Mary Poppins (musical)

Prince Edward Theatre 2005

Cameron Mackintosh's stage adaptation of Mary Poppins had its world premiere at the Bristol Hippodrome starting with previews from September 15, 2004, before officially opening on September 18 for a limited engagement until November 6. The production then moved to the Prince Edward Theatre on December 15, 2004, making it the only Disney musical to have premiered in the UK. The role of Mary was played by Laura Michelle Kelly, who subsequently won the 2005 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the role, and the role of Bert was played by Gavin Lee. Notable replacements included Scarlett Strallen, Lisa O'Hare and Caroline Sheen as Mary Poppins and Gavin Creel as Bert (from July 2006).[3]

The show sparked mild controversy not long after its debut when producers Cameron Mackintosh and Thomas Schumacher banned children below three years old from entering the theatre, deeming the show too scary for young children.[4] The ban remained throughout the show's entire run, during which the theatre staff were to prevent patrons with children below three to enter. The show was officially tagged as being "for children seven years and up".

On March 17, 2005, Julie Andrews, who played Mary Poppins in the film, visited the show as a guest. She appeared onstage during the curtain calls, where she gave a speech recalling her own memories from making the film and praising the cast for their new interpretation.[5] The production closed on January 12, 2008, after a run of more than three years.[6]

New Amsterdam Theatre showing Mary Poppins, 2007

Following the success of the West End production, a Broadway production debuted on November 16, 2006, at the New Amsterdam Theatre after previews from October 14.[7] Ashley Brown played the title role, and Gavin Lee, who had originated the role of Bert in the West End production, reprised his role on Broadway. Daniel Jenkins played George Banks, Rebecca Luker was Winifred, and Matthew Gumley and Henry Hodges played Michael. Starting on 9 October 2008, the role of Mary was played by Scarlett Strallen (reprising her role from the West End production) and Bert was played by Adam Fiorentino. Laura Michelle Kelly, who originated the role of Mary in London, took over the role on Broadway on October 12, 2009. Christian Borle joined the cast the same day as Bert.[8] Nicolas Dromard played Bert from July 16 to August 22, 2010.[9] Lee returned to the role of Bert on August 24, 2010, and was reunited with former London co-star, Kelly.[10] Brown returned to the title role from March 8 to July 17, 2011, while Kelly was away filming a movie, reuniting her with Lee, and Kelly returned to role on July 19, 2011.[11]

The Broadway production differed from the London production in that the "Jolly Holiday" sequence was staged in full technicolor instead of the gray tones of the London show, and in "Anything Can Happen" the stairs to the heavens were replaced by a giant version of Mary's umbrella entering from the stage floor. These changes were later transferred back to the West End production. Most recently, a new song has been added to the score, titled "Playing the Game". This replaces the already new "Temper, Temper" in the first act. This change has been added to all current and future productions of the show.

The Broadway production received generally positive reviews, ranging from enthusiastic[12] to lukewarm.[13] Many critics praised the show for its technical merits.[14][15] After running 52 weeks, the show recouped its original investment.[16]

The production closed on March 3, 2013, after more than six years and 2,619 performances on Broadway, to make way for Disney's Aladdin.[17] The closing cast included Steffanie Leigh as Mary and Dromard as Bert.[18][19] As of April 2022, it remains Broadway's twenty-fourth longest-running show.[20]

For the touring productions of the show, designer Bob Crowley changed the sets, making the Banks' Household smaller in size, and deleting numerous intermediate scenes, so that smaller theatres could accommodate the large-scale demands of the production.

A UK tour of the London production commenced on June 4, 2008, and ended on April 18, 2009, with stops at venues including the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, Edinburgh Playhouse, and the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff.[21] Its cast featured Caroline Sheen as Mary Poppins, Daniel Crossley as Bert, Martin Ball as George Banks and Louise Bowden as Winifred Banks.[22] Lisa O'Hare took over the role of Mary on October 27, 2008. The UK Tour became the show's last production to include "Temper, Temper" before it was replaced by "Playing the Game" in future productions.

A United States tour began previews on March 11, 2009, with the opening night on March 25, featuring Ashley Brown and Gavin Lee reprising their roles as Mary and Bert, respectively.[23][24] The tour began at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago, and played in many U.S. cities. On November 15, 2009, during the opening night in Los Angeles, Dick Van Dyke (who played Bert in the film) appeared onstage during the encore.[25] On January 22, 2010, to raise funds for a local charity and as part of a D23 event, Van Dyke did a cameo of his other role from the original film of Mr. Dawes Sr.[26] In 2009, the song "Temper, Temper" was cut and replaced by a new musical number, titled "Playing the Game."[27] Sheen took over the role of Mary from Brown in February 2010 in Tempe, Arizona and played the role until February 2011. Nicolas Dromard, who previously understudied the role of Bert on Broadway, took over the role from September 2010 until September 2011.[9] Steffanie Leigh joined the cast as Mary Poppins on February 8, 2011[28] and was replaced on December 6, 2011, by Megan Osterhaus who had played Winifred Banks on Broadway and later returned to Broadway as Winifred.[29] The U.S. National tour played its last performance on June 2, 2013, in Anchorage, Alaska.

A new UK tour directed by Richard Eyre began a run at the Curve Theatre, Leicester from October 13 until October 25, 2015 starring Zizi Strallen as Mary Poppins and Matt Lee reprising his original role in the Australian production as Bert.[30] The tour then visited Bristol (29 October - 28 November 2015), Dublin (3 December 2015 - 9 January 2016), Manchester (20 January - 5 March 2016), Birmingham (9 March - 23 April 2016), Edinburgh (27 April - 21 May 2016), Southampton (25 May - 19 June 2016).[31] In November 2015, more dates were added including Norwich (29 June - 30 July 2016), Plymouth (3 August - 3 September 2016), Newcastle (8 September - 29 October 2016), Bradford (2 November - 10 December 2016) and finishing in Cardiff (14 December 2016 - 14 January 2017).[32]

A West End revival began previews on October 23, 2019 at the Prince Edward Theatre and officially opened on November 13. The cast included Zizi Strallen as Mary Poppins (reprising her role from the 2015-16 UK Tour), Charlie Stemp as Bert, Joseph Millson as George Banks, Amy Griffiths as Winifred Banks, Petula Clark as the Bird Woman, Claire Moore as Miss Andrew, and Paul F. Monaghan as Admiral Boom (Barry James was originally due to play this part but he left before the first preview for unknown reasons).[33][34] The show was forced to close temporarily from March 16, 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It reopened on August 7, 2021 at the Prince Edward Theatre with most of the same cast returning.[35] On June 22, 2022 Louis Gaunt temporarily took over from Charlie Stemp whilst he performed in the revival of Crazy For You at the Chichester Festival Theatre.[36] The show played its final West End performance on January 8, 2023.[37]

Mary Poppins has been played in Australia, Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States, and has been translated into thirteen languages (Swedish, Finnish, Hungarian, Danish, Dutch, Czech, Estonian, Spanish, Icelandic, German, Norwegian, Italian, and Japanese). Over eleven million people have seen the show worldwide.

The first foreign-language production opened on October 18, 2008 at the Gothenburg opera house, where it ran until March 14, 2009.[38] This production was externally licensed by Disney Theatrical and performed entirely in Swedish, with the book translated by Magnus Lindman. The musical director was Björn Dobbelaere, with actors Linda Olsson as Mary and Magnus Borén as Bert.

Other European productions include:

• The Finnish production opened at the Helsinki City Theatre on August 11, 2009 and ran until May 8, 2010.[39][40]
• On February 18, 2010 a Danish production opened in Copenhagen, Denmark at the Det Ny Teater, starring Charlotte Guldberg as Mary and Kristian Studsgaard as Bert.[41]
• The Hungarian production opened in Budapest, Hungary in September 2012.
• From April 11, 2010 to August 28, 2011 a Dutch-language production ran at the Fortis Circustheater in The Hague, produced by Stage Entertainment. Noortje Herlaar, the actress who played the role of Mary was found in the TV show Op zoek naar Mary Poppins. William Spaaij portrayed Bert.[42][43]
• A Czech production opened in Brno, Czech Republic in November 2010.
• In November 2011 the Estonian production opened at the Vanemuine Theatre in Tartu, with performances also in Tallinn. The original cast included Hanna-Liina Võsa and Nele-Liis Vaiksoo in the role of Mary.
• In October 2012, Stage Entertainment announced that Mary Poppins would open in Paris in the 2013/14 season, but after months of unsuccessful searching for an actress to play the role of Mary, Cameron Mackintosh decided to cancel the project.[44]
• An Icelandic production opened at the Reykjavik City Theatre in Reykjavik, Iceland on February 22, 2013.
• The German-language premiere of the musical ran at the Ronacher Theater in Vienna, Austria from October 1, 2014 to January 31, 2016. The cast included Annemieke van Dam as Mary and David Boyd as Bert.[45]
• On October 23, 2016 a second German-language version opened at the Apollo-Theater in Stuttgart, produced by Stage Entertainment and starring Elisabeth Hübert as Mary and David Boyd as Bert.[46] After closing in Stuttgart on January 28, 2018 the show was transferred to the Stage Theater an der Elbe in Hamburg from February 25, 2018.
• An Italian production premiered on February 13, 2018 at the Teatro Nazionale in Milan, with Giulia Fabbri as Mary and Davide Sammartano as Bert.[47]

The Australian production began previews at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne on 14 July 2010, officially on 29 July. The cast included Matt Lee as Bert, Philip Quast as Mr. Banks, Marina Prior as Winifred Banks, Debra Byrne as The Bird Woman, and Judi Connelli as Miss Andrew. Verity Hunt-Ballard was awarded the role of Mary Poppins late in the casting stage, after a long search.[48] She was temporarily replaced towards the end of the Sydney run by Scarlett Strallen, who had starred in the role in both the West End and Broadway productions. An Australian Cast Recording was released on February 18, 2011.[49] The Melbourne season closed on April 1, 2011.[50] The musical played in Sydney at the Capitol Theatre from April 2011[51] to mid December 2011.[52] The musical then went on an Australian tour, playing at the Lyric Theatre in Brisbane until March 2012 and the Burswood Theatre, Perth until June 2012. After a four-month break, the production opened at the Civic Theatre in Auckland, New Zealand, from 18 October[53] until 30 December 2012. In May 2021, it was announced the show would return to Australia in May 2022 at the Sydney Lyric Theatre with a nation-wide search to find a new Mary Poppins.[54]

From November 14, 2012 to August 11, 2013, the first Spanish-language version of the show ran at the Centro Cultural Teatro 1 in Mexico City, produced by Ocesa Teatro and starring Bianca Marroquin as Mary and Mauricio Salas as Bert.[55]

In April 2015 Brazilian entertainment company Time for Fun opened auditions for the Portuguese-language premiere in São Paulo, but eventually the production was cancelled.[56]

The first Japanese language production opened on March 25, 2018 in Tokyo before moving to Osaka in May 2018.[57]

• Mary Poppins: Scarlett Strallen, Lisa O'Hare, Caroline Sheen
• Bert: Gavin Creel

• Mary Poppins: Scarlett Strallen, Laura Michelle Kelly
• Bert: Christian Borle, Nicolas Dromard
• George: Laird Mackintosh
• Admiral Boom/Bank Chairman: Ed Dixon, Jonathan Freeman

• Mary Poppins: Lisa O'Hare

• Mary Poppins: Caroline Sheen
• Bert: Nicolas Dromard

• Mary Poppins: Scarlett Strallen
• George: Simon Burke

• Miss Smythe/Miss Andrew: Liz Robertson

Bert, a man of many professions, introduces the audience to Cherry Tree Lane ("Chim Chim Cher-ee/Cherry Tree Lane – Part 1") in Edwardian London. Number 17 is where the Banks family lives: George and Winifred Banks, their two naughty children Jane and Michael, their cook/maid, Mrs. Brill and their house boy, Robertson Ay. Things are not going well for Jane and Michael. They are out of control and, as the show starts, their latest nanny, Katie Nanna, storms out. After that, Mrs. Brill and Robertson Ay complain about living in a "madhouse." The children decide to write the advertisement for a new nanny ("The Perfect Nanny"), but George, having a very different idea of what constitutes the perfect nanny, tears up the piece of paper and throws it in the fireplace. The family all reflect on if they will ever find the perfect nanny ("Cherry Tree Lane - Part 2"). Within moments, Mary Poppins arrives, restored advertisement in hand, and takes charge of the Banks children, having every confidence in her own qualifications and merits ("Practically Perfect").

On the children's first outing to the park, they meet Bert and, despite their reservations, Mary teaches them that they must learn to look past appearances. To illustrate the point, Mary brings the park statues, including a mythological figure named Neleus, to life ("Jolly Holiday"). A storm starts to brew and the children quickly hurry home, but not before Neleus mentions how much he misses his father.

While Mary manages the children, other problems lie with their parents. Winifred is aware that she is somehow disappointing both her children and her husband. George, on the other hand, can't understand why she finds the role of wife and mother so difficult. In an effort to please her husband, Winifred sends out invitations for a smart tea party ("Cherry Tree Lane (Reprise) / Being Mrs. Banks / Jolly Holiday (Reprise)"). Mrs. Brill makes the preparations, while telling an eager Robertson Ay to keep his hands off. The children inadvertently sabotage the kitchen preparations, but Mary sorts it out with a lesson ("A Spoonful of Sugar"). However, it is then revealed that none of the invitees are coming and Winifred reflects on her failure at pleasing George ("A Spoonful Of Sugar (Reprise)").

Mary takes the children to visit their father at the bank where he works ("Precision and Order"). There, George is busy dealing with possible investment clients: firstly, an ambitious man named Herr Von Hussler with an elaborate money-making scheme, and then a middle-class man named John Northbrook with a simple factory project. George is furious when Mary turns up with the children, but an innocent question asked by Jane (What's more important, a good man or a good idea?) makes him realise how much his values have changed ("A Man Has Dreams") since he was an idealistic young man. He then decides to accept Northbrook's project and rejects Von Hussler's, even though he knows the bank disapproves.

Outside St. Paul's Cathedral, Mary introduces the children to the Bird Woman ("Feed the Birds"). Jane is suspicious of her, but Michael responds to the Bird Woman and throws crumbs for the birds. On the trip home, the children meet the enigmatic Mrs. Corry who runs a magic sweet shop that also sells words ("Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious").

The children return home in high spirits, unaware that things have gone wrong for their father. Unknown to them, George's decision to reject Von Hussler has cost the bank dearly, and he is suspended without pay. George explodes with rage at the children and they are sent to the nursery. Reacting to their father's outburst, Mary briefly points out that other members of the family are rarely there to take care of the parents, before Jane and Michael get into a fight over Jane's doll Valentine, prompting a displeased Mary to order them to bed and enchant them to sleep. The frightening consequence of Jane's anger becomes apparent moments afterwards, as Valentine and the rest of Jane and Michael's disgruntled toys come to life and join Mary in teaching them a lesson in how to take better care of their belongings and toys (formerly "Temper, Temper", now "Playing the Game").

Believing that Jane and Michael need personal growth, Mary decides to leave Cherry Tree Lane to bring them to their senses, and speaks with Bert about her decision ("Chim Chim Cher-ee – Rooftop Duet"). She then flies away using her magical parrot headed umbrella. Jane and Michael wake up to find Mary Poppins and their toys gone, leaving only a note on the floor that reads, "Dear Jane and Michael, keep playing the game. Au Revoir, Mary Poppins." Mrs. Brill sees them awake, and when asked about what "Au Revoir" means, she tells them that it means "Till we meet again" before sending them in for bed.

In a misguided attempt to please her husband, Winifred arranges for his childhood nanny, Miss Andrew, to take over from the suddenly departed Mary ("Cherry Tree Lane (Reprise)"). At the sight of her, a terrified George flees, exclaiming "the Holy Terror!" To everyone's shock and dismay, he is right. Miss Andrew is a brutal and cruel tyrant, quick to administer her own terrible elixir ("Brimstone and Treacle Part 1") and discipline by threatening to split Jane and Michael up by taking charge of Jane and sending Michael to boarding school. After Miss Andrew goes to her room, Jane and Michael decide that running away is the only solution.

The children find their good friend Bert, who cheers them up and helps Michael fulfill his dream of flying a kite ("Let's Go Fly a Kite"). Mary Poppins flies in on the kite from the sky and reunites with the children. They update her on Miss Andrew and she takes them home, planning to "surprise" Andrew. Also hiding in the park is George, who is depressed over his supposed lack of achievements ("Good For Nothing"). Searching for him is Winifred, who at last understands her husband and the damage that was done to him by Miss Andrew ("Being Mrs Banks (Reprise)").

When the children return to Number 17, Mary sets Caruso, Miss Andrew's lark, free from his cage. This leads to a confrontation between the two nannies, ending with Miss Andrew having a taste of her own medicine as she is trapped in a large birdcage and vanishes down below ("Brimstone and Treacle Part 2"). Winifred and then George return at this point, surprised but pleased that Miss Andrew has "left".

The group ascends to the rooftops, where Bert introduces the children to his friends the chimney sweeps ("Step in Time"). The sweeps' dance eventually enters the house, causing chaos. As the sweeps quickly exit, George receives a telegram from the bank requesting his presence there. George assumes that he has been fired and decides it's time to sell the family heirloom. However, the vase is shattered accidentally by Mrs. Brill, who goes into a despairing shock since she had been cleaning it from the top of the shelf. When she is being led away for comfort, George goes to clean the broken pile himself, to find it reveal a collection of gingerbread stars from his childhood. This leads to a brief moment of reflection for George ("A Man Has Dreams (Reprise) / A Spoonful Of Sugar (Reprise)"). After shaking hands with Bert, George leaves to meet the Chairman of the Bank.

At the children's encouragement, Winifred decides to follow her heart and be at George's side at the bank ("Anything Can Happen (Part 1)"). Unseen to anyone else, Mary takes Jane and Michael into the sky to follow, where they watch the unfolding events. On his way to the bank, George encounters the bird woman and gives her tuppence to feed the birds ("Feed The Birds (Reprise)")

At the bank ("Precision And Order (Reprise)"), George is surprised to learn the consequence of his choice: far from ruining the bank, he has made a fortune by both rejecting Von Hussler and approving Mr. Northbrook's loan. They ask for the word that made them so successful, which George admits to be Mary's word, ("Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (Reprise)"). Winifred, arriving to defend her husband, finds instead he is the hero of the hour. After she mentions Miss Andrew's name to the Bank Manager, the old man, too, relates his experience under "the Holy Terror". Winifred convinces the manager to quadruple George's salary. George apologizes for underestimating her, and together they return to the house. Mary and Bert take the children across the skies and they see everyone they met along their journey including Mrs. Correy, Neleus, and even Miss Andrew, who kindly shakes hands with Michael ("Anything Can Happen (Part 2)").

Mary realises that with the family reunited and happy, her task is done. With regret, she says goodbye to Bert with a kiss on the cheek and sets off ("A Spoonful Of Sugar (A Task Is Done)"). Jane and Michael accept that Mary is leaving them and tell her that they'll never forget her. The two children watch as their parents waltz happily together and Mary flies high above the audience using her magical parrot headed umbrella.