For the past 18 months or so, the ‘day job’ has seen her taking to the famous cobbles of Weatherfield as Coronation Street regular, Glenda Shuttleworth
But for one night only, Jodie Prenger will be back on stage at Manchester Opera House for a concert performance of Gypsy the Musical.
Jodie, who has a whole string of West End and touring musicals behind her, will be taking the starring role as Mama Rose in one of the most popular musicals of all time.
“Honestly it’s like a belated Christmas present for me,” she said. “I’ve said before that Gypsy is the musical that has always given me ‘the goosies’. I only have to hear the start of the overture and the hairs just stand up on the back of my neck - it’s just so beautiful.”
This one-off performance of Gypsy is a unique event as it is a fund-raiser for Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre and its Hope for the Future campaign to allow it to continue to produce award-winning and groundbreaking theatre.
“This whole event it just something special,” said Jodie. “It works on two levels; one of helping to create a future for this great theatre and also giving us the opportunity to perform this wonderful musical complete with a 21-piece orchestra with a phenomenal cast.”
That cast includes many performers who have starred in the West End or are familiar faces from TV including Tom Lister, Divina D Campo, Harriet Thorpe and Peter Gunn.
“I just think that the stars have aligned for this to happen,” said Jodie. “For everyone to be available for that one night when they are so busy with other shows is special and I am so pleased for everyone at Hope Mill that we get to do this.”
Although this will not be a full-blown musical production, Gypsy will not be a ‘greatest hits’ package of the songs such as Everything’s Coming Up Roses and Together (Wherever We Go).
“To be totally honest, I really don’t know how it’s going to work,” said Jodie. “I know I’ve got all this to learn,” she said holding up a script.
“We won’t just be standing there singing. We want people to feel as though they have seen the show and I think that’s only right. When you have a musical like Gypsy it has to be treated with respect.
“Certainly for anyone who has not seen it before, they will totally understand the story and what’s happening - there will be no Gypsy megamixes going on that’s for sure.
“It’s making me nervous just talking about it. I know I’ve been busy trying to learn my part as Mama Rose alongside my scripts for Coronation Street. So long as I come out and say the things that Mama Rose should say and not Glenda I’ll be OK.”
Having spent the past few years in a series of high profile stage roles ranging from Spamalot to Annie and Fat Friend the Musical to Shirley Valentine, Jodie slipped seamlessly into the role of cruise ship singer Glenda Shuttleworth on Coronation Street.
“I still love going in every day,” she said. “I remember the first time I did a scene in the Rovers and I was stood in the corner where there all these pictures on the wall and I could feel the tears rolling down my cheeks I was so emotional.
“Even know I have to pinch myself. It’s Coronation Street, it’s something that has always been part of the family, I’d watch it with people I loved and being in it is almost like having them around again.
“What people don’t see is how hard everyone on the show works, not just the cast but everyone behind the scenes, trying to make it as good as it can be.
“I certainly feel very proud to be part of it. I love the warmth it has, that northern-ness which means that even if you’re having a bad day you’ll crack a smile. It’s this brilliant combination of the dramatic and the comedic.”
Although work on Coronation Street continues, Jodie has Gypsy very much on her mind.
“What I’m telling myself is that if I can do Shirley Valentine which was a one woman show then I can do this,” she said. “It means so much to me because I just love the show.
“I used to sing Some People, one of the songs from Gypsy in working men’s club talent shows when I was a teenager. Actually I think I won £250 at Layton Institute once.
“I don’t think it’s what they were expecting, they preferred Lisa Stansfield’s Been Around the World going in to the Birdie Song but I just did it because I loved it.
“At the moment I’m loving the rehearsals and singing the songs but I know on the night of the show I’ll be petrified. Then suddenly it’s all over and that’s when the elation kicks in and I’ll be bouncing around saying I want to do it again.
“But you have got to try and enjoy it although I’m glad I still get nervous. That’s a sign you care and it makes you approach it properly.
“I’m glad that I’m at a point in my career where I can do something like this and I know getting to sing those songs on the stage at the Opera House, a place I love will be something I will treasure forever.”
Gypsy the Musical in Concert, Manchester Opera House, Sunday, February 25. Details from www.atgtickets.com
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