MARY POPPINS in Brisbane Breaks Box Office Record

By: Feb. 22, 2012
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The Disney and Cameron Mackintosh premiere of Mary Poppins in Brisbane, Australia has broken box office records, selling out more than 180,000 tickets, to become the biggest selling show at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) in over a decade and the biggest of this century.

The Brisbane production, which celebrates the birthplace of the title’s creator and author, P.L. Travers, began performances at QPAC’s Lyric Theatre on January 5th, 2012.  The production has sold out four weeks prior to its closing night on Saturday, March 17th.  Prior to this record-breaking run, the show played successful engagements in Melbourne and Sydney.

Mary Poppins has broken QPAC’s box office record for ticket sales for runs of comparable length. The record was previously held by The Boy from Oz presented in 1999, followed closely by The Phantom of the Opera in 2008.

Mary Poppins continues to enjoy outsized success on Broadway. Now in its 5th year, the production reached nearly $1 million in grosses last week.  Since its inception, the Broadway production has garnered a box office gross of $257 million and an attendance of 3.2 million.

The shows worldwide success is also marked by the continued success by members of the creative team. Academy Award®-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes, who wrote the book to Mary Poppins also created and wrote the screenplay for the critically acclaimed and popular PBS series, Dowton Abbey.  Fellows won the 2011 Emmy Award® for writing and the show won for best mini-series.

A co-production by Disney and Cameron Mackintosh, this stage production is based on P.L. Travers' cherished stories and the classic 1964 Walt Disney film and includes the film’s Academy Award®-winning music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman.  MARY POPPINS was created, in collaboration with Cameron Mackintosh, by Academy Award®-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes, who wrote the book; Olivier Award-winning director Richard Eyre; and the Olivier Award-winning team of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who composed new songs and additional music and lyrics.



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