MARY POPPINS North American Tour Wins Denver Post Ovation Award

The Denver premiere engagement of MARY POPPINS was honored with a Denver Post Ovation Award, which recognizes the best in Colorado theatre, for "Best National Tour Production of 2010." Caroline Sheen was voted as the "Readers' Choice for Best Actress" for her portrayal of "Mary Poppins."

The MARY POPPINS North American tour was also named by theatre critic John Moore, of the Denver Post, as one of Denver's "top 10 theatre productions of 2010." MARY POPPINS was the only national Broadway tour and non-local production to receive this recognition.

The Denver engagement, which Moore raved was, "practically perfect in every way", played 38 performances over five weeks at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts from March 4 - April 4, 2010 and grossed nearly $5.2 million.

The MARY POPPINS North American tour is currently playing in Pittsburgh, PA at the Benedum Center for the Performing Arts through January 23, 2011. Great seats are still available for each performance and can be purchased online at www.pgharts.org.

With four productions currently running on three continents, MARY POPPINS is one of the biggest stage musical successes to emerge from London or New York in recent years.  Worldwide to date, the show has grossed over $470 million and welcomed 6.5 million guests. With these two new honors, the musical has accumulated 26 major theatre awards around the globe, including Tony®, Olivier and Evening Standard awards.

The entire original creative team has reunited to bring this magical story of the world's most famous nanny to audiences around North America. The MARY POPPINS North American Tour began performances on March 25, 2009 and has played 21 cities to date.

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 Daniel Bowling.

MARY POPPINS received its worldwide premiere at the Prince Edward Theatre in the West End in December 2004. Following its successful three-year London run, the production launched an acclaimed U.K. tour.

The Broadway production of MARY POPPINS officially opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on November 16, 2006, recouping its initial Broadway investment within 52 weeks of its premiere in 2006. MARY POPPINS is the only show that opened during the 2006-2007 theatrical season still in performance.

The MARY POPPINS North American tour has also garnered continuous critical praise and achieved box office success since its launch in Chicago in March 2009.

In addition to Broadway and North America, MARY POPPINS can also be seen at the Circus Theatre in Scheveningen, Holland, outside of Amsterdam, and in Melbourne, Australia at Her Majesty's Theatre. Productions of MARY POPPINS have also been mounted in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and the Czech Republic. Future productions are planned for Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Israel, Japan, Mexico and South America.

Photo Credit: Disney