MARY POPPINS North American Tour Opens Tonight in Sacramento

The Sacramento premiere of MARY POPPINS opens tonight, Friday, June 3 at 8:00 p.m. at the Community Center Theater for a limited engagement of three weeks through Sunday, June 19, 2011. MARY POPPINS plays Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m. and Thursday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m., with an additional performance on Sunday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m. "Thus far sales have exceeded our expectations, but there are still great seats available" said Richard Lewis, executive producer of California Musical Theatre.

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 six productions of the show have grossed over $521 million, welcomed 7 million guests and cumulatively run 11.5 years. The musical is the winner of 36 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 to 1.5 million delighted theatergoers in 26 cities to date.

Steffanie Leigh will star as "Mary Poppins" while original Broadway company member, Nicolas Dromard, will assume the role of "Bert".
Joining Leigh and Dromard will be Laird Mackintosh as "George Banks", Blythe Wilson as "Winifred Banks", Rachel Izen as "Mrs. Brill", Dennis Moench as "Robertson Ay", Q. Smith as "Miss Andrew", Janet MacEwen as "The Bird Woman", and Michael McCarty as "Admiral Boom." Performances in the role of "Jane Banks" will be alternated between Camille Mancuso and Marissa Smoker. Performances in the role of "Michael Banks" will be alternated between Talon Ackerman and Tyler Merna.

Rounding out the cast are Josh Assor, Jacob ben Widmar, Kiara Bennett, Elizabeth Broadhurst, Arielle Campbell, Debra Cardona, Kate Chapman, Eric Coles, Anthony Christian Daniel, Elizabeth Earley, Tyler Foy, Eric Giancola, Geoffrey Goldberg, Mark Harapiak, Eric Hatch, Tiffany Howard, Lisa Kassay, Koh Mochizuki, Michael Dean Morgan, Chuck Rea, Jesse Swimm, Nic Thompson, Rachel Wallace and Michelle E. White.

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 TonyÒ 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.
ABOUT MARY POPPINS WORLDWIDE

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 from the 2006-2007 theatrical season still in performance.
The MARY POPPINS North American tour has garnered continuous critical praise and achieved box office success since its launch in Chicago in March 2009.
MARY POPPINS can also be seen in Scheveningen, Netherlands (outside of Amsterdam at the Circus Theatre) and Sydney, Australia (at the Capitol Theatre). Productions of MARY POPPINS have also been mounted in Finland, Denmark and the Czech Republic.

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR SCHEDULE THROUGH DECEMBER 2011

Sacramento - Community Center Theatre

June 2 - 19, 2011

Portland - Keller Auditorium

June 22 - July 10, 2011

Costa Mesa - Segerstrom Center for the Arts

July 14 - 31, 2011

San Diego - San Diego Civic Theatre

August 10 - 21, 2011

Salt Lake City - Capitol Theatre

September 1 - 25, 2011

San Antonio - Majestic Theatre

September 29 - October 9, 2011

Chicago - Cadillac Palace Theatre

October 13 - November 6, 2011

Toronto - Princess of Wales Theatre

November 10 - December 18, 2011

In Sacramento, MARY POPPINS will play Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m. and Thursday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m., with an additional performance on Sunday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices start as low as $24. Tickets are available at the Community Center Box Office, the Wells Fargo Pavilion Box Office and online at Tickets.com. To charge tickets, call (916) 808-5181, (916) 557-1999 between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Orders for groups of ten (10) or more may be placed by calling (916) 557-1198

The Sacramento engagement of MARY POPPINS is presented by arrangement with California Musical Theatre and is a subscription offering of the Broadway Sacramento Series.

For more information, please visit MaryPoppins.com