The North American tour of MARY POPPINS celebrated its one year anniversary yesterday having opened in Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theatre on March 25, 2009. During the past year the production has generated over $52 million at the box office and welcomed more than 762,000 theatergoers in eight cities, making it the best-selling and most attended new touring Broadway show in 2009.
Produced by
Thomas Schumacher of
Disney Theatrical Productions and
Cameron Mackintosh, MARY POPPINS features original UK Tour star
Caroline Sheen in the title role and original London and Broadway star
Gavin Lee as Bert, reprising their roles as the world's most famous nanny and chimney sweep.
In 2009 the MARY POPPINS North American tour played very successful engagements in Chicago, IL, Cleveland, OH, St. Louis, MO, Minneapolis, MN, Dallas, TX, Houston, TX and Los Angeles, CA. More than 300,000 theatergoers attended the show in Chicago, where the production grossed $18.5 million during its 18-week engagement; in Cleveland MARY POPPINS entertained over 72,000 theater patrons and grossed $4.4 million during its 4-week run; in Los Angeles the tour achieved the milestone of being Los Angeles' highest grossing theatrical event in 2009 and played to more than 188,000 people throughout the 13-week engagement and grossed $13.7 million at the box office.
A historic night for the production occurred in Los Angeles when Disney legend
Dick Van Dyke delighted the audience by making a surprise cameo appearance as the crotchety bank president "Mr. Dawes," a character he portrayed in addition to the affable "Bert" in the 1964 film version of MARY POPPINS. Other stars of film, television, stage and sports embraced MARY POPPINS in 2009, including such Hollywood luminaries as
Tom Cruise,
Katie Holmes,
David Beckham,
Calista Flockhart, Angelica Houston,
Lauren Conrad and
William Shatner.
The MARY POPPINS North American tour is currently playing in Denver at the Buell Theatre through April 4. Great seats are still available for each performance and can be purchased online at
www.denvercenter.org.
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: Denver Center for the Performing Arts in Denver, CO; Aronoff Center in Cincinnati, OH; 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.
For more information, visit
www.MaryPoppins.com-----
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR SCHEDULE THROUGH OCTOBER 2010
Cincinnati - Aronoff Center for the Arts
April 8 - 25, 2010
Atlanta - Fox Theatre
April 29 - May 16, 2010
Tampa - Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
May 20 - June 6, 2010
Ft. Lauderdale - Broward Center for the Performing Arts
June 9 - 27, 2010
Washington, D.C. - Kennedy Center Opera House
July 1 - August 22, 2010
Charlotte - Blumenthal Performing Arts Center
August 25 - Sept 12, 2010
Indianapolis - Murat Theatre
Sept 23 - Oct 10, 2010
Buffalo - Shea's Performing Arts Center
Oct 14 - 31, 2010
Future cities to be announced.
