Whether “feeling pretty” in West Side Story, walking the French streets in Les Miserables, or performing Little Drummer Boy at Melbourne’s Carols by Candlelight, Marina Prior has sung her way into the top tier of Australian talent – a position she plans to keep.

With multiple awards and over 30 lead roles to her name, Australia’s leading lady of musical theatre is ready to stun the nation two times over, beginning next year with her return to the “theatre masterpiece”, Mary Poppins.

“The opportunity to be in a production like this is something that you would never turn down ... It is an iconic show,” Prior said, before quickly admitting disdain for the over-used descriptor.

“Everyone says iconic, but it is ... It has incredible production values, it’s just gob-smacking. But at the heart of it, it’s the story about a fractured family who actually find themselves finally back together again, through the magic of this Mary Poppins.”

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Having played Mrs Banks – mother of the young firecracker duo Jane and Michael – in its 2011 Melbourne season, the soprano singer will grace the Poppins stage once again, but in entirely different garb and with double the characters.

Testing her acting abilities, Prior, now 58, will make her comeback as both Miss Andrews – Mr Banks’ wicked former nanny who replaces Mary Poppins during the second act – and the Bird Woman, “an angel dressed up as a homeless woman”. The two characters could not have less in common, but Prior was prepared for the challenge, viewing it as part of her career’s natural progression.

“I started in the industry 40 years ago next year playing ingenues and romantic heroines, the good girl and the soprano and all that sort of thing,” Prior said, leaning forward in her chair as she looked back on the challenges she overcame.

“I had to fight really hard to move into character roles and comedic roles because people were sort of like, ‘No, no, no. You stay where you are.’ But I wanted to evolve.