Veteran stage star Rosie Ashe reflects on a glittering career – from Phantom of the Opera to Mary Poppins, as she delights UK audiences once again, proving that loving what you do really is the key to a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious life.
If you’re lucky enough to do a job which is also your passion then you will feel like it’s not really work at all. I had the good fortune to feel that way during my twenty-five years at the BBC, as a football commentator and presenter.
These days my weekly radio show, Break-a-Leg, which is syndicated on seven different radio stations and writing these columns about Theatre and Musical Theatre, is my passion.
There are plenty of those in Amateur Dramatics who perform for the same reason, in fact it costs them money to do shows, but that’s what they love and I, like many others, am grateful for what they do. There are also professionals too, who are living the dream, like seventy-two-year old Rosie Ashe, who has had an amazing life and career on stage.
Rosie learnt her craft at the Royal Academy of Music and was in the original cast of Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s, performing alongside the amazing Michael Crawford. She played Carlotta and appears on the original cast recording.
There is a huge list of other West End shows she’s appeared in, like Les Misérables, Oliver! And the Witches of Eastwick at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for best supporting performance in a musical.
Her first love is Opera and she has appeared with English National Opera, Sadlers Wells Opera, Opera North and many others in La Boehme, Carmen and Cosi fan tutte, among others.
Right now, she’s still enjoying being on stage in the UK tour of Mary Poppins, playing the part of Mrs Brill. She told me, “I have huge affection for this show because I did it twenty years ago, the original, when I played Miss Andrew, the nasty nanny. It was written around me, which was lovely. I did that for around eighteen months. I was there at the inception, right from the six-week long technical in Bristol, so I’ve always loved the show. It’s beautiful and very magical, has family values and it really touches people. Most people cry at the end.”
Rosie went on to tell me, “Now I’m playing Mrs Brill the housekeeper which wasn’t on my radar at all but Cameron Mackintosh asked me to do it, and I thought, gosh, I’ve never even thought about playing that part. The truth is I’m having an absolute ball, seeing it from another perspective. I do lots of scenes I wasn’t previously involved in. I love that it’s a show that brings joy to people. At the end everybody’s on their feet and smiling and having a great time. You can’t beat that.”
How does she compare Mary Poppins to the other amazing shows she’s been in? “Phantom was fantastic, the original, and we had standing ovations for that too and it wasn’t until I left that show and did something else that I realised that not every show gets standing ovations. English audiences can be quite reserved, not like American audiences that stand up at the drop of a hat. You’ve got to earn it here. Being in Les Misérables was pretty great too, because people just love that show, but there is something really special about Mary Poppins and people who’ve worked on it keep coming back. That includes the head of costumes, the wigs people and the orchestra. They love the score and it makes for a very happy company.”
I must admit I’ve been a huge fan of Mary Poppins since I first saw the film at the pictures with my Mum, when I was a little boy, and having had the brief chance to tell Richard Sherman, face to face, at a chance meeting at the Disney Studios in Hollywood and couple of years ago, how much I loved it, I’m sure it will be very emotional when I get to see it in Manchester. I’ll be just as delighted to see Rosie Ashe on stage, loving every minute herself. Loving what you do in life is the best gift anyone can have. It definitely feels Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Mary Poppins is at Manchester’s Palace Theatre until May 17 and is touring all over the UK into 2026. For more information and tickets visit: https://marypoppins.co.uk/
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