MARY POPPINS Opens Tonight At The Aronoff Center

The Cincinnati premiere of MARY POPPINS opens tonight, Friday, April 9 at 8:00 p.m. at the Aronoff Center for a limited engagement of 3 weeks through Sunday, April 25, 2010. MARY POPPINS plays Tuesday through Friday evenings at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Great seats still available for most performances. 

The entire original creative team has reunited to bring this magical story of the world's most famous nanny to audiences around North America. Since the tour's launch in Chicago in March 2009, MARY POPPINS has earned continuous critical praise and box-office success.
Original UK Tour star, Caroline Sheen, will reprise her role as "Mary Poppins" while original London and Broadway star, Gavin Lee, will assume the role of "Bert".

Joining Sheen and Lee will be Laird Mackintosh as "George Banks", Blythe Wilson as "Winifred Banks", Rachel Izen as "Mrs. Brill", Dennis Moench as "Robertson Ay", Ellen Harvey as "Miss Andrew", Mary VanArsdel as "The Bird Woman", and Mike O'Carroll as "Admiral Boom." Performances in the role of "Jane Banks" will be alternated between Kelsey Fowler and Bailey Grey. Performances in the role of "Michael Banks" will be alternated between Bryce Baldwin and Carter Thomas.

Rounding out the cast are Tia Altinay, Carol Angeli, Jacob ben Widmar, Gail Bennett, Kiara Bennett, Troy Edward Bowles, Elizabeth Broadhurst, Jonathan Brody, Debra Cardona, Elizabeth Earley, Michael Gerhart, Geoffrey Goldberg, Emily Harvey, Eric Hatch, Tiffany Howard, Kelly Jacobs, Sam Kiernan, Brian Letendre, Koh Mochizuki, Shua Potter, Dominic Roberts, Nick Sanchez, Q. Smith, Jesse Swimm and Tom Souhrada.

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 James Dodgson.

ABOUT MARY POPPINS WORLDWIDE
MARY POPPINS is one of the biggest stage musical successes to emerge from London or New York in recent years. Worldwide to date, MARY POPPINS has grossed over $392 million and has welcomed over 5.3 million guests.
Consistently among Broadway's top-grossing shows, MARY POPPINS has played over 1400 performances since its official opening on November 16, 2006. Now in its fourth smash year at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York, the Broadway production has been seen by over two million theatergoers and grossed over $170 million to date, recouping its initial investment within 52 weeks of its premiere.

Not only do the Broadway show and the North American tour draw huge audiences, but the show's popularity also reaches around the globe. MARY POPPINS will premiere two major international productions in 2010: an open-ended run begins April 11 at the Circus Theatre in Scheveningen, Holland, outside of Amsterdam (presented by Stage Entertainment in association with Disney and Cameron Mackintosh) and an Australian production opens July 29 at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne. Additionally, during 2010 MARY POPPINS opens in Sweden, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Hungary, with plans already underway for future productions in Israel, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Korea, Canada and Japan. Following a successful three-year run in 2008 at the Prince Edward Theatre in London's West End, a U.K. tour of MARY POPPINS commenced in summer 2008 and concluded its acclaimed run in Cardiff, Wales in April 2009.

The MARY POPPINS NORTH AMERICAN TOUR has garnered continuous critical praise and achieved box office success since its launch in Chicago in March 2009. Original UK touring company star, Caroline Sheen, reprises her role as "Mary Poppins" while original London and Broadway star, Gavin Lee, stars as "Bert." The tour will play the following venues and cities in 2010: Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA; David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, FL; Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C.; NC Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte, NC; Murat Theatre in Indianapolis, IN; Shea's Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, NY and the Opera House in Detroit, MI. Future tour engagements to be announced.
In Cincinnati, MARY POPPINS will play Cincinnati April 8-25, 2010: Tuesday through Friday at 8:00pm, Saturday at 2:00pm and 8:00pm and Sunday at 1:00pm and 6:30pm. Ticket prices start as low as $20.00. Special Premium Ticket Packages are available at select performances, and include premium seating and a complimentary souvenir program.

The Cincinnati engagement of MARY POPPINS is presented by arrangement with Broadway Across America and is a subscription offering of the Fifth Third Bank Broadway Across America 09/10 Season.

For more information, please visit MaryPoppins.com