'Poppins' Cast Featured on Scripps National Spelling Bee

The cast of the Broadway musical Mary Poppins will be featured on the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee tonight, Thursday, May 31 from 8PM-10PM.  Mary Poppins herself (Ashley Brown) will take the stage at the annual competition to test her spelling knowledge against the country's most expert spellers.  The Scripps National Spelling Bee airs locally on WABC (Channel 7), check local listings for other areas.

The musical has received seven 2007 Tony Award-nominations, including Best Musical.  The musical has also won two Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (Gavin Lee) and Outstanding Set Design of a Musical (Bob Crowley), as well as a Theatre World Award (for Gavin Lee). 

Mary Poppins, a co-production by Disney and Cameron Mackintosh, opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on November 16, 2006. The London production continues its record-setting run as it enters its third year at the Prince Edward Theatre in the West End.  Based on P.L. Travers's cherished stories and the classic 1964 Walt Disney film, the musical features the Academy Award-winning music and lyrics of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman.  The stage production has been created, in collaboration with Cameron Mackintosh, by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes, who has written the book, and the Olivier Award-winning team of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who have composed new songs and additional music and lyrics

Joining Brown as Mary and Lee as Bert are Daniel Jenkins (Mr. Banks), Rebecca Luker (Mrs. Banks), Jane Carr (Mrs. Brill), Mark Price (Robertson Ay), Cass Morgan (Bird Woman), Ruth Gottschall (Miss Andrew), and Michael McCarty (Admiral Boom/Bank Chairman). Nicole Bocchi, Kathryn Faughnan, and Devynn Pedell alternate in the role of Jane Banks. Matthew Gumley, Henry Hodges and Jacob Levine alternate in the role of Michael Banks.

Visit www.DisneyOnBroadway.com for tickets and more information.

Photo of Ashley Brown by Linda Lenzi