Marina Prior

Marina Prior (born 18 October 1963) is an Australian soprano and actress with a career mainly in musical theatre. From 1990 to 1993, she starred as the original Christine Daaé in the Australian premiere of The Phantom of the Opera, opposite Anthony Warlow and later Rob Guest.

Early life

Prior was born in Port Moresby in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, Australia, where her father was working in the shipping industry. Her parents were members of the local Gilbert and Sullivan Society. The family returned to Australia when she was a young child and she grew up in Melbourne, where she attended Syndal South Primary School and Korowa Anglican Girls' School. She began to take singing lessons at the age of twelve and also learnt piano, flute and guitar.

In 1982 Prior started studying for a Bachelor of Music degree at the Melbourne State College (which later became a faculty of the University of Melbourne). To raise money, she worked in coffee shops and tried busking. In September 1983 she auditioned for the Victoria State Opera production of The Pirates of Penzance. She was cast as "Mabel" and this started her career in musical theatre. Initially she had tried out for the chorus, she reflected "When they told me it was 'Mabel' I nearly fainted ... I could not believe it ... It was like a fairy tale". She deferred her studies due to performance and "touring commitments".