‘I finished and went back to hospital, that’s show business’: Marcia Hines struck bargain with hospital doctors

After fainting in her dressing room, Australian Idol’s Marcia Hines struck a bargain with medics: she'd film the finale and go back to hospital. Now sporting stitches for her latest theatre gig, she’s revealed what caused her collapse.

Marcia Hines struck a bargain with her doctor to be released from hospital in time for the grand finale of Australian Idol last Monday.

The 70-year-old star has a small row of stitches in her forehead from the fall she had in her Idol dressing room ahead of Idol’s penultimate show on that Sunday night.

“I don’t know what happened,” Hines told The Daily Telegraph at Capitol Theatre on Tuesday morning, where she is preparing for Sydney’s opening night of Grease.

“I was about to go and do the semi-final for Australian Idol.

“I was in my dressing room with my god children and some good friends, and I had my makeup done. I was sitting down, stood up and fell over.”

Marcia Hines at Capitol Theatre in Sydney doing a dress rehearsal of Grease ahead of the Sydney season’s opening tonight. Picture: Justin Lloyd/The Daily Telegraph.

An ambulance was called to the Rooty Hill set, and Hines was taken to Mount Druitt hospital.

“I had a Urinary Tract Infection … a chick thing … yeah,” Hines said.

In older adults, UTIs can cause low blood pressure which can cause dizziness, fainting, or weakness.

Marcia Hines, who is in Grease the Musical, which opened at The Capitol Theatre on Tuesday. Picture: Justin Lloyd/The Daily Telegraph.

Hines had been travelling between Sydney — where the singing reality competition was filmed — and performing as Teen Angel in the Melbourne run of Grease for several months.

The Teen Angel has a cameo role in the musical, which includes the ironic comedy song, Beauty School Dropout that Hines is putting her own gospel spin on.

“I’d been flying back and forth, doing Idol, doing Grease, doing Idol, Grease, doing Idol,” she explained.

“I was able to talk to the doctor the next morning and say ‘listen: I really need to go back to work. It’s the final and I’m really attached to these kids’.

“He said he didn’t feel comfortable with it.”

Marcia Hines is the Teen Angel, who performs the cameo song Beauty School Dropout in Grease. Picture: Justin Lloyd/The Daily Telegraph.

Hines is back on stage less than a week after her hospitalisation. Picture: Justin Lloyd/The Daily Telegraph.

“I said ‘please’, using my bargaining power a bit, and said ‘as soon as I finish filming I’ll come back to the hospital the night of’,” Hines continued.

“That’s show business. It was actually very nice because I rested. I take good care of myself.”

Hines was transferred to Blacktown hospital, where she stayed for a few more days.

Australian Idol judges Kyle Sandilands, Marcia Hines, and Amy Shark. Photo: Supplied.

She stars alongside Patti Newton as Miss Lynch, Jay Laga’aia as Vince Fontaine, and Sydney-born Annelise Hall as Sandy in Grease.

Olivia Newton-John and Hines were friends who met “many years ago,” she added.

“I knew her through being a musician and I met her when I did Jesus Christ Superstar in this theatre, that’s when she came and spoke to me. That was a while ago. She’s always been kind and I knew her mother. A friend of mine also ran Gaia retreat, so I’d go up to Gaia and hang there. She’s truly missed.”

“It’s not emotional to perform, no. Look at her legacy, what a legacy to leave. Olivia wouldn’t want any sadness. She wasn’t that kind of person.”