MARY POPPINS Takes Flight in Orange County

The Orange County Performing Arts Center and producers Cameron Mackintosh and Thomas Schumacher announced today that the award-winning musical MARY POPPINS will begin performances at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa on Thursday, July 14, 2011 for a limited engagement of three weeks through Sunday, July 31, 2011. Opening night is set for Friday, July 15 at 7:30 p.m.

MARY POPPINS, a co-production of Disney and Cameron Mackintosh, opened on Broadway on
November 16, 2006. Based on P.L. Travers' cherished stories and the classic 1964 Walt Disney film,
MARY POPPINS the stage play 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.

Olivier Award-winning director Richard Eyre leads the award-winning creative team, with co-direction and choreography by Tony® and Olivier Award winner Matthew Bourne. MARY POPPINS features set and costume design by Tony Award winner Bob Crowley, co-choreography by Olivier Award winner Stephen Mear, lighting design by Howard Harrison, orchestrations by William David Brohn and music supervision by David Caddick. The tour's creative team includes Tour Director Anthony Lyn, Associate Choreographer Geoffrey Garrett and Music Director James Dodgson.

The MARY POPPINS North American tour just completed a 13-week premiere engagement at the
Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles during which it played 100 performances, entertained over 188,000 theatre patrons, grossed $13.7 million at the box office and achieved the milestone of being Los Angeles' highest grossing theatrical event in 2009. Consistently among the top-grossing shows on Broadway, MARY POPPINS continues in its third smash year at the New Amsterdam Theatre and recently celebrated its 1000th performance - a milestone reached by only a rare few number of shows in Broadway history. The Broadway production has grossed over $168 million to date and been seen by over 2.1 million theatergoers.

Simultaneously, the show's popularity grows around the globe. Following a successful three-year run (December 2004 - January 2008) at the Prince Edward Theatre on London's West End, a U.K. tour of MARY POPPINS commenced in summer 2008 and concluded its acclaimed run in Cardiff in April 2009.

MARY POPPINS will premiere two new major international productions in 2010, including the Australian production at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne on July 29 and an open-ended run at the Circus Theatre in Scheveningen, Holland, outside of Amsterdam on April 11. MARY POPPINS will be produced in Holland by Stage Entertainment in association with Disney and Cameron Mackintosh.

Beginning Spring 2010, subscribers to the Center's 2010-2011 Broadway Series will have the first
opportunity to purchase tickets to MARY POPPINS. Reservations for groups of 20 or more are now being accepted by calling the Group Services office at 714.755.0236. The TTY number is 714.556.2746. An onsale announcement for general public tickets will be made at a later date.

MARY POPPINS is part of the Center's 2010-2011 Broadway Series. For more information please visit
MaryPoppins.com