Mary Poppins - Manchester Palace Theatre

SYNOPSIS

Mary Poppins - Manchester

December 2008 sees Mary Poppins land at the Manchester Palace Theatre on Oxford Street following a highly successful run in London's West End. Taken from the original 1964 film starring Julie Andrews and Dick van Dyke, Mary Poppins at the Manchester Palace Theatre rekindles the magic once more for a new generation of followers. Actress Lisa O'Hare takes on the lead role of Mary Poppins. Southport-based actor Daniel Crossley plays opposite as Bert.

Mary Poppins on Tour

Manchester is one of four venues outside London where this touring production of Mary Poppins will be staged. The show is to run at Manchester's Palace Theatre from 11 December 2008 through to 7 March 2009. This follows on from a run of the smash hit musical at the Edinburgh Playhouse through the autumn. At the conclusion of the Manchester run the UK tour of Mary Poppins will transfer to Cardiff for the remainder of the spring. An international touring version is scheduled for Summer 2009.

The touring production of Mary Poppins is a natural progression from the West End musical version of Mary Poppins that opened in London during 2004. The musical is based on the original stories of P.L.Travers and uses the 1964 Walt Disney film version as the basis for much of the show's material. The show's creator is the iconic theatre impresario - Cameron Mackintosh. Co-direction and original choreography for the show was by Matthew Bourne. On the UK / International touring version the associate choreographer is Geoffrey Garratt.

Credit for the original music of course goes to Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman. The Sherman Brothers score for Mary Poppins include some of the most recognisable pieces of stage music ever arranged. Feed the Birds and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious won Academy Awards, while Chim Chim Cher-ee became an Oscar winning song. All feature, along with many other memorable tunes, at the Manchester Palace Theatre.

Mary Poppins' Cast for Manchester

Lisa O'Hare features as Mary Poppins on the Manchester leg of the musical's UK tour. O'Hare is no stranger to the role having played as understudy to Laura Michelle Kelly in the original West End production. She also featured in the ensemble during the London run. In 2005 / 2006 she came to the Palace Theatre in Manchester in another Cameron Mackintosh production, this time of 'My fair Lady', in which she played Eliza Doolittle - a shared role with actress Amy Nuttall. 

Daniel Crossley, who plays Bert - the cheeky chimneysweeper - at the Manchester Palace Theatre is an accomplished West End actor. He took the role of Bert on the London stage, and now reprises that role in Manchester. Crossley has appeared in several high profile West End productions including Chicago, Fosse and Anything Goes.