A Shoalhaven woman is set to play one of Australia’s most well-known and loved characters.
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Natalie Abbott was working at her retail job in Sydney last month, when she realised she had a few missed calls on her mobile.
She called the number back and immediately fell into a "puddle of emotions”.
The former Bomaderry woman was told she'd been selected to play the leading lady in the stage production of Muriel’s Wedding.
“I was so sure I wouldn't get the role that I didn’t even tell my boss I’d auditioned,” she said.
“When they told me I’d been selected for the role I just kept saying ‘are you sure’, I couldn’t believe it.”
Natalie hadn’t received a single callback since she started auditioning for musical theatre roles, and said she was "still shocked” she’d landed such an iconic role.
“I wanted this so badly but I never thought it would actually happen,” she said.
“It’s the most unexpected and amazing thing ever, its what I’ve always wanted.”
A big fan of the theatre show, Natalie said one of her friends “had to force her” to audition for the role.
“I’m unrepresented so my friends were letting me know when auditions were coming up,” she said.
“My best friend lovingly forced me to audition, she said sh’d never speak to me again if I didn’t.
“I didn’t want to so it because I didn’t think the casting director would even watch it.”
But the casting directors did watch Natalie’s audition, and they loved it.
Natalie, who much like Muriel, left her small coastal town and moved to the big smoke said she had big shoes to fill.
She will be just the third person to tackle one of the most iconic characters in Australian popular culture after Toni Collette created Muriel for the screen. Maggie McKenna next stunned Australia in the stage adaptation of the film.
“I listen to the [stage show] soundtrack everyday,” Natalie said.
“I remember watching Maggie and getting chills, she was incredible.”
Muriel’s Wedding The Musical is a theatrical version of PJ Hogan’s iconic hit film, updated to today by the writer himself with music and lyrics by Australian award winning songwriters Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall.
Muriel’s Wedding The Musical will play a strictly limited season in Melbourne at Her Majesty’s Theatre from March 2019 before returning to Sydney in June 2019 playing at the Sydney Lyric Theatre.
Madeline Crittenden
Madeline Crittenden is a journalist for Fairfax Media at the South Coast Register.
Madeline Crittenden is a journalist for Fairfax Media at the South Coast Register.
