Ria’s theatre career has spanned over 40 years and some of musical theatre’s most coveted and iconic roles, from the youngest actress to play Eva Peron in Evita to playing far beyond her years as Mrs Overall in Victoria Wood’s Acorn Antiques The Musical. Perhaps best known for her performances in Sunset Boulevard, at just 24 she originated the role of Norma Desmond at the Sydmonton Festival, and 26 years later would enjoy renewed success revisiting the role after standing by for Glenn Close at the London Coliseum. She went on to play the role in her own right in the award winning UK/European tour and the Curve’s filmed & streamed revival, Sunset Boulevard - at Home. 

 

Other theatre credits include: Rose in Gypsy; Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls; Dorothy Brock in 42nd Street; Svetlana and Florence in Chess; Grizabella in Cats; Fantine in Les Miserables; Liz Imbrie in High Society; Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes; Alex Spofford in Witches of Eastwick; Stephanie Necrophorus in Nine; Victoria Grant & Count Victor Grazinski in Victor/Victoria; The Witch in Into the Woods; Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat; Josephine and Monica in Romance Romance; Kim in Personals; Emma in A Twist of Fate; Petra in A Little Night Music; Ida in Honk; Closer Than Ever; Jerry’s Girls and Godspell. 

 

Concert appearances have taken Ria worldwide, performing with orchestras in South Africa, Singapore, Shanghai, Russia, Denmark, France, Belgium, Muscat and Germany, for the Danish Royal Family and by Royal request at Buckingham Palace. Closer to home she’s been a regular guest of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall and with the BBC Concert Orchestra for numerous editions of Friday Night is Music Night. Concerts include Jesus Christ Superstar; Evita; West Side Story; Sondheim: A Celebration; The Three Musketeers; A Night Under the Stars; Children Will Listen; Magic of the Musicals; The Best of Broadway; Ultimate Broadway; West End Women; Misleading Ladies and An Evening with Ria Jones. Equally at home with an orchestra or intimately accompanied just by piano, Ria’s one-woman cabaret shows have become a London favourite with regular sell-out runs at the Crazy Coqs and a brand new residency at The Ivy Club, Covent Garden. 

 

Recordings include: The Golden Age of Hollywood, Abbaphonic and The Music of Rodgers and Hammerstein with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Les Miserables (Manchester Cast Recording); A Tribute to Hal Prince; Personals; A Twist of Fate and her solo albums It’s Better With a Band and Have You Met Miss Jones? 

 

On TV, Ria has appeared in three Royal Variety Performances, One Night Only with Ria Jones (BBC Wales); Welsh in the West End (ITV Wales); Torchwood; Life & Debt; Eric and Ernie and The Angina Monologues written by Victoria Wood, along with numerous chat show appearances on TV & Radio.