Mary Poppins to Begin Performances at New Amsterdam on October 14; Lion King Will Move to Minskoff on June 13
(Photo © Michael Le Poer Trench)
Mary Poppins, the stage musical based on the stories by P.L. Travers and the Oscar-winning 1964 Walt Disney film, will begin performances at the New Amsterdam Theatre on Saturday, October 14 and is scheduled to open officially on Thursday, November 16. Co-produced by Disney Theatricals and Cameron Mackintosh, the show has been playing very successfully in London since December 2004. No casting has been announced for the Broadway production.
The New Amsterdam’s current tenant, Disney’s long-running musical The Lion King, will vacate the New Amsterdam on June 4. It will move with all 52-cast members and its entire 24-member orchestra to the Minskoff Theatre and begin performances there on June 13. The move will follow the completion of a custom renovation of the theater to accommodate the production; that renovation will begin after the closing of Fiddler on the Roof on January 8. The Lion King opened on November 13, 1997 and won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
Mary Poppins is directed by Richard Eyre, with co-direction and choreography by Matthew Bourne and additional choreography by Stephen Mear. The show has a book by Julian Fellows and uses the original film score by Robert and Richard Sherman, augmented by new songs writen by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. The creative team for the production includes Bob Crowley (set and costume design), Howard Harrison (lighting design), Andrew Bruce (sound design), William David Brohn (orchestrations), David Caddick (musical supervision).
The 1964 film version of Mary Poppins starred Julie Andrews as the no-nonsense nanny, along with Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, Ed Wynn, Glynis Johns, and Elsa Lanchester. It won five Academy Awards, including Best Actress and Best Original Song (“Chim Chim Cheree”).
