Steffanie Leigh stepped into the title role of Broadway’s Mary Poppins Oct. 11, marking her Broadway debut. After traveling around the world as the practically perfect nanny in the North American tour, she now lands at the New Amsterdam Theatre, succeeding Olivier Award winner Laura Michelle Kelly.
In Mary Poppins, Leigh joins 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, the new leading lady sits down with co-star Gavin Lee to discuss her journey with the Disney musical and taking on the title role in her Broadway debut.
To watch Leigh’s journey to Broadway, look below: (more…)
Broadway in Bryant Park, the annual free concert series now in its 11th year, featured performances from the stars of Broadway and Off-Broadway Thursdays throughout the summer. The sixth and final concert of the series was held Aug. 11 with performances from Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Mary Poppins, Avenue Q and Mamma Mia!
Sponsored by Bank of America and Clean Air NY, the afternoons were hosted by 106.7 Lite fm’s on-air personalities.
The Aug. 11 performance featured “Practically Perfect” from Mary Poppins; “Waterloo” from Mamma Mia!; “I Wish I Could Go Back to College” from Avenue Q; and “Go West” and “We Belong” from Priscilla Queen of the Desert, among others.
In case you missed the final free concert in Bryant Park, Playbill.com has highlights from the performances and chats with the stars and audience members at the event.
To watch highlights from Broadway in Bryant Park, look below: (more…)
The cast of the Mary Poppins North American tour appeared on the 200th episode of "Dancing With the Stars" Nov. 2. Led by Caroline Sheen as Mary and Nicholas Dromard as Bert, the cast performed “Step in Time,” featuring some athletic choreography by Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mears — and a little anti-gravity magic from Mary.
The tour of Mary Poppins, based on the classic P.L. Travers books and Disney film musical about a magical nanny and her effect on two lonely children, is currently docked in East Lansing, MI, at the Wharton Center for Performing Arts. The Broadway production is running at the New Amsterdam Theatre.
To watch the cast step lively on “Dancing with the Stars,” look below:
Tony Award nominee Gavin Creel hosts a series of online behind-the-scenes looks at the stage version of the beloved literary and Disney film character Mary Poppins.
The first three videos take a look at the character’s journey from the mind of author P.L. Travers, who wrote a series of books about the magical nanny’s adventures, to the classic Disney film, to the stage production that opened first in London and is currently enjoying a hit run on Broadway. The third video asks the question, “Who is Mary Poppins?”
In addition to host Creel, who played Bert during the musical’s West End run, the videos feature interviews with one of the film’s songwriters, Richard M. Sherman; George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who added songs to the stage production; various cast members, including Marys Laura Michelle Kelly, Ashley Brown and Caroline Sheen; and the show’s producers, Disney Theatrical president Thomas Schumacher and Cameron Mackintosh.
Laura Michelle Kelly may go from the magical world of her current Broadway gig, Mary Poppins, into a land of otherworldly romance in the upcoming West End musical Ghost.
London’s Daily Mail reports that Kelly is likely to star in the musical version of the hit 1990 film, which is set to open in 2011. Kelly would play the Demi Moore role of a clay-making artist whose lover dies and must then save her life from the great beyond.
Kelly’s participation appears likely to hang on which West End theatre will be signed for the show. Details on that are apparently forthcoming in the next few weeks, but producers plan to try out the show in Manchester in spring 2011, with a West End bow in early summer.
The musical Ghost will feature book and lyrics by the film’s screenwriter, Bruce Joel Rubin, and music and lyrics by Dave Stewart (of Eurhythmics) and Glen Ballard. Tony Award winner Matthew Warchus is set to direct.
When new principals Laura Michelle Kelly and Christian Borle pop into Broadway’s Mary Poppins on Oct. 12, so will a brand new song, Playbill.com has learned.
Instead of the menacing “Temper, Temper,” in which the naughty Banks children are punished by their oversized toys, audiences will get a variation on the idea, “Playing the Game,” another ensemble musical number by songwriters Anthony Drewe and George Stiles. The song was introduced in North America with the March launch of the current Mary Poppins tour.
As is well known to fans of the musical at Broadway’s New Amsterdam, the show’s score weaves new songs by Stiles & Drewe (”Practically Perfect,” “Anything Can Happen,” “Cherry Tree Lane,” “Being Mrs. Banks” and others) with Sherman Brothers classics from the famous Disney film (”Feed the Birds,” “Jolly Holiday,” “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Step in Time,” “Let’s Go Fly a Kite,” Chim Chim Cher-ee,” among others).
Mary Poppins draws on elements from the 1964 movie and the book series by P.L. Travers.
Kelly created the title role (and won an Olivier Award for her high-flying turn) in the original London production. Borle, who will play chimney sweep Bert, was recently featured in Broadway’s Legally Blonde, for which he was Tony-nominated in 2007 as Best Featured Actor in a Musical.
Mary Poppins will celebrate its three-year anniversary at the New Amsterdam Theatre on West 42nd Street on Nov. 16.
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