News Archive
2010
2009
2008
Out of her own shadow
The Age
Thursday July 23, 2009
GINA Riley won't reveal anything about the likelihood of her alter ego, Kim Day Craig, returning to TV. But it's evident her connection to the Fountain Lakes hornbag is as strong today as it ever was.Asked what it's like to be nominated for a Helpmann Award, Australia's answer to the Tony and Olivier awards, she reverts to a familiar cry: "It's nice, it's different, it's unusual."The actress and writer has been nominated for her role as prison matron Mama Morton in the stage production of Chicago, which opens in Melbourne on August 15.She's up against Nancye Hayes (My Fair Lady), Maggie Kirkpatrick (Wicked) and Ursula Yovich (Jerry Springer: The Opera) for best female actor in a supporting role in a musical.But she doesn't rate her chances of winning highly."I can never imagine winning anything," she says on the phone from Sydney, where Chicago has been playing since mid-May.Riley says she wasn't chasing a stage role when the show's Australian producer contacted her. "Jane [Turner] and I had decided to take a break and I was wanting to do something but didn't know what," she says. "John Frost approached and asked if I was interested. I thought it was perfect and I love Chicago so much and wanted to have a sing as well. It seemed like the perfect opportunity."Riley was training atSt Martins drama school in Melbourne when she was 17 and could have ended up on stage or been a singer. "That's really what I wanted to do. Life got in the way. TV got in the way of my plans," she laughs.Which is why she is far from amused when writers and reviewers sceptically comment on the recent trend of casting celebrities in big-ticket musicals."I find it amusing when people say that about celebrity casting and maybe a bit of that goes on but most actors you see on TV have more strings to their bows than what they're doing at that point," Riley says.She believes the media, rather than the public, account for the snobbery against actors, such as Craig McLachlan, who have paid their TV dues."I think people are happy to go with it. If people were cynical about what you did as a performer, actor or writer, you'd never do anything. So you just go about your business, do what you do and let the people decide if they like it or not."Mama Morton, says Riley, isn't a particularly demanding role but she admits to having had a bad case of nerves in the beginning. "I'd forgotten what it's like. The first time I'm on stage I walk into a spotlight and I'm there for five minutes singing a song and it's like, oh my God, this is so scary."Once I'd done it a bit, it was fine. I get a couple of fantastic scenes but a lot of other people in the show carry it - certainly Caroline O'Connor (Velma Kelly) and Sharon Millerchip (Roxie Hart) carry the whole show. They're sweating away."The 2009 Helpmann Awards, broadcast live Monday at 8.30pm on Bio.
© 2009 The Age