the Arts Centre presents
Leading Ladies
A Creative Development Initiative

Interview | Biography

Caroline O'Connor

Simon Plant and Caroline O'Connor
the Arts Centre, July 2003

Caroline O’Connor was born in Oldham, England and moved to Australia as a young child with her family. Raised in Sydney, she learnt and competed in Irish dancing before undertaking classical ballet lessons. At the age of 17, Caroline was accepted to train at the Royal Ballet School in London. She then danced with the Australian Opera and performed in productions of Oklahoma! and West Side Story in 1983 before returning to England the following year.

Over the next decade, Caroline gained extensive experience in musical theatre throughout the United Kingdom. She appeared in numerous shows on London’s West End including Me and My Girl and Cabaret, understudying the principal role in both productions. She also performed leading roles in two West End musicals simultaneously: Mavis in Hot Stuff and Mae Jones in Street Scene. Caroline’s repertory theatre work during this period included playing Cassie in A Chorus Line for the first UK tour, Lola in Damn Yankees, Ellie-Mae Chipley in Show Boat, Vera in Hold Tight It’s 60s Night and the Witch in Into The Woods.

In 1994 Caroline O’Connor was invited back to Australia to play the role of Anita in the Victoria State Opera/International Management Group production of West Side Story, returning in 1996 for another season. The role of Velma Kelly in the Australian production of Chicago followed in 1998. For each of these musicals, Caroline won a Green Room Award and two Mo Awards, along with an Australian Dance Award for Chicago.

In between these successes, Caroline again worked in the West End. Her performance as Mabel Nomand Mack and Mabel was nominated for the 1996 Laurence Olivier Award and in 1997 she played the dual roles of Josephine and Monica in Romance Romance.

For The Production Company in Melbourne, Caroline has starred in concert versions of Funny Girl (1999) and in Mack and Mabel (2001). In 2002 she played Aldonza in the SEL/Gordon Frost Organisation production of Man of La Mancha, starring opposite Anthony Warlow in Melbourne and Sydney.

Caroline has enjoyed particular success in two Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) productions. In 2000 she starred in Piaf in both Melbourne and Sydney, winning a Green Room Award, a Mo Award and an inaugural Helpmann Award for her portrayal of Edith Piaf. MTC then commissioned Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith to write a play especially for Caroline. The result was Bombshells, which premiered at the Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne in 2001 and featured Caroline as the sole performer depicting six different female characters.

Bombshells had a sell-out first season, won Caroline another Green Room Award and was filmed for ABC Television. In 2004 another season of Bombshells was staged in Melbourne and Sydney before Caroline took the play to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Arts Theatre in London.

In 2002 Caroline made her Broadway debut as Velma Kelly in Chicago. The following year she was invited to take part in special performances with the English cast of the musical at the Baalbeck Festival in Lebanon. On this occasion Caroline portrayed the role of Roxie Hart.

Caroline has undertaken many concert performances, including working with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and an Australian tour of her solo show From Stage to Screen during 2001. She has also made international concert appearances in cities including Amsterdam, London, Barbados, Cardiff and Paris.

As well as numerous cast recordings, Caroline has recorded three solo albums including Caroline O’Connor: A Tribute to Piaf. In 2000 she was featured as Nini Legs-in-the-Air dancing the tango in Baz Luhrmann’s movie Moulin Rouge. For the recent Irwin Winkler film De-Lovely, exploring the life of Cole Porter, Caroline performed the song ‘Anything Goes’ and is also included on the film’s soundtrack recording.