Bandon-born singer and actress Alison Arnopp is heading stateside to star in Roald Dahl's  The Enormous Crocodile The Musical in both Minneapolis and Los Angeles. Kieran O’Mahony caught up with her to talk about her stage journey so far.

IT wasn’t the least bit surprising to hear Bandon-born actress and singer Alison Arnopp lauding the late Sr Alphonsus of Coláiste na Toirbhirte when chatting to her about her latest stage project.

Alison credits Sr Alphonsus – who died in 2021 at the very good age of 104 – as instrumental in steering her towards her current acting and musical career.

‘I attended her drama classes and she put me forward for féis and other competitions. I then had my singing lessons with Bobby Bear when I was just 11 years of age and he was an amazing mentor too. So it’s really down to two great teachers.’

Following secondary school in Bandon, Alison studied Drama & Theatre Studies and Music in UCC and moved over to London following her stint on the world-famous Celtic Woman tour, at the tender age of 21.

‘That was one of my first jobs really so I probably didn’t appreciate how mad it was,’ she reflected during a phone interview from her Essex home. ‘We were performing in huge stadiums and it was tour bus life. Before I left there was the volcanic ash situation which meant my flight kept being delayed, so I had to learn all the dance moves on video and all the backing vocals from a CD. 

‘But this show is a lot more settled as we are spending two months in Minneapolis and then six weeks in Los Angeles.’

Realising early on in her career that she probably needed to move to London to make more connections, Alison initially studied Opera at the Royal College of Music but then swapped to study Musical Theatre at the Royal Academy of Music; and that’s where she was truly inspired.

‘After that I got my agent which changed everything,’ she said. ‘I didn’t get one until I was seen playing a lead in a show though. Sometimes getting an audition is the hardest part and having an agent doesn’t always guarantee you one.’

Alison’s first mayor role in London was playing the acclaimed singer Dusty Springfield in Dusty in Charring Cross Theatre in 2015, something she remembers a great experience. ‘While it was a bit of a whirlwind and the reviews weren’t great, I enjoyed the experience, met lots of new people and it taught me early on not to be too bothered about reviews either.’

Since then she has had roles in The Tempest, Les Liaisons Dangereuse, Hair and The Magician’s Elephant.

Her late dad Robert, who passed away last year, had a keen interest in her career and was always so proud of her.

‘They would both come over to my shows when they could and he would collect any interviews online of me. Two years ago I sang at the Proms in Cork Opera House and that was a special moment as he was able to attend and it was also my first time performing in Cork. I also ended up in the Revels there last year too which was amazing as he would have told me about the previous ones.’

She thanks her mum Geraldine too for her being her ‘taxi’ throughout her younger days who brought her to every féis and competition. ‘I love bringing her over to London for my shows and she recent came over to see The Enormous Crocodile The Musical, which she loved.’

Alison flies out to Minneapolis in the coming weeks for the show, based on the Roald Dahl book, which will run from October 1st until November 23rd and then they decamp to Los Angeles where it will run from December 10th to January 4th. ‘We’ve just finished up the tour show in London. We opened in Windsor for a week and then spent a week in Regent’s Park in the open theatre which was really great.’

Alison said while it is a musical, it also has puppets and despite being just an hour long it involves changing costumes, puppets and even accents.  ‘It’s like a train and once the movement starts there is not a moment time to sit down. I like that and it keeps you in the moment.’

Having never worked with puppets before this was certainly a learning curve for her. ‘We had to audition with the puppets too in the second auditions and as I play the ‘Roly Poly Bird’ I had to audition with her head and other small puppets who all have different accents.’

She said the show has very high production values and the puppets and acting are all top tier for children’s theatre with enquiries coming in from across the world about the show.

It’s been a very productive year indeed for Alison, who not only has co-written her first panto but has written her very first one-woman show titled ‘Girl Boss God.’

‘I’m really excited about the panto, Robin Hood which will be in Horsham and unfortunately I won’t be able to see it as I will be in LA. I also do voice over work too and I’m currently a character on the show ‘Emerald’ on Sky Kids, which started in September and there is singing too which is great.’

She admitted she would love to bring her one woman show to some fringe theatre which she said is  ideal for that platform, but admits it’s hard to find the time for solo projects.

No doubt we will see a lot more of Alison in future productions.

The Enormous Crocodile is coming to Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, MN (Oct 1st - Nov 23rd), the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles, CA (Dec 5th - Jan 4th), and The Lowry, Salford (Wed Dec 10th - Sun Jan 4th).