Rebecca returns to the Waterfront stage
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Rebecca Leonard is on the right (playing a Wee Sweetie Mouse) with
Wicked Stepmother Chris Robinson and Ayca Ayabakan (Wee Sweetie Mouse) |
Rachel Murray (Ugly Sister Maxi) is on the left with Wicked Stepmother Chris Robinson and Ugly Sister Mini played by Bernadette Brown. |
Rebecca will be joined by another local actress, Rachel Murray, who is stepping into the shoes of the Ugly Sister.
Rebecca is delighted to be back in the Waterfront pantomime - in her new role as Cinderella choreographer, having been dance captain in Robin Hood last year.
She has danced her way across venues all over the UK and Ireland for ITV, BBC, Corona and Coca—Cola. In 2005 she beat off 80,000 other hopefuls to appear in the live televised finals of BBC1's Strictly Dance Fever. You may also have seen her choreography in Titanic, Jesus Christ Superstar, Oliver!, Pirates of Penzance, Calamity Jane, Boogie Nights and Oklahoma!
She is currently a resident dancer with a '70s cabaret show and teaches street dance and music theatre across Northern Ireland. She has also taught in many local schools and has assisted on national projects with YMT:UK.
As Ugly Sister Maxi, Rachel aims to inflict maximum pain and sorrow on poor Cinderella! She is no stranger to Waterfront pan-it to mime audiences, having e played the Deadly Fairy 'e Nightshade in Sleeping Beauty a few years back. In fact she's no stranger to pantomime audiences anywhere, having starred as: the Widow Twankey in Is Aladdin (at the Market Place, Armagh), Holly in Santa's Underwater Kingdom (at the Lagan Weir), as well as Puddles in Jack and the Beanstalk, Jimmy in Cinderella, Slap in Jack and the Beanstalk and Queen Amnesia in Sleeping Beauty (in Belfast, Armagh, Letterkenny and Dublin for the Ulster Theatre Company).
Away from the pantomime stage Rachel has played Susan in Love bites and Marty in Class of 65 (both for Tinderbox Theatre Company); Rachel in Our Animal Kingdom (Belfast Pride); Amy in Have a Nice Life (Plug Productions at the Pleasance Theatre, London); Wynne in Dinner and Christine in After Miss Julie (for Under the Covers at QFT) and Jean in Group! The Musical at the Lyric Theatre and at the Edinburgh Fringe. She has also appeared in Northern Exposures for Kabosh; OMAC's Pick 'n' Mix with Jigsaw Theatre Company and in Twenty Five Belfast Playwrights at the Lyric Theatre.
Her film and TV credits include Adventures of Catherine Wheel and Party Animals (Brian Waddell Productions); Eureka Street (Euphoria Films) and Wild About Harry (Scala Productions), while you've probably also seen her in BBC1's Give My Head Peace.
Ulster Star
01/01/2010
