Meet Mother Abbess: Maggie Preece

We all know Climb Ev'ry Mountain and so ahead of The Sound of Music at Madinat Jumeirah, we spoke with the voice behind the song.

Posted on

13 March 2016

| Last updated on 31 March 2019

Meet Maggie Preece, a woman who has wanted to sing and act for as long as she can remember. With an impressive portfolio of work, we can't wait to be treated to her fantastic voice as she appears as the iconic Mother Abbess in Popular Productions' The Sound of Music.

1. What influenced you to start acting?
I think I wanted to sing and act for as long as I can remember! My parents, as it happens loved the theatre and belonged to an excellent operatic society in Birmingham in the UK, and musicals were therefore always a part of my life: particularly Rodgers and Hammerstein.

My debut, on the 2,500-seater Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre was as a Snow Child in Carousel! At the age of six I was asked to join a children’s concert group, which staged productions several times a year in various local theatres. I simply lived for Saturday afternoons, when we rehearsed our shows, and was the “top of the bill” as it were, in the concerts! – I remember one of my first solos was “I Could be Happy With You” from Sandy Wilson’s musical The Boyfriend, and I wore a colourful flapper dress!

Julie Andrews (who originally starred in that show on Broadway) was a huge influence on my wanting to be a professional singer – especially once I saw her in the film version of The Sound of Music – and I just wanted to grow up to be Julie!

2. Do you enjoy performing musicals more than regular theatre? Why?
I love it all to be honest. Music and singing was my first love, but I quickly found that the acting side of being a performer, and developing a character, was just as important to me.

Last year I was fortunate to play Lady Bracknell in a wonderful new production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernest in the UK, which was amazing – but well-written musicals are hugely rewarding to do too, since you can combine a wonderful text and portray well-defined characters, with the emotional engagement and vocal challenge of singing great music. I just love playing the Mother Abbess in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music. This production in Dubai is the fourth production of the show I have done – and I have done around 1,000 performances now in various parts of the world! – but I still love her, because her script is so good – I think of her as being a very strong and pivotal character in Maria’s life - and of course climbing that mountain at the end of Act I is always a privilege and a pleasure…

3. What is the best part about being a performer?
I love entertaining people and connecting emotionally with an audience – that emotional connection might provoke laughter, tears of sadness or joy, or just leave them with a warm glow – but it is wonderful to touch people in some way.

Music and drama can make such a difference to people’s lives because of that emotional connection it brings about, and I love being a conduit to that. I love the whole process of performing – the learning and honing of a role, and making it your own; the engagement with your fellow actors, which is always a joy; the rehearsal process and the build up to the first night; and the sets and the costumes… There really is “no business like show business”!

4. What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Oh gosh, that is a hard one! So many highlights! I have so many wonderful memories of special highlights!

So many incredible roles, in so many incredible operas, on so many wonderful stages…My opening night at The London Palladium though as the Mother Abbess in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s fabulous production, directed by Jeremy Sams, was certainly one such memorable occasion that springs to mind. The London Palladium is one of those world famous theatres that actors long to say they have performed on. I played the Mother Abbess there for around two and half years and I loved every minute of it.

I was the first character to walk on the stage in virtual silence, except for the ringing of the Abbey bell, and I remember thinking “Oh wow! I can’t believe I am opening the show in this iconic building in front of a sold-out house!..” Simply awesome!

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5. You perform all around the world, how do you find life, when you temporarily live away from home?
I feel very fortunate that I have been afforded the chance to perform in various interesting parts of the world in front of people from different backgrounds and cultures. Music and drama is a wonderfully unifying medium and brings people together in the same way wherever you are in the world. I love travel and experiencing different sights and sounds, so to have the opportunity to see the world, whilst doing the thing I love most – performing in front of an audience – is wonderful.

Mostly, I have been lucky enough to stay in very nice accommodation and had hugely enjoyable experiences of rehearsing and working in different environments, meeting lots of interesting people, making great new friends, and have come back with the happiest of memories – and even when there are challenges, the cast you are working with becomes your family, and you all pull together.

I still have to learn, after all these years, to discipline myself to pack less things when I go away for any length of time! I have very strong muscles from lugging about heavy suitcases to and from airports!

6. What are your personal aspirations for the future?
I think as a performer you always aspire to the next big break or exciting project. There will always be roles you want to play, or theatres you want to perform in. Retirement is never an option. I just want to continue to sing and to act for as long as people will have me – preferably in roles that will vocally and theatrically stretch and challenge me. I believe I still have much to offer and much I want to give, and I hope I will be allowed to fulfil that! Performing makes me happy – and I like being happy!

The Sound of Music

7. What would you say for young or aspiring performers who would like to take part in this entertainment industry?
I would tell them to first of all to really think about just how committed they are to dedicating themselves to such a precarious and difficult profession – it is not for the faint-hearted, it is not an easy ride to fame and fortune, and it requires a great deal of dedication, and sheer hard work. The truth is, there is no guarantee of success - or fame and fortune, which can be the motivation for some for wanting to be a performer.

You have to want to go into the entertainment industry because you feel compelled to do so; because you want to work as hard as you possibly can to be as good as you can; to put in hours and hours of work year after year, to improve and hone your craft; to want to learn from experienced and dedicated artists and teachers, and listen to their advice and guidance; to know that it will not all be easy and that there may be disappointments and set-backs, and that you might have to undertake additional jobs to financially support yourself – just for starters. But if your heart lies in being a performer and you have the necessary talent to start you on your way, and the absolute determination to try – then go for it.

We only have one life – as far as we know! - so, with your eyes fully open, by all means give it a chance and don’t look back with regret on what you might have been or could have done
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8. What advice would you give to parents to help encourage their child to take up acting?
I think parents should always encourage their children to follow the career path that they want wherever possible, but the entertainment industry is a notoriously fickle and difficult business to work in, and success or financial gain is certainly not guaranteed. If my child was passionately interested in being an actor or a singer, and clearly had a talent and the makings of a performer who could make a professional living from acting or singing, supported by performances they had done say, at school, I would encourage them to pursue singing and acting classes both within the school environment and outside school, and, assuming when they left school they still had the same absolute commitment and dedication to wanting to train to be a professional singer or actor, to work towards a place at either a music or drama college and take it from there.

I learned a great deal about the skills required for being a singer and an actor, from not only school productions, but parts in shows and concerts outside schools, working with professional actors and teachers – so it is about getting as much experience as possible, to see if you have the necessary talent in the first place – and also the necessary dedication to work your socks off to constantly improve and hone those talents. I have never regretted deciding to be a performer – and initially my own parents were concerned about me entering such a precarious profession, but when they saw my determination and commitment, they supported me whole-heartedly.

Playing one of the children in the wonderful The Sound of Music is of course a fabulous opportunity for any young person! All the shows I did as a young girl with my parents, absolutely directed me towards my determination to be a professional singer and actor myself!

I should just like to add that I am absolutely thrilled to be playing the Mother Abbess in this wonderful production of The Sound of Music here in Dubai, with a fabulous cast, and I hope all your readers come along to one of the shows – and leave the theatre feeling uplifted and their heads ringing with all its glorious songs! That is the greatest gift we performers ask for – to bring you pleasure!