Zizi Strallen and Charlie Stemp will fly back into the Prince Edward Theatre this summer when Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s multi-award-winning Mary Poppins makes its eagerly-awaited return to its West End home.
Announcing that rehearsals will begin soon ahead of a 7 August 2021 reopening date, Mackintosh said: “The last year has been unbelievably hard for everyone but particularly so for the theatre profession. I have been moved and inspired by the resilience and camaraderie of so many practitioners from all aspects of our industry who have taken on any job so that they and their families could survive.
“I am therefore thrilled to announce that the world’s most beloved Nanny is now able to return to give us a ‘Supercalifragilistic’ time from 7 August – now that the Prime Minister has told us that we are on track to reopen “cautiously but irreversibly” this summer. Even if foreign travel is still a big question mark, Mary Poppins is the one ‘Jolly Holiday’ you can book with certainty this summer! A huge welcome back to the theatre to my wonderful artists and our brilliantly supportive audiences.”
On behalf of Disney Theatrical Productions, president and producer Thomas Schumacher added: “Theatre is a foundational human need that has roared back following every interruption for thousands of years. My friend Cameron Mackintosh and I believe that has never been truer than now. And that there is no better re-entry to theatre than Mary Poppins, a tale about the healing power of enchantment and a family made whole. What better time than now to spend an evening at 17 Cherry Tree Lane?”
The winner of the Best Musical Revival at the 2020 WhatsOnStage Awards and an Olivier Award winner for Best Set Design and Best Theatre Choreographer, Mary Poppins will return with Strallen (Strictly Ballroom, Piccadilly Theatre, Follies, National Theatre), once again playing the ‘practically perfect’ nanny opposite Stemp (Half A Sixpence, West End, Hello Dolly, Broadway) as Bert. Full casting will be announced soon. The production is now booking until 13 February 2022.
Mary Poppins returned to its original London home, the Prince Edward Theatre in October 15 years after the musical version of the much-loved Disney film’s first appeared on the West End stage.
The stage version of the much-loved story of the magical nanny was co-created by Cameron Mackintosh with a book by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and featuring the timeless score by Richard M Sherman and Robert B Sherman. New songs and additional music and lyrics are by the Olivier Award-winning team of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.
Directed by stage and film director Richard Eyre with co-direction and choreography by Matthew Bourne, Mary Poppins boasts orchestrations by William David Brohn with dance and vocal arrangements by George Stiles. The new sound design is by Paul Gatehouse with new lighting by Hugh Vanstone and Natasha Katz and co-choreography is by Stephen Mear. The reimagined set and costume designs are by Bob Crowley.
Angela Thomas
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