Amanda Harrison
Encyclopedia
Amanda Harrison is an Australia
n musical theatre performer who will be originating the role of Paula in the World Premiere of An Officer and a Gentleman in Sydney 2012.
and attended Menai High School in Sydney
's Sutherland Shire
. Harrison attended short courses at The Actors Centre and started the Musical Theatre BA at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in 1997, but left after only 6 weeks to take the role of Betty Schaefer in the Original Australian Production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard.
. Other theatrical credits include Sunset Boulevard
, Les Misérables
, The Journey Girl, and as Liza Minnelli in The Boy from Oz
with Todd McKenney. For The Production Company, she has appeared in Mame, She Loves Me
, Guys and Dolls
, and a Green Room nominated performance of Ado Annie in Oklahoma!
In 2001 Harrison moved to London and made her debut in the West End as Ali in Mamma Mia!
She was also an Original London Cast member of We Will Rock You
understudying the roles of Scaramouche and Meatloaf (Oz).
Harrison returned to Australia in 2003 for the Australian Tour of We Will Rock You and was awarded the 2004 Helpmann Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Oz.
In 2005 Harrison appeared in Leader of the Pack
– The Ellie Greenwich Musical playing Ellie Greenwich, an inspirational songwriter of the 1960s. Her performance was nominated for both Helpmann and Green Room Awards. In 2007, Harrison played Ellen in Miss Saigon
for the Brisbane and Sydney seasons.
In 2008 Harrison originated the role of Elphaba
in the Australian production of Wicked
which opened in Melbourne at the Regent Theatre. For playing the role, Harrison was nominated for Green Room, Helpmann and Sydney Theatre Awards for Best Leading Actress in a Musical.
July 2011 saw Amanda appear as Reno Sweeney in "Anything Goes
" for The Production Company.
, Wales
as a finalist at the inaugural Voice of Musical Theatre for BBC Radio 2. She was subsequently featured in the BBC documentary about the competition Broadway Babies, which aired throughout the UK and Australia.
Highlights of her year in London’s WWRY included performing at Party in the Park at Hyde Park, and again at Buckingham Palace
with Queen members Brian May
and Roger Taylor
for the Jubilee Celebration, 'Party at the Palace'. Amanda’s TV appearances in the UK include Parkinson, Children In Need and guest roles in Oscar Charlie, Grange Hill
and Casualty
, all for the BBC.
On 27 September 2008, Harrison performed the Australian National Anthem with Wicked co-star Lucy Durack
at the 2008 AFL Grand Final. Harrison also performed the song "One Short Day" with fellow Wicked cast members at the 2008 Melbourne Myer Windows display to kick off the Christmas Parade. On 24 December, Harrison and Durack sang at Vision Australia's Annual Carols by Candlelight Concert at the Sydney Meyer Music Bowl.
On 20 January 2009, Harrison performed at Carnegie Hall
as part of Australia Week in "Australia Plays Broadway", where she sang "The Wizard and I" from Wicked, "Arthur's Theme" from The Boy From Oz and "I Still Call Australia Home" alongside Olivia Newton-John
, Simon Burke
and David Campbell
.
s
Wins
Nominations
Green Room Awards
Nominations
Sydney Theatre Awards
Nominations
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n musical theatre performer who will be originating the role of Paula in the World Premiere of An Officer and a Gentleman in Sydney 2012.
Early years
Harrison grew up in BangorBangor, New South Wales
Bangor is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Bangor is located 28 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire in the area commonly called Menai...
and attended Menai High School in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
's Sutherland Shire
Sutherland Shire
The Sutherland Shire is a Local Government Area in the Southern Sydney region of Sydney, Australia. Geographically, it is the area to the south of Botany Bay and the Georges River...
. Harrison attended short courses at The Actors Centre and started the Musical Theatre BA at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in 1997, but left after only 6 weeks to take the role of Betty Schaefer in the Original Australian Production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard.
Theatre career
Harrison made her professional debut playing Jenny in Aspects of LoveAspects of Love
Aspects of Love is a musical/chamber opera with a book and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart. It is famous for the song "Love Changes Everything."...
. Other theatrical credits include Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard (musical)
Sunset Boulevard is a musical with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on the 1950 film of the same title, the plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the...
, Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
, The Journey Girl, and as Liza Minnelli in The Boy from Oz
The Boy from Oz
The Boy from Oz is a jukebox musical based on the life of singer/songwriter Peter Allen and featuring songs written by him. The book is by Nick Enright. The production had its world premiere, directed by Gale Edwards, at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney, Australia, on 5 March 1998 and toured Brisbane,...
with Todd McKenney. For The Production Company, she has appeared in Mame, She Loves Me
She Loves Me
She Loves Me is a musical with a book by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock.The musical is the fifth adaptation of the play Parfumerie by Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo, following the 1940 James Stewart-Margaret Sullavan film The Shop around the Corner and the...
, Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, most notably...
, and a Green Room nominated performance of Ado Annie in Oklahoma!
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
In 2001 Harrison moved to London and made her debut in the West End as Ali in Mamma Mia!
Mamma Mia!
Mamma Mia! is a stage musical written by British playwright Catherine Johnson, based on the songs of ABBA, composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, former members of the band. Although the title of the musical is taken from the group's 1975 chart-topper "Mamma Mia", the plot is fictional, not...
She was also an Original London Cast member of We Will Rock You
We Will Rock You (musical)
We Will Rock You is a jukebox musical, based on the songs of Queen and named after their hit single of the same name. The musical was written by British comedian and author Ben Elton in collaboration with Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor...
understudying the roles of Scaramouche and Meatloaf (Oz).
Harrison returned to Australia in 2003 for the Australian Tour of We Will Rock You and was awarded the 2004 Helpmann Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Oz.
In 2005 Harrison appeared in Leader of the Pack
Leader of the Pack (musical)
Leader of the Pack is a musical with liner notes by Anne Beatts and additional material by Jack Heifner, music by Ellie Greenwich, and lyrics by Greenwich, Jeff Barry, Phil Spector, George "Shadow" Morton, Jeff Kent, and Ellen Foley.-Background:...
– The Ellie Greenwich Musical playing Ellie Greenwich, an inspirational songwriter of the 1960s. Her performance was nominated for both Helpmann and Green Room Awards. In 2007, Harrison played Ellen in Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover...
for the Brisbane and Sydney seasons.
In 2008 Harrison originated the role of Elphaba
Elphaba
Elphaba Thropp is a fictional character in Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, as well as in the Broadway and West End adaptations, Wicked. In the original L. Frank Baum book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West is unnamed and little...
in the Australian production of Wicked
Wicked (musical)
Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West , a parallel novel of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard...
which opened in Melbourne at the Regent Theatre. For playing the role, Harrison was nominated for Green Room, Helpmann and Sydney Theatre Awards for Best Leading Actress in a Musical.
July 2011 saw Amanda appear as Reno Sweeney in "Anything Goes
Anything Goes
Anything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London...
" for The Production Company.
Other performances
In 2000, Harrison performed in CardiffCardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
as a finalist at the inaugural Voice of Musical Theatre for BBC Radio 2. She was subsequently featured in the BBC documentary about the competition Broadway Babies, which aired throughout the UK and Australia.
Highlights of her year in London’s WWRY included performing at Party in the Park at Hyde Park, and again at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
with Queen members Brian May
Brian May
Brian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
and Roger Taylor
Roger Meddows-Taylor
Roger Meddows Taylor , known as Roger Taylor, is a British musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the drummer, backing vocalist and occasional lead vocalist of British rock band Queen. As a drummer he is known for his "big" unique sound and is considered one of...
for the Jubilee Celebration, 'Party at the Palace'. Amanda’s TV appearances in the UK include Parkinson, Children In Need and guest roles in Oscar Charlie, Grange Hill
Grange Hill
Grange Hill is a British television drama series originally made by the BBC. The show began in 1978 on BBC1 and was one of the longest running programmes on British television...
and Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
, all for the BBC.
On 27 September 2008, Harrison performed the Australian National Anthem with Wicked co-star Lucy Durack
Lucy Durack
Lucy Durack is an Australian musical theatre performer most recognised for playing Glinda in the Australian production of Wicked.-Biography:...
at the 2008 AFL Grand Final. Harrison also performed the song "One Short Day" with fellow Wicked cast members at the 2008 Melbourne Myer Windows display to kick off the Christmas Parade. On 24 December, Harrison and Durack sang at Vision Australia's Annual Carols by Candlelight Concert at the Sydney Meyer Music Bowl.
On 20 January 2009, Harrison performed at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
as part of Australia Week in "Australia Plays Broadway", where she sang "The Wizard and I" from Wicked, "Arthur's Theme" from The Boy From Oz and "I Still Call Australia Home" alongside Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
, Simon Burke
Simon Burke
Simon Burke is an Australian actor. Burke began his acting career as a 13 year-old in the Australian film, The Devil's Playground for which he was awarded Best Actor at the 1976 Australian Film Institute Awards....
and David Campbell
David Campbell (Australian musician)
David Joseph Campbell is an Australian singer and stage performer. He has performed and recorded many different genres of music from rock to classics. He is the son of singer Jimmy Barnes.-Theatre career:...
.
Awards and nominations
Helpmann AwardHelpmann Award
The Helpmann Awards recognize distinguished artistic achievement and excellence in Australia's live performing arts sectors. The recognized disciplines include musical and physical theatre, contemporary and classical music, opera, and dance, with a comedy category introduced in 2006...
s
Wins
- 2004: Best Supporting Actress in a Musical: We Will Rock YouWe Will Rock You (musical)We Will Rock You is a jukebox musical, based on the songs of Queen and named after their hit single of the same name. The musical was written by British comedian and author Ben Elton in collaboration with Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor...
Nominations
- 2005: Best Leading Actress in a Musical: Leader of the PackLeader of the Pack (musical)Leader of the Pack is a musical with liner notes by Anne Beatts and additional material by Jack Heifner, music by Ellie Greenwich, and lyrics by Greenwich, Jeff Barry, Phil Spector, George "Shadow" Morton, Jeff Kent, and Ellen Foley.-Background:...
- 2009: Best Leading Actress in a Musical: WickedWicked (musical)Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West , a parallel novel of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard...
Green Room Awards
Green Room Awards
The Green Room Awards are peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, drama, fringe theatre, musical theatre and opera in Melbourne....
Nominations
- 2005: Best Supporting Actress in a Musical: Oklahoma!Oklahoma!Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
- 2005: Best Leading Actress in a Musical: Leader of the PackLeader of the Pack (musical)Leader of the Pack is a musical with liner notes by Anne Beatts and additional material by Jack Heifner, music by Ellie Greenwich, and lyrics by Greenwich, Jeff Barry, Phil Spector, George "Shadow" Morton, Jeff Kent, and Ellen Foley.-Background:...
- 2009: Best Leading Actress in a Musical: WickedWicked (musical)Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West , a parallel novel of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard...
Sydney Theatre Awards
Nominations
- 2009: Judith Johnson Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical: WickedWicked (musical)Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West , a parallel novel of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard...