Steph Parry’s most memorable understudy story sounds like something straight out of a musical. In 2016, while working as a standby in 42nd Street, Steph got a phone call telling her to run to a completely different theatre, where a different cast, performing a different show, desperately needed her to step in as Donna in Mamma Mia! With just 18 minutes to get on stage, she went from eating her dinner in the dressing room to playing one of musical theatre’s biggest leading roles - and the press attention that followed changed her life.
In this episode, Steph takes us behind the scenes of the whirlwind that followed, from a week in the spotlight to the strange reality of returning to understudying once the moment had passed.
Steph also opens up about a very different challenge: taking her newborn baby on an international tour. From the realities of balancing parenthood with performance to the support that working mums and dads actually need, she has plenty to say about how the theatre industry could do better for parents.
And after a career full of last-minute call-ups, unexpected opportunities and extraordinary saves, Steph reflects on why she can no longer do understudying - and what happens when the job you’ve built your career around no longer fits.
Steph Parry - You’re On Tonight.
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Get in contact at: youreontonight@gmail.com
Hosted by Kara Alberts-Turner & Liam Horrigan.
Produced by and recorded at The Sound Company, London.
For The Sound Company: Dom Boucher, Luke Nagy, Gareth Wood & Nick Thackeray-Cron alongside Freya Baldwin & Seb Stone.
Show image by Louisa Sexton.
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