'Ello Guvnah! D23 Expo Kicks Off with Sneak Peek of Lin-Manuel Miranda in MARY POPPINS RETURNS

The D23 expo kicked off today with a sizzle reel of footage from upcoming Disney films. Among the clips was a blink-and-you-missed-it look at Lin-Manuel Miranda in the upcoming Disney sequel, MARY POPPINS RETURNS.

"It's a good thing you come along when you did, Mary Poppins!" the Pulitzer Prize winner exclaims in the first available footage of the hotly-anticipated film.

Friday's festivities at the expo beagn with an animation panel, More Mary Poppins details are expected throughout the weekend.

BroadwayWorld will have video of the clip once (and if!) it becomes available.

MARY POPPINS RETURNS will be released in U.S. theaters on December 25, 2018. Directed and produced by Rob Marshall, "Mary Poppins Returns" stars Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer and Julie Walters with Colin Firth and Meryl Streep. The film, which introduces three new Banks children, played by Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh and newcomer Joel Dawson, also features Dick Van Dyke and Angela Lansbury.

The film is set in 1930s depression-era London (the time period of the original novels) and is drawn from the wealth of material in PL Travers' additional seven books. In the story, Michael (Whishaw) and Jane (Mortimer) are now grown up, with Michael, his three children and their housekeeper, Ellen (Walters), living on Cherry Tree Lane. After Michael suffers a personal loss, the enigmatic nanny Mary Poppins (Blunt) re-enters the lives of the Banks family, and, along with the optimistic street lamplighter Jack (Miranda), uses her unique magical skills to help the family rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives. Mary Poppins also introduces the children to a new assortment of colorful and whimsical characters, including her eccentric cousin, Topsy (Streep).

The film is produced by Marshall, John DeLuca and Marc Platt. The screenplay is by David Magee based on The Mary Poppins Stories by P.L. Travers with Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman writing all new songs and Shaiman composing an original score.