Cork actor: ‘It’s baffling when people want my autograph’

Currently performing in the Olivier Award-winning Paddington The Musical on London’s West End, Rose Mary O’Reilly, of Kilcully, made theatre history this summer when she stepped up to play the lead villain role of Millicent Clyde with just four hours of rehearsal.

At 22, Rose’s action helped prevent the West End show from being cancelled that evening, with her performance and bravery being cited as “incredible” by Broadway and West End news outlets alike.

Rose and I both attended the Performer’s Academy in the Firkin Crane together as teenagers.

“I only ever wanted to do musical theatre,” Rose said. From karaoke in my back garden to the West End. She’s still Rose.

In Paddington, Rose is a swing and first cover for Judy Brown, meaning that her job is to ‘swing’ into different roles should other actors be unavailable to perform. Millicent was not a role she had been asked to learn.

“I forgot that social media was part of [performing]. When Millicent happened, not one part of me thought I would be doing an interview. Someone was like, can you speak to The Radio Times? I never processed that it would be so public, to be honest.”

Rose says she can find the attention from the audience “baffling”.

“I love doing stagedoor, especially with Paddington. There’s often a lot of kids at stagedoor and that’s really sweet when they want to take pictures. But it is baffling when people want my signature. I find that really crazy.”

Rose graduated from the prestigious Urdang Academy in 2025, and after performing in her final year show, American Idiot, she met her “gorgeous” agent Amy.

This led to her first professional job mere months later performing in Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical in Battersea.

The phone call

Amy was the first to call Rose, having been told “her name was being thrown around” as an emergency cover for Millicent.

“I think all she said was, ‘so how do you feel about that?’ I just burst out laughing. I told my agent that I was willing to explore it, whatever that would look like.”

Rose was given a number of options about how the performance could look.

“They gave me the option of going on with the script. Or doing like a concert version where I would stand and sing, and not do all the blocking. They gave the option of not fully doing Paddington The Musical as it stands. They just wanted the show to be possible.”

Rose saving the show by playing Millicent has been serendipitous in more ways than one.

Her parents were already with her at a coffee shop in London when she got the call, and as one of Paddington’s social media captains, videos of her from early on in the run saying Millicent was one of her dream roles quickly circulated.

“I ran back, and I told my mom. I was like, ‘oh my god, they want me to play Millicent’. And bless my mom, she was like, ‘okay, we’re cancelling our flights home’. I was so terrified to say yes. But it was never going to be a no. My mom was sitting next to me, and I could tell that she was like, ‘just say yes!’ It was obvious that I wanted to do it, but I really struggled to make that decision because it was so scary.”

In the end, Rose chose to perform the show as written, completely off book, with choreography. Afterwards, fellow West End performers posted their congratulations online, including the show’s creator, McFly’s Tom Fletcher.

Life on the West End

How has Rose adapted to not only London life, but life on the West End alongside legends like Bonnie Langford and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt?

“I have learned so much on this job from watching their professionalism. One of the reasons why I wanted to play Millicent is because I would watch Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, Jacqueline Hughes, and Aimée Fisher, all the women that cover her.

“Any time they went on, I just could not take my eyes off them. The way that they carried themselves on stage and off. You watch Vix enter the stage, and it’s incredible; I’m in the wings. Then she comes off, and she’s just like, ‘so, what did you have for dinner?”

Rose says moving to London has made her more mature, and she puts a lot of energy into her work.

“I’m definitely more independent. Moving out at 18 definitely changes you, and especially with working professionally, I’m definitely more mature.

“Suddenly, you’re working with these incredible legends, and I feel a level of responsibility on my shoulders to get up and do the job, and I love what I do. I put a lot of time and energy into it, and I think that eliminates any other time to be immature.

“I absolutely love living in London, sometimes I have to pinch myself a little bit. I’ll wake up and go to work, walk along The Strand and see Six The Musical across the road. I’m like, wait, what do you mean I live and work here?”

Coming home

What is it like to visit home?

“I think, for me, home is now less about the place and more about the people. When I come home, I just have a list of people I want to see.

“I don’t care where that is as long as I’m surrounded by these people, like, obviously, my parents, and my aunts, and my uncles, and my cousins. You know, my brother and his friends.

“I went home recently, met up with one of my best friends, Eimear, and we just went to Kinsale, which was gorgeous. We just talked about how different our lives are now, compared to what it was like when we were in school — she’s becoming a doctor.

“It does feel like two completely separate lives. I’ll sit there and chat with my best friend and it just feels like I’m back in St Angela’s, like I never left.

“When I sit and tell her about Paddington, I’m in disbelief that those words are even coming out of my mouth, because I’m back in Cork and my friends are still there. My family is still there. I’m the one that left.”

Coming home is akin to a holiday.

“[Cork and London] feel so close together, but so far apart. But I’m so grateful for it because going to Cork now feels like a holiday.

“When I go home, I completely disassociate from the life that I have in London. When I actually think about it, they are so different. But in a great way.”

Everything is coming up Rose, with the Cork actor headed to Toronto for her next role in 13 Going On 30 The Musical.