Patricia Michael

Patricia Michael trained for the stage at Elmhurst Ballet School in Camberley from 1952 until 1958, and then graduated to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, leaving in 1960. In May 1962 she played Henrietta in the British production of a long-running American spoof of operetta, Little Mary Sunshine. It was another American musical that offered Michael her first leading role in London. Frank Loesser's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying proved a huge success at the Shaftesbury Theatre in March 1963, with Michael cast as Rosemary. Her first leading role in a British musical didn't meet with commercial success. Divorce Me Darling! opened at the Globe Theatre under the shadow of Winston Churchill's funeral in February 1965 and was withdrawn after only 87 performances. Her next major musical role was as the 1920s Polly in The Boy Friend at the Thorndike Theatre, Leatherhead in the spring of 1967. 1967 was to provide Michael with another success, starring as Margot Bonvalet opposite John Hanson's Red Shadow in a revival of The Desert Song at the Palace Theatre. When the show closed, she went back to The Boy Friend, taking over the role of Polly at the Comedy Theatre in 1968. Pantomimes, revue (as leading lady of Edinburgh's The Half Past Eight Show) and plays (Elvira in Blithe Spirit at Leicester and Lorraine Sheldon opposite Jimmy Edwards in The Man Who Came to Dinner at Richmond) provided work until in 1971 she returned to musicals, playing Amelia - the second female lead - in Julian Slade's musical of Thackeray's Vanity Fair at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford. Michael was now to embark on several leading roles in American shows including Harold Rome's sweeping musicalisation of Gone With the Wind, seen at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 1972. Michael outstandingly contributed to the duet 'We Belong to You'. There was a constant serenity about her singing that made her ideal for the role. The original cast recording reveals a dignity and poise about her performance that was beyond any other leading ladies of her time. Michael's particular style, and her utter professionalism, was rewarded with some plum roles, even if she went in to companies as a take-over. After playing Sister Sarah in Guys and Dolls at Birmingham, she followed Sally Ann Howes into The King of I at the Adelphi Theatre in 1974, and in the spring of 1977 she replaced Julie Anthony in the title role of Irene, again at the Adelphi. Two years later, she took over as Grace in Annie at the Victoria Palace, having played the Countess in A Little Night Music at the Northcott Theatre, Exeter. Michael was among the leading ladies as one of The Mitford Girls (Diana) which was seen first at Chichester and subsequently at the Globe Theatre in October 1981. The following year there was a tour of Sweden in the revue of Noel Cowardiana, Cowardy Custard, and in 1983 she was at Guildford in Tarantara and played Eliza in a revival of My Fair Lady that originated at Croydon and toured Europe. Her final West End appearance was as Ethel in David Heneker's attractive Peg at the Phoenix Theatre in 1984. Her last appearance on stage was in Christmas 1984 as Colin opposite Danny La Rue in a Plymouth production of Mother Goose. Abridged from a biography written by Adrian Wright.