Meet the Cast of
Menopause the Musical 2 Cruising Through Menopause
Maureen Nolan as Earth Mother
Maureen Nolan is one of the World Famous Nolan Sisters. She has been in the entertainment industry for over six decades and worked alongside some of the biggest names in show business, from Motorhead to Frank Sinatra. The Nolan Sisters supported Ol’ Blue Eyes on his 1975 European Tour, and Maureen regards this particular ‘gig’ as the highlight of her professional life!
The Nolans have sold more than 30 million records worldwide! In 2020, more than 40 years after the best-selling hit ‘I’m In The Mood For Dancing’ topped the charts all around the world, The Nolans found themselves ‘in the mood for cruising’ with their very own TV reality show. In 2022 Maureen and her sisters were the recipients of The Variety Club’s prestigious ‘Legends of the Industry’ award.
Maureen has appeared in countless musicals, most notably a two-year West End stint in Blood Brothers. She is a Guinness Book of World Records title holder for ‘most siblings to play the same role in a musical’, as Maureen and three of her sisters played the role of Mrs Johnstone in the award winning Willy Russell Musical.
Maureen’s other theatre credits include Footloose, Peter Pan, Mum’s The Word, Naked Truth, The Eva Cassidy Story, Girls Behind and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.
Fun fact, at one point The Nolans sold more records in Japan than The Beatles!
Carli Norris as Soap Star
Carli is best known for her TV appearances playing Belinda Slater in EastEnders and Fran Reynolds in Holby City.
She graduated from RADA in 1997, making her professional debut playing Eliza Doolittle in the West End production of Pygmalion at the Albery Theatre. She then made her TV debut playing the title role in the ITV adaptation of Catherine Cookson’s Tilly Trotter.
Other regular roles on TV include playing Martha Kane in Hollyoaks and Anoushka Flynn in Doctors.
Guest roles include Watson and Oliver (BBC), My Family (BBC), Fanny Hil (BBC), The Last Detective (ITV), Murder in Suburbia (ITV), Diamond Geezer (ITV), Drive (BBC), Where The Heart Is (ITV), Grafters (Granada TV), The Mrs Bradley Mysteries (ITV), Shane (ITV) and Agatha Raisin (Sky), Sister Boniface (BBC), The Royal Autopsy of Queen Anne (Sky). She appeared in the film version of Ray Cooney’s farce Run For Your Wife.
Theatre credits include; Sleeping Beauty (Eastbourne), Sleep Beauty (Portsmouth), Beauty & Beast (Stevenage), Snow White (Eastbourne), Jack and the Beanstalk (Mercury Theatre), Turn of the Screw (Mercury Theatre + UK Tour), Beautiful Thing (Sound Theatre), The Rivals (Bristol Old Vic), How The Other Half Loves (National Tour), One For The Pot (Theatre Royal Windsor), The Chiltern Hundreds (Vaudeville Theatre) and Just The Three Of Us (UK Tour)
Rebecca Wheatley as Housewife
Rebecca is best known as the receptionist Amy Howard in Casualty. Other television roles include Doctors, Holby City, Wycliff, Daziel and Pascoe, Pie in the Sky and the comedy series Time Gentlemen Please with Al Murray.
As well as appearing on many TV programmes, such as Loose Women, This Morning, The Wright Stuff, Call My Bluff, and Ready Steady Cook, Rebecca has recorded two top ten singles, Everlasting Love and Stay With Me Baby, and the album, Where Time Stands Still, for BBC Worldwide. She has enjoyed singing live in venues such as The Opera House, Belfast and The Royal Albert Hall as well as on many TV programs including Top of the Pops and the National Lottery Live.
Rebecca has starred in West End roles such as Miss Sherman in Fame and as Big Julie in Bad Girls The Musical, performed as Electra with Julia Mackenzie and Liz Robertson in Gypsy at the Cardiff Millennium Hall and “among other pantos” played Nurse Nicey with Paul O’Grady in Snow White at the Victoria Palace.
She performed in Fiddler On The Roof with Bryn Terfel playing Yente the Matchmaker at Grange Park Opera and again at BBC Prom 11 for BBC Radio 3 at The Albert Hall which was broadcast live.
Rebecca has completed National tours as Linda and Deborah in Mums The Word, Anita in Girl’s Night, Dawn in Steaming, Rachel Wardle and Leah Hunter in Pickwick Papers, Mrs Amos in Trespass, and Annie Wilkes in Stephen Kings’ Misery. She also played Barbara in the one woman play Big Pants and Botox which ended with a short run at The Arts Theatre in The West End. Recently, Rebecca played Annie in Killing Jack at Queens Theatre Hornchurch and has written her own sellout show ‘A Woman’s Touch’.
She has loved playing Housewife in the smash hit Menopause the Musical for seven years and is so happy to have collaborated and be touring with Cruising Through Menopause. There really is nothing like it.
Daniele Coombe as Power Woman
Daniele is certainly no stranger to musicals, having spent the majority of the past 30 years performing in the West End.
Her long West End career started at the age of 19 when, soon after leaving drama school, she landed a role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard at the Adelphi Theatre.
She spent two years in the production and after leaving, continued her successful West End career performing in London’s most prestigious theatres and playing many leading and supporting roles.
You can also see Daniele on the recording of Acorn Antiques the Musical alongside Julie Walters and Victoria Wood, playing audience favourite “Sally”.
West End credits include: Alison and “Gran” cover in The Witches (National Theatre), Madame Renaud in La Cage Aux Folles (Regents Park), Shirley in Priscilla Queen of the Desert (Palace Theatre, London), The Sound of Music (London Palladium), Sally in Acorn Antiques The Musical (Theatre Royal Haymarket, London), Mrs Hopkins in My Fair Lady (National Theatre / Drury Lane, London), Madame de la Grand Bouche (Wardrobe) in Beauty and the Beast (Dominion Theatre, London), Oliver! (London Palladium), Lisa/Doctor in Sunset Boulevard (Adelphi Theatre, London).
Other stage credits include: Mum’s The Word (UK No.1 Tour), Sleeping Beauty (Salisbury Playhouse), Just So and Out of this World (Chichester Festival Theatre), Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Bristol Old Vic), Wild Wild Women (Orange Tree), Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast and The Wizard of Oz (Exeter Corn Exchange).
Repertory Theatre credits include: Pardon Me Prime Minister; The Rise and Fall of Little Voice; Abigail’s Party; BOEING BOEING; Pools Paradise; Not Now Darling; Private Lives; Caught in the Net; Birthday Suite; Funny Money; Lend me a Tenor; Tom, Dick and Harry; Perfect Wedding; Charley’s Aunt; Emma; Barefoot in the Park; Ghost Train; Ding Dong; Sailor Beware.
Victoria Hay – Resident Director and Alternate Performer
Victoria trained at The Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.
Her West End appearances include part of the Ensemble in 42nd Street at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Cover Vera in Mrs Henderson Presents at the Noël Coward Theatre, and Cover Princess Elizabeth and Swing in the original London cast of Betty Blue Eyes at the Novello Theatre.
Beyond the West End, Victoria’s credits include Ensemble / Cover in multiple roles, including Annie, Chris, and Ruth in the UK tour of Calendar Girls and Jennyanydots in Cats in Cyprus. Other notable roles include Vera in Mrs Henderson Presents (Theatre Royal, Bath), Erma in Anything Goes (Kilworth House), Charlotte Sowerbury in Oliver! (National Tour), and Hotbox Girl in Guys & Dolls (Leicester Curve). Victoria also played Little Girl in the original UK tour of The Witches of Eastwick and appeared in The Pirates of Penzance at Kilworth House. Her pantomime roles include Snow White in Snow White & The Seven Dwarves (Alhambra Theatre, Bradford) and Mrs. Darling/Ethel Mermaid in Peter Pan (Floral Pavilion, New Brighton). She brought energy to roles such as Silly Girl in Disney’s Beauty And The Beast (UK Tour), Ethel Peas in Thoroughly Modern Millie (Original UK Tour), and Louise in Carousel (UK Tour).
Victoria has also contributed her talents to workshops for new productions, including playing Kylie in Strictly Ballroom, Tommy in Doctor Doolittle, and Bicky in Who Are Our New Friends. Her work extends to film, where she appeared as a Millerette in Mrs Henderson Presents (BBC Film/Pathé Pictures) and most recently in Wonka! (Warner Bros.).
On television, she has appeared in productions such as The Royal Variety Performance, This Morning, The One Show, and The Generation Game.
Recording credits include 42nd Street (Cast Album); Mrs Henderson Presents (Cast Album); Betty Blue Eyes (Cast Album); Mrs Henderson Presents (Motion Picture Soundtrack); and Coronation St The Musical (Cast Album).