobson at Opera by the Lock in Mildura, Victoria, in 2008.[11]
Prior performed in the most recent Australian production of The Sound of Music as Baroness Schraeder.[12] The production began its national tour in Sydney on 13 December 2015 and closed in Perth on 7 October 2016.[13]
From May 27 to 11 June 2017, Prior played the lead role of Dolly Levi in The Production Company's production of Hello, Dolly!.[14] She then joined the Melbourne Theatre Company's production of Hay Fever from 23 September to 1 November 2017, starring as Judith Bliss.[15] Following the closure of this production, it was announced that Prior will join the Melbourne cast of Dream Lover as the dual role of Polly Darin and Mary Douvan. She begins performing these roles from 27 December 2017.[16][needs update]
In November 2019 Prior was announced to headline as Violet Newstead in the Australian debut production of 9 to 5 The Musical whose premiere engagement - set for Sydney in April 2020 -[17] would in fact, due to COVID-19 pandemic concerns, be delayed for two years, the production premiering with a February to May 2022 engagement at Sydney's Capitol Theatre with subsequent engagements through the summer and autumn at the Lyric Theatre at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Melbourne's State Theatre, and the Festival Theatre at the Adelaide Festival Centre. [18] Prior then co-starred in the dual role of Miss Andrews and the Bird Woman in the engagement of Mary Poppins which opened January 29 2023 at Melbourne's Her Majesty's Theatre where it is scheduled to run til April 2.[19]
Prior was appointed 1996 Queen of Moomba by the Melbourne festival's committee.[22]
Marina Prior has been the Goodwill Ambassador for Samaritan's Purse Australia since 2005. In this capacity she has visited several development projects in Asia, including schools, water projects and distribution of Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes.[23] In 2009 she featured in "A Short Film About Shoe Boxes" to promote Samaritan's Purse and Operation Christmas Child.[24]
Prior has received numerous awards; these include three Green Room Awards (Les Miserables in 1990, The Phantom of the Opera in 1991, and Kiss Me, Kate in 2005) and in 1993 the Advance Australia Award for her contribution to the performing arts.
Prior was inducted into Australia's 100 Entertainers of the Century.[26]
Helpmann Awards
The Helpmann Awards is an awards show, celebrating live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Performance Australia since 2001.[27] Note: 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards), were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016. Marina Prior won three awards in that time.[33]
Year
Nominee / work
Award
Result (wins only)
1990
Marina Prior
Female Musical Theatre Performer of the Year
Won
1994
Marina Prior
Female Musical Theatre Performer of the Year
Won
2008
Marina Prior
Brian Stacey Female Musical Theatre Performer of the Year
Won
Personal life
From 1991 Marina Prior was married to Peter Lowrey, also a musical theatre actor: they have three children;[34] by 2012 she had married Grant Piro, an actor.[35]
Somewhere – The Songs of Sondheim and Bernstein and all certifications: Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 225.