Introducing... The Nicest Kids In Town
Velma Von Tussle
Played by: LIZ ROBERTSONTraining: Liz trained at the Finch Stage School
Theatre: Liz’s West End career began when she appeared in A Little Light Music directed by Hal Prince (Adelphi), then Side by Side by Sondheim (Mermaid and Wyndham’s). She went on to star in the subsequent Toronto production. In 1977-8, she starred with Ben Cross in I Love My Wife directed by Gene Sacks (Prince of Wales), after which Cameron Mackintosh signed her to play ‘Eliza Doolittle’ in My Fair Lady, earning Liz rave reviews and The Variety Club’s ‘Most Promising Actress’ award, as well as an Olivier nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. A season at Chichester followed, as ‘Jessica Mitford’ in The Mitford Girls, and then a one-person show called Just Liz (Duke of York’s) which was later broadcast on television.
Subsequent credits include: The Sound of Music (Sadler’s Wells and on tour); The King and I (US tour), co-starring with Rudolph Nureyev, for which Liz was awarded the Carbonell Best Actress Award by The South Florida Entertainment Writers Association; My Fair Lady in Birmingham and Manchester; Sherlock Holmes-The Musical with Ron Moody in Exeter and at the Cambridge; Canaries Sometimes Sing directed by Patrick Garland (Albery); A Touch Of Danger (National Tour); Killing Jessica directed by Bryan Forbes with Patrick Macnee (Savoy); Dance A Little Closer (Minskoff Theatre on Broadway); Song and Dance by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black, directed by John Caird (Palace Theatre, London); Kern Goes to Hollywood (Donmar and on Broadway).
Other theatre includes: ‘Mavis’ in Stepping Out, a musical version of the play (Albery Theatre), directed by Julia McKenzie. Further recent credits include, Let’s Do It (Chichester Festival Theatre and National Tour); The King and I as ‘Mrs Anna’ to Irek Mukhamedov’s ‘King’ (Covent Garden Festival); The Music Man as ‘Marian Paroo’ starring Brian Cox (Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park and Tour); Beethoven’s Tenth as ‘Jessica Fauldgate’ (Chichester Festival Theatre); Love.co.uk (King’s Head Theatre), directed by David Kernan; a National Tour of Something Wonderful; Peter Pan as ‘Mrs Darling’ (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre), ‘Madame Giry’ in The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre) for two years; the ‘Narrator’ in a new musical Twopence to Cross the Mersey (Liverpool Empire), ‘Joanne’ in Company (Derby Playhouse) and most recently ‘Tessie Tura’ in Gypsy (Cardiff International Festival).
Liz has made numerous television and cabaret performances, both here and in the US. Most recently she was seen as ‘Lucinda Telfers-Scott’ in the special of Green Green Grass. She has made several recordings and has had her own Radio 2 series, Just Liz,she has appeared in four Royal Variety Performances. She also performed at The Kennedy Centre Honours before the President and Mrs Reagan, and was a guest in Hey, Mr Producer honouring Cameron Mackintosh in the presence of Her Majesty, The Queen.
