Joanna Riding (born Joanne Riding; 9 November 1967) is an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
actress. For her work in
West End musicals, she has won two
Laurence Olivier Awards, and has been nominated for three others.
Early life
Riding was born in Preston,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, England, growing up on a farm, where her father ran a successful cheese-making business. She received theatre training at the
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School is a drama school in Bristol, England. The institution provides training in acting and production for careers in film, television and theatre.
BOVTS is an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama. ...
from 1986 to 1989.
Career
After leaving school, Riding worked at
Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre is a theatre and Grade II* listed building situated in Oaklands Park in the city of Chichester, West Sussex, England. Designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, it was opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Mart ...
for a season, playing Anne Page in ''
The Merry Wives of Windsor'' and Dorothy in ''
The Wizard of Oz''. She met her former husband, actor Peter O'Brien, at Chichester. She was next cast as a replacement Sally in the
West End production of ''
Me and My Girl''.
In 1993, Riding played the role of Julie Jordan in
Nicholas Hytner
Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner (; born 7 May 1956) is an English theatre director, film director, and film producer. He was previously the Artistic Director of London's National Theatre. His major successes as director include '' Miss Saigon'', ''T ...
's
Royal National Theatre revival of ''
Carousel'' and won the
Olivier Award
The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...
for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance. Also in 1993, she appeared as
Sean Hughes' love interest 'Lizzie Workman' in the second series of
Sean's Show
''Sean's Show'' is a British television situation comedy, first broadcast on Channel 4 between 15 April 1992 and 29 December 1993. Stand-up comedian Sean Hughes co-wrote and starred as a fictionalised version of himself, aware that he is livi ...
. Her character was introduced via a parody of
Grease's
Summer Nights''
'.
In 1995 she played Anne Egerman in ''
A Little Night Music
''A Little Night Music'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the 1955 Ingmar Bergman film ''Smiles of a Summer Night'', it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a ...
'' opposite
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...
, followed by Sarah Brown in
Richard Eyre
Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre (born 28 March 1943) is an English film, theatre, television and opera director.
Biography
Eyre was born in Barnstaple, Devon, England, the son of Richard Galfridus Hastings Giles Eyre and his wife, Minna Mar ...
's acclaimed revival of ''
Guys and Dolls
''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also bo ...
'', both at the National Theatre. She created the role of Jane Smart in ''
The Witches of Eastwick
''The Witches of Eastwick'' is a 1984 novel by American writer John Updike. A sequel, '' The Widows of Eastwick'', was published in 2008.
Plot
The story, set in the fictional Rhode Island town of Eastwick in the early 1970s, follows the witc ...
'' in 2000, at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dr ...
and in 2002 played the role of Eliza Doolittle in
Trevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn (born 14 January 1940) is a British theatre director. He has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed dramas ...
's National Theatre revival of ''
My Fair Lady
''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...
'', for which she won her second Olivier Award.
O
12 May 2002 she appeared in the
Richard Rodgers' Tribute Gala 'Some Enchanted Evening' at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dr ...
, which was broadcast on
BBC Four and has since been released on DVD. At the concert she performed the song "An Old Man" from ''
Two by Two''.
Riding performed the role of Ruth in ''
Blithe Spirit'' in 2004 on tour at the
Milton Keynes Theatre
Milton Keynes Theatre is a large theatre in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. It opened on 4 October 1999, 25 years after the campaign for a new theatre first started.
Designed by architects Blonski-Heard with Kut Nadiadi and Robert Doe, the thea ...
and
Theatre Royal, Bath
The Theatre Royal in Bath, England, was built in 1805. A Grade II* listed building, it has been described by the Theatres Trust as "One of the most important surviving examples of Georgian theatre architecture". It has a capacity for an audien ...
, and at the
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy P ...
in London.
[Senter, Al.]
"Spirited away - Joanna Riding"
''The Stage'', 6 January 2005. in 2004 she appeared in The Royal as Sheena, a woman suffering from post natal depression. In 2006 she played PC Rob Walker’s sister Ange when he married Dr Helen Trent in the episode ‘Keeping Secrets’.
From 1 December 2008 to 29 May 2010, Riding starred as Mrs. Wilkinson in the London production of ''
Billy Elliot the Musical
''Billy Elliot: The Musical'' is a coming-of-age stage musical based on the 2000 film of the same name. The music is by Elton John, and the book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who wrote the film's screenplay. The plot revolves around Billy, a ...
'' at the
Victoria Palace Theatre
The Victoria Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster, opposite Victoria Station. The structure is categorised as a Grade II* listed building.
History Origins
The theatre began life as a small conc ...
. She took maternity leave from the show between 23 December 2008 and 24 August 2009 when the role was played by Kate Graham. Following this, she headlined a one-off late afternoon concert on 24 October 2010 at Freedom Bar in
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develo ...
called ''
Sondheim in Reverse'', as part of the composer's 80th birthday celebrations.
In 2011, Riding starred in two musicals at the
Gielgud Theatre
The Gielgud Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, at the corner of Rupert Street, in the City of Westminster, London. The house currently has 986 seats on three levels.
The theatre was designed by W. G. R. Sprague and ...
in London's
West End. Fro
5 March to 21 May she played Madame Emery in the Kneehigh Theatre Company's musical adaptation of ''
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
''The Umbrellas of Cherbourg'' (french: Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) is a 1964 musical romantic drama film written and directed by Jacques Demy, with music and lyrics by Michel Legrand. Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo star as two young ...
''. The production had its try-out at
Leicester's
Curve Theatre fro
11 to 26 February A month later, fro
she played jealous Italian mistress Maria Merelli in the London production of
''Lend Me A Tenor''.
In 2013 she appeared in the Sky1 TV comedy series ''
Stella'' as Melissa. Riding also portrayed
Valerie Hobson
Babette Louisa Valerie Hobson (14 April 1917 – 13 November 1998) was a British actress whose film career spanned the 1930s to the early 1950s. Her second husband was John Profumo, a British government minister who became the subject of the P ...
in
Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical
''Stephen Ward'', and was one of few elements of the production to be praised by every major critic.
In 2014, Riding appeared as Cinderella's Mother in
Rob Marshall
Robert Doyle Marshall Jr.http://www.alumni.cmu.edu/s/1410/images/editor_documents/alumnirelations/getinvolved/alumniawards/all_honorees_2018june1.pdf (born October 17, 1960) is an American film and theater director, producer, and choreographer. ...
's film version of
Stephen Sondheim's ''
Into the Woods
''Into the Woods'' is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine.
The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. T ...
''.
In September 2016 it was announced that Riding would take the leading role of Annie in ''
The Girls'' musical written by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth to open at The Phoenix Theatre, London on 27 January 2017.
In July 2022 Riding played Rose in the
Buxton Festival
The Buxton Festival is an annual summer festival of opera, music and (since 2000) a literary series, held in Buxton, Derbyshire, England since its beginnings in July 1979. The 2020 festival would have run but was cancelled due to the Covid-19 cri ...
production of the
Jule Styne and
Stephen Sondheim musical
Gypsy
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...
.
Awards and nominations
Theatre
References
External links
*
Official London Theatre Olivier listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riding, Joanna
1967 births
Living people
20th-century English actresses
21st-century English actresses
Actresses from Lancashire
Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
English film actresses
English stage actresses
English musical theatre actresses
Laurence Olivier Award winners