Practically perfect ticket sales have garnered close to £2.5 million — in three days — for the return of the Mary Poppins musical.
And that is just from what are known as ‘priority’ bookings. Seats for the show, running at the Prince Edward Theatre from October 23, go on general public sale on Monday.
The show, starring Zizi Strallen as the nanny who uses stern magic to help the Banks family in Cherry Tree Lane, and Charlie Stemp as Bert the chimney sweep, was first staged 15 years ago.
The show, starring Zizi Strallen as the nanny who uses stern magic to help the Banks family in Cherry Tree Lane, and Charlie Stemp as Bert the chimney sweep, was first staged 15 years ago
My hunch is that it’s doing terrific box office for two main reasons.
Folks saw the recent Mary Poppins Returns movie and wanted more, plus they missed the original Richard and Robert Sherman classic songs from the film — and also the new numbers, such as Practically Perfect and Anything Can Happen, which were cleverly interpolated into the stage show by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.
The Stiles and Drewe compositions seem more fitting and familiar than the ones by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman for Mary Poppins Returns, though the latter do grow on you, albeit slowly.
Cameron Mackintosh, who’s producing the show with Disney’s Thomas Schumacher, told me that choreographers Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear are developing some new dance steps for Strallen and Stemp.
‘They’re like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers,’ the impresario told me. ‘They’re such accomplished dancers and we want to show them off. They were born to play these roles.’
Once Mary Poppins has settled into the Prince Edward, Mackintosh and Schumacher will set about taking the show back to Broadway.
P. L. Travers, who created Mary Poppins, believed that her tales were more than children’s stories — rather, they emerged from a rich tradition of female wisdom.
Talking of which, Mackintosh’s youthful-looking mother, Diana, is 100 years old tomorrow.
Her milestone will be celebrated with a lavish bash at London’s famous Claridge’s hotel.
It's Juliet singing Britney... with no Romeo
Miriam-Teak Lee, a young star in the making, has been chosen to headline a new Shakespearean-inspired musical featuring the songs of one-man hit machine Max Martin
Miriam-Teak Lee, a young star in the making, has been chosen to headline a new Shakespearean-inspired musical featuring the songs of one-man hit machine Max Martin.
The show, called ‘& Juliet’, starts previews at the Shaftesbury Theatre on November 2. It fantasises about Juliet’s life if she hadn’t taken poison with beau Romeo.
Swedish-born songwriter and producer Martin has been behind an astonishing list of chart-topping singles such as Baby One More Time for Britney Spears; Love Me Like You Do for Ellie Goulding; Send My Love, sung by Adele; and It’s My Life for Bon Jovi. Those and other Martin numbers will be performed in & Juliet by a company still being finalised.
‘We know Romeo And Juliet as a love story and tragedy,’ said 24-year-old Ms Lee, who graduated from Arts Educational School two years ago. ‘But this has flipped the idea of the Shakespeare play. She’s saying, “I can live my own life. I’m still young!” This Juliet’s a badass. And she’s very brave and willing to take risks.’
The show, written by David West Read, will feature Shakespeare and wife Anne Hathaway among the characters. ‘Juliet challenges her creator,’ Lee told me, ‘and Anne seems to be living vicariously through Juliet and what she gets up to.’
But what of Romeo? ‘He’s not a big part of Act 1,’ Luke Sheppard, the 32-year-old director of & Juliet told me at Bar Centrale in New York. ‘Juliet’s only had one lover, so what does a young girl get up to? She leaves Verona and goes to Paris in search of adventure. Her nurse is part of that journey,’ Sheppard said, noting that some characters with small roles in Romeo And Juliet move centre stage in & Juliet.
The show features Hit Me Baby One More Time - which made Britney Spears a star
Sheppard, who directed Lin-Manuel Miranda’s pre-Hamilton hit In The
