Mary Poppins tour changes?

[camncal]

Posted: 11/9/09 at 4:40pm

I'm seeing the show this weekend in LA, just wondering what changes they've made.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 11/9/09 at 4:55pm

There have been a few threads on this topic, but the major musical change is "Temper, Temper" which has been replaced with "Playing the Game".

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 11/9/09 at 5:03pm

Isn't the tour set a 'pop-up-book' type house?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/9/09 at 5:13pm

Yup. The house for the US Tour is onstage and folds open like a pop-up book. The house in the Broadway production rises and lowers from/into the stage floor, making certains different levels of the house 'stage level' for certain scenes, etc.

[legallysam]

Posted: 11/9/09 at 5:14pm

I know the UK Tour was set up like a pop up book, and i've just been on the tour website and found these production shots:

http://www.marypoppinsthemusical.co.uk/production_photo.php?p=19

you can see the set in a few of them and it doesn't look much different from the London production at all. I presume the US Tour is using the same designs as the UK Tour, otherwise all this is just useless information :P

[KirbyCat]

Posted: 11/9/09 at 5:21pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VWRvzYuSIM
Here, you can see the set in bits of this video...

But Brody, on Broadway, the house is actually onstage the entire show, but it is kept upstage behind a drop in scenes where it is not used. The only detached parts of the house are the nursery and the kitchen.

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 11/9/09 at 5:25pm

^ Darn, beat me to posting that video.

I saw the tour a few weeks ago and the pop-up book/fold out house is really frickin' cool.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/9/09 at 5:26pm

I stand corrected. I've only seen the original West End/London production and the house rose up and down from the stage. I assumed the Broadway production was identical. Sad to hear it isn't as the effect was quite spectacular.

[KirbyCat]

Posted: 11/9/09 at 5:28pm

Wait, I'm confused... I have (shamefully) seen bootlegs of the original London production and have not once seen the house descend into the deck.

[boyfromoz2]

Posted: 11/9/09 at 6:44pm

Bob Crowley had originally planned for the house to be a single four-storey scenic piece, with the kitchen in the cellar rising up from below the deck and the house lowering into the deck for the nursery scenes. However, no theatre in London or New York has the basement space to store the full house for the nursery scenes, and so the idea of the single house unit was abandoned.

The basic house set in New York consists of 4 sections - three vertical pieces that form the foyer/sitting room/office set, and then the nursery piece which sits on top of these and is then lowered down to the deck. The kitchen set is only used once, and is an independent scenic item, with a drop above it showing that it is situated in the cellar of the house.

[KirbyCat]

Posted: 11/9/09 at 7:29pm

Thanks, boyfromoz2, for clearing that up for us!

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 11/10/09 at 1:17am

Must add another correction...

The Broadway house is actually TWO pieces. The first two stories are one full piece, and the nursery flies in. BoyfromOz, you are correct that about the house being in four pieces, but that was for the London production only.

[ldnfan]

Posted: 12/20/09 at 7:51pm

Dragging up the most recent thread to ask, does anyone know how long Ashley Brown will be with the tour?

On the website for her new album (www.simgproductions.com), Caroline Sheen, who played Mary on the UK tour had the following:

"Caroline played the title role on the International Tour of Mary Poppins, and in 2010 was invited to join the National Tour of the United States."

I was wondering if anyone might know when next year she would begin? It's very exciting. This leaves Lisa O'Hare as our only UK Mary who won't have done the role in the US (yet)!

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 12/20/09 at 10:25pm

I would like to strike a guess that Sheen will take over in Arizona this coming February...I remember a TV interview with Brown stating she'd be with the tour through the LA engagement.

[hicaesar]

Posted: 12/20/09 at 10:52pm

while on the subject, I heard that Karl Kenzler and the lady playing Mrs. Banks on tour (can't remember her name...) are joining the broadway team soon. Any news on who will replace them on tour?

I have to wonder if Daniel Jenkins is not a possibility since his "Love Child" show closes January 3, since Jane Carr and Valerie Boyle just swapped places basically I'm wondering if others are in the running for this as well?

Posted: 12/20/09 at 11:11pm

Last I heard, Mrs. Banks and Mr. Banks were both heading to Broadway. Megan O something and Andy Karl. Megan was in the OB cast as one of those girls in Mrs. Cory's shop. And she is also Mary's understudy.

Andrew KB is leaving after LA.
Ashley I think is leaving after AZ. On Fb 28th

I know Mr. and Mrs. Banks are right as well as Andrew KB. He has tweeted about it a few times.

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 12/20/09 at 11:25pm

Megan Osterhaus is her name....at least Karl Kenzler is fantastic, though. He really goes to a place...

Updated On: 12/20/09 at 11:25 PM

[MusicalMan76]

Posted: 12/21/09 at 1:33pm

Two Canadians -- Blythe Wilson and Laird Macintosh -- will be joining the US tour of Mary Poppins as Mrs. and Mr. Banks, respectively.

[hicaesar]

Posted: 12/21/09 at 3:16pm

Thanks MusicalMan... I'll stop hoping for Jenkins then, ha.