A CHRISTMAS CAROL - Milwaukee Repertory Theater

MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER • Winter 2010 • 3
CAROLINE O’CONNOR: INTERNATIONAL MUSICAL
THEATER SENSATION TAKES THE STAGE AT MILWAUKEE REP
A regular on the prominent stages of Broadway, the West End, Edinburgh and Australia, Caroline
O’Connor has received international acclaim and 28 prestigious awards for her outstanding musical
theater performances.
O’Connor began her entertainment career as an
Irish dancer, and as a teenager she took third
in the World Irish Dancing Championship. She
went on to train at the esteemed Royal Ballet
School in London but was told by Australian
musical theater luminary Anthony Warlow that
“she had far too much personality for her ballet
slippers,” and should consider musical theater.
O’Connor took his advice and her career has
since been filled with iconic roles, television
and motion picture deals. O’Connor is one of the
only actresses to star as both Velma and Roxie in
productions of CHICAGO, and her role as Roxie in
Sydney, Australia, earned her two major awards:
the Mo Award and the Green Room Award, both Caroline O’Connor.
for Best Female Musical Theatre Performer. She made her Broadway debut as Velma at Broadway’s
Shubert Theater in 2002, and the show was extended to 2003 due to its overwhelming success.
She has also starred in classic musicals such as FUNNY GIRL, WEST SIDE STORY, MACK & MABEL and
MAN OF LA MANCHA.
Her movie credits include Baz Luhrmann’s international mega-hit Moulin Rouge in which she
played Nini Legs In The Air, a character most remembered from the powerful Tango de Roxanne
number. She later played iconic entertainer Ethel Merman in De-Lovely, the 2004 musical portrait
of American composer Cole Porter. In the movie, she performs the title song of Porter’s hit musical
ANYTHING GOES in a re-creation of the show’s 1934 opening night performance. Her rendition of
the song is also on the film’s soundtrack.
Now she comes to Milwaukee to perform in her international hit, BOMBSHELLS, from November 22
– December 19, on The Rep’s Quadracci Powerhouse stage. O’Connor’s one-woman show has sold
out in four countries, was filmed for television in Australia and has earned her multiple awards which
include London Theatregoers’ Choice Award for Best Solo Performance, Edinburgh Fringe Festival’s
coveted Fringe First Award and the Green Room Award for Best Female Actor in a Play. She also
received her second Laurence Olivier Award nomination, the highest British Theatre honor, for her
run of BOMBSHELLS in London’s West End at the Arts Theatre.
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