Sharon Wattis on gingerbread, glamour and why she loves Manchester

Sharon Wattis spoke to the I Love Manchester team about her time in Manchester on the Mary Poppins tour.

The northern actress is originally from the other side of the Pennines in Leeds, but has previously called Manchester home.

The stage star is currently playing Mrs Corry in Mary Poppins at the Palace Theatre.

She has starred in some big roles like Momma in Starlight Express, Mrs Brown/Kimbay in The Book of Mormon, and Ronette in Little Shop of Horrors, and the stage isn’t the only place Sharon has been spotted.

She has also performed live on TV for The Royal Variety Show and on Strictly Come Dancing.

Her latest role as Mrs Corry in Mary Poppins sees Sharon transform into a magical sweetshop owner, selling her famous gingerbread stars.

The larger-than-life character bursts onto the stage in a kaleidoscope of colour to perform the iconic tongue-twisting tune, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Are you enjoying performing in Manchester?

We’ve been received really well in Manchester, so it’s been really nice. We’ve been received really well everywhere, but Manchester audiences are really, really nice. 

I mean, I love it. We’ve just come from Plymouth.

It’s interesting where you go around the country because you know, the reception’s always a bit different.

But I’m from Leeds, so I’m not far from here. And I know what a northern crowd can be like, we love a good time and we appreciate a good time, you know what I mean? So the audiences have been really, really receptive here. We’ve had a lot of reactions, a lot of loud reactions.

And at the end of the show, it’s amazing, everybody’s on their feet screaming, and it’s really lovely, so we’ve really loved being here. We’re having a great time in Manchester, so come and see us!

We are selling out quite well, but there is still some availability.

So grab your tickets while you can and come and see us you won’t be disappointed.

You’ll have a great, great time and we’d love to have you. 

What’s your favourite thing about Manchester?

I actually lived here for a year in 2023, so I know it quite well. I have to say one of my favourite things about Manchester is just all the amazing places to eat. 

There’s always somewhere new to eat and you just spoil us for choice, like brunches, dinners, like whatever it is, it’s just amazing food here. So I think that’s probably one of my favourite things about Manchester. 

Me and two of my girlfriends actually from Leeds, we’ve come to Manchester a lot just to come and eat. So we’ve come in just for lunch, for a day out, and the shopping’s always really good. I’d say the food is probably top of the top of my list of reasons to come to Manchester. 

We went to we went to a restaurant a couple of weeks ago, Firehouse, we went for a roast there. I’ve been before, so I took some of the girls from the show and they were like, oh my gosh, can we come here every week? I was like, yes! 

How would you describe Mary Poppins to someone who hasn’t seen it?

It’s magic. I mean that’s kind of what you’ve got to go with, it’s magical. It’s family oriented. It’s a great afternoon out for the whole family. You know, even for young kids. It’s magical, it’s fun, it’s colourful, it’s funny, it’s just got so many elements to it. 

It’s just a great, great afternoon or evening out, really. 

Tell us all about your role as Mrs. Corry

So I play Mrs. Corry, she’s the sweet shop lady! 

Mary Poppins brings Jane and Michael to see her in the sweet shop.

And we have a nice time in the sweet shop.

We have one of the most famous songs of the film and the show, which is Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

That’s the number that I do with them, it’s very colourful, very fun. There’s a lot of complicated choreography in the number, which people will see, but it’s great.

It’s a great number and really uplifting and just a real injection of fun and colour. So yeah, I’m Mrs. Corry! 

The costumes in the show are absolutely fabulous. One of your costumes is a big orange dress with the kind of cage back, that is honestly one of my favourite costumes.

Do you enjoy playing dress up in all of those fabulous costumes every night?

Yes, yeah. I mean, who wouldn’t, you know, I get to be orange head to toe like on a daily basis. So yeah, it’s a lot of fun.

What you’re referring to is my bustle at the back and it’s detachable. It’s a cake stand, so it’s got loads of like cupcakes on it. So it’s really, theail is quite intricate. And yeah, it’s a little weighty, so you’ve kind of got to get used to how it moves and stuff. 

But I mean, what I really fabulous costume to be able to put on every day and then you can’t really miss me, can you? It is a fabulous costume with the little cakes and everything on it. And I like … what would you call it, my swirl wig? Yeah. It just goes together and it’s amazing. 

Why should people come and see Mary Poppins?

I think, like I said touched on before, it’s such a magical story. 

I mean, it’s a classic, isn’t it? It’s a classic story. It’s been around as long as I can remember, I remember it from when I I was a little, and that was a very long time ago. But it’s just transcended like over the years, do you know what I mean? And it’s a classic and it’s a story that rings true with a lot of people, I think. 

And like I said before, it’s a really good family outing. There’s not a lot of shows, well there are some, but there’s not many that you can really take young kids to, but this is really one where you can take the whole family, you can enjoy it and just have a lot of fun and it’s just so magical. 

We’re very blessed. We’ve got an amazing cast and everyone is, I mean, you saw it, you know, everyone is just top tier, so you’ve just been for a really fun day out if you come and see us. And there’s kids in the show too which is fun, we alternate the kids because you know, they can’t do all the shows so we’ve got 10 kids in total. 

What’s the highlight of the show for you?

Well, I mean, can I say my number? But obviously I love doing my number, but I mean, there’s so many bits, but I think one of my other favourite parts is Step In Time. I mean, I don’t want to say too much, but it’s just an amazing number. 

I mean, Jack who plays Bert is phenomenal, as is everyone in the cast, and the number just looks amazing. It’s just a great number. The way it’s staged, the choreography, the dancing, everything. 

Other than in Mary Poppins, is there a role that you are dying to play on the stage?

Oh, good question. Do you know what? 

I did high school, we did Jesus Christ Superstar and it is one of my favourites and I played my Mary Magdalene and I would love to do that in a professional capacity.

I think I would love to it’s just a beautiful show and music is amazing and I think that has always been one of my dream roles, yeah, Mary in Jesus Christ yeah. Have you seen it? 

Yes. Yeah. I saw it when it came to Manchester, I can’t remember how long it it was now, but yeah, I was lucky enough to go and review that one as well. 

And yeah, I’d never seen it in any capacity. So I kind of went in there completely blind thinking, oh, it’s going to be about Jesus. And I was blown away. 

I was like, oh my God, this is incredible.. I’m at all, like, it really is and yeah, that’s been around for years and years and years as well. But yeah, I think I would love to play it yeah. 

Are there any other roles in Mary Poppins you’d like to take on?

Oh, I’ve never really thought about that. Maybe Miss Andrews,’cause she’s quite fun, isn’t she? ‘Cause she’s mean.

So she’s like the juxtaposition to it from Mrs Corry, you know what I mean?

She’s complete opposite. You know, she’s like quite dark and not very nice and horrible. So maybe her, maybe her, or the bird lady. Yeah.

That would be a nice. nice role to play. But yeah, maybe one of those two, I think. But Miss Andrews, I think, because it must have been really fun to play the baddie sometimes and Wendy plays it so well. 

What can audiences expect from the show?

They can expect a great afternoon out or evening out. Lots of fun.

How would I sum it up? It’s magical and practically perfect.

Tickets for Mary Poppins at Manchester’s Palace Theatre

Mary Poppins is on at Manchester’s Palace Theatre from Wednesday 9th of April to Saturday 17th May 2025.

You can get tickets here