When Amy Manford and Genevieve McCarthy started thinking about putting on a concert, they didn’t imagine that within a few years they would be selling out the Sydney Opera House. Well, that’s not quite true.
“We were figuring out our first production and, as a joke, I wrote down ’100th anniversary, Sydney Opera House’,” Manford says. “Fast forward five years, that’s exactly what we did.”
Friends Genevieve McCarthy (left) and Amy Manford developed their love of Disney into something much bigger.Credit:
Both from Perth, Manford was an elite athlete, first in rhythmic gymnastics, then pole-vaulting, before turning to music. A singer and musical theatre performer, she has toured with Andrea Bocelli and starred as Christine in both the Australian and West End productions of The Phantom of the Opera.
McCarthy performed in productions of Les Misérables and The Sound of Music as a child before choosing a career in law. But, while working as a solicitor in WA, “I literally had one of those movie moments where I thought, ‘I hate this. Why am I here? I don’t like doing this’. And I quit on the spot,” she says.
“I went to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music in musical theatre. [Amy] went to London to study at the Royal College of Music in opera, and we were there at the exact same time.” Over a coffee they thought, maybe, when they were in their 40s, back in Australia and raising families, they’d try to run a business together.
Manford will be performing Disney in Concert next week at Arts Centre Melbourne. Credit: Chris Hopkins
“We had that conversation in 2019 – then in 2020 we both found ourselves back in Perth during lockdown,” Manford says. So they accelerated their plan and formed MM Creative Productions, setting their sights on getting the rights to Disney music for a large-scale concert, featuring stars of musical theatre performing songs they’d both loved since childhood.
“We were incredibly persistent. I would call us pests, to be honest with you. This was daily emailing, daily phone calls, daily voicemails,” McCarthy says.
Manford adds: “I think they honestly just got sick of us contacting them so much that they just said, ‘Give these crazy girls some songs’.”
The first performance came together quickly, and from there “it just snowballed”, McCarthy says. A series of concerts followed – and in 2023 they staged the 100th anniversary show that Manford had first joked about.
Next week, following a run at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the duo will bring their latest show, Disney in Concert, to Arts Centre Melbourne, performing with the MSO. The line-up includes Manford, seasoned musical theatre performer Joshua Robson, Grammy-nominated Christine Allado, Nick Afoa, who starred as Simba in the West End run of The Lion King, and Ruva Ngwenya, fresh off her run in the titular role in Tina, The Tina Turner Musical.
“I think it’s just a credit to, if you have a dream and you’re willing to work really hard and you’re passionate about it, anything can happen,” Manford says. “We feel really lucky.”
Disney in Concert is at Arts Centre Melbourne from March 21-23.
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