Olivier Award winner Laura Michelle Kelly, the West End's original Mary, played her final performance on Broadway Oct. 9.
Leigh joins a cast that also features Tony Award nominee Gavin Lee as Bert, Karl Kenzler as George Banks, Megan Osterhaus as Winifred Banks, Valerie Boyle as Mrs. Brill, Ann Arvia as Bird Woman, Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Robertson Ay, Ruth Gottschall as Miss Andrew and Jonathan Freeman as Admiral Boom. Alternating in the role of Jane Banks are Rozi Baker, Brigid Harrington and Kara Oates; alternating in the role of Michael Banks are Lewis Grosso, David Gabriel Lerner and Anthony Scarpone-Lambert.
Here is a look at Leigh's debut:
Leigh played the practically perfect nanny for eight months on the road. Her previous regional theatre credits include Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Beauty and the Beast, 42nd St., Into the Woods, Grease, Mame and Les Miserables. She received her BFA in acting from Carnegie Mellon University.
Mary Poppins, a co-production by Disney and Cameron Mackintosh, is a new musical based on P.L. Travers' stories and the classic 1964 Walt Disney film. The score boasts the film's Academy Award-winning music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, with new songs by Olivier Award winners George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.
The stage production was created, in collaboration with Cameron Mackintosh, by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes, who wrote the book; and Olivier Award-winning director Richard Eyre.
For tickets, show information and performance schedule, visit MaryPoppins.com.
