Maria Coyne is currently playing Marie in the world premiere of Nutcracker! The Musical at the Pleasance Theatre.
The show puts a modern musical theatre twist on the classic ETA Hoffmann tale and Tchaikovsky’s soaring classical music. Directed by Ollie Fielding, Nutcracker! The Musical has music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, book and lyrics by Nancy Holson plus arrangements by Bruce Kiesling and Paul Rigano.
Recently Maria left the West End production of Wicked where she understudied the roles of Glinda and Nessarose. She previously understudied Janet, Magenta and Columbia in the UK tour of The Rocky Horror Show before taking over as Magenta.
Maria’s extensive theatre credits also include: alternate Narrator in Joseph (UK tour), Crazy For You (London Palladium), Martha in Spring Awakening (Broadway Theatre), Catherine in Gatsby (Arts Theatre), Anne in A Little Night Music (Ye Olde Rose and Crown), Talia in Pierced (Leicester Square Theatre), Maid Marian in Robin Hood (Plymouth Theatre Royal), Celia in As You Like It (UK tour), Bernarda Alba (Union Theatre) and Essex Girls (Landor Theatre).
I recently spoke to Maria about Nutcracker! The Musical’s challenging score, what it was like to play her dream role of Glinda in Wicked for the very first time and why touring with Rocky Horror was like one big party…
Nutcracker! The Musical takes something everyone knows and completely turns it on its head. What first drew you to this project?
My first draw was the fact that they were still using Tchaikovsky’s music from the ballet because everyone is so familiar with it, and it’s so beautiful! The thought of getting to sing lyrics to that music sounded incredibly appealing! It’s completely true to the original story but with a new twist. It has been so exciting to see how it has all panned out!
