Casting Complete for Mary Poppins National Tour
Complete casting for the upcoming North American national tour of Mary Poppins has been announced. As was previously announced, original Broadway stars Ashley Brown and Gavin Lee will reprise their roles as Mary Poppins and Bert, respectively, on the tour. The first stop is Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre, where previews begin Wednesday, March 11, with opening night set for March 25.
Joining Brown and Lee will be Karl Kenzler Mr. Banks, Megan Osterhaus Mrs. Banks, Valerie Boyle Mrs. Brill, Mary Vanarsdel Bird Woman, Andrew Keenan-Bolger Robertson Ay, Ellen Harvey Miss Andrew and Mike O’Carroll Admiral Boom. Christopher Flaim and Justin Hall will alternate in the role of Michael Banks. Kirrilee Berger and Abigail Droeger will alternate in the role of Jane Banks.
The cast of 38 performers also includes two local Chicago-area natives: Droeger and Michael Gerhart Von Hussler.
Rounding out the cast are Tia Altinay, Carol Angeli, Gail Bennett, Kiara Bennett, Brandon Bieber, Troy Edward Bowles, Elizabeth Broadhurst, Michael Gerhart, Geoffery Goldberg, Emily Harvey, Tiffany Howard, Kelly Jacobs, Wendy James, Clark Johnsen, Justin Keyes, Brian Letendre, Laird Mackintosh, Vanessa McMahan, Koh Mochizuki, Shua Potter, Dominic Roberts, Nick Sanchez, Q. Smith, Jesse Swimm and Tom Souhrada.
After Chicago, the tour is scheduled to play The State Theatre in Cleveland, The Fox Theatre in St. Louis, The Music Hall at Fair Park in Dallas and The Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, with additional cities, venues and dates to be announced.
Based on P.L. Travers’s stories and the classic 1964 Walt Disney film, Mary Poppins had its world-premiere in September 2004 at the Bristol Hippodrome in London, where it ran for more than three years before closing in January 2008. Productions of the show are currently running on tour in the U.K. and at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York, where Mary Poppins had its Broadway premiere in November 2006.
