Hippodrome date for talented Marienella

AN actor and singer who went to school near Thornbury is returning to the area to perform on the region's biggest stage.

Marienella Phillips has landed a role in an internationally acclaimed touring production of The King and I.

She is currently travelling the UK and Ireland with the production cast of 50, visiting 18 regional theatres with nearly 150 performances.

Reviews have described the show as “firstrate, sumptuous” and "too beautiful to miss”.

And it comes to the Bristol Hippodrome from 28th March to 1st April.

Marienella, a 28-year-old former pupil of Tockington Manor School, studied at Bristol University and the Royal Welsh College of Music in Cardiff.

She is playing the role of Tuptim, a teenage servant of King Mongkut, in the Bartlett Sher touring production.

She said: “I'm in a very beautiful show with a company full of astonishingly talented people.

“This is Rodgers & Hammerstein gold.

"I'm honoured to be a part of this company and to follow in the footsteps of many wonderful Tuptims, including my big-time role model Lea Salonga - you are a queen and if you like this, I will faint.”

Marienella's mum Nell, from Yate, told