Photo Flash: Richard M. Sherman Visits MARY POPPINS

The legendary Richard M. Sherman and his wife Elizabeth recently took in a performance of MARY POPPINS on Tuesday, May 18. Following the show, they toasted the Broadway company and visited with star Laura Michelle Kelly backstage at the New Amsterdam Theatre.

The night before, Richard and brother Robert B. Sherman received the Career Achievement Award from the Theatre Museum of NY. The duo was feted with a special evening of musical performances celebrating their beloved songbook.

MARY POPPINS continues to fly high. 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, MARY POPPINS has been seen by over two million theatergoers and grossed over $ 180 million to date, recouping its initial Broadway investment within 52 weeks of its premiere.

The MARY POPPINS NORTH AMERICAN TOUR has garnered continuous critical praise and achieved box office success since its launch in March 2009. Original UK Tour star, Caroline Sheen, reprises her role as Mary and original London and Broadway star, Gavin Lee, stars as Bert. The tour will play the following venues and cities in 2010: Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Tampa, FL; Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C.; Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte, NC; Murat Theatre in Indianapolis, IN; Shea's Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, NY; Wharton Center for Performing Arts in East Lansing, MI; Civic Center of Greater Des Moines in Des Moines, IA; and Opera House in Detroit, MI. Future tour engagements to be announced.

Simultaneously, the show's popularity grows around the globe. MARY POPPINS will premiere two major international productions in 2010: an open-ended run opened April 11 at the Circus Theatre in Scheveningen, Holland, outside of Amsterdam (produced by Stage Entertainment in association with Disney and Cameron Mackintosh); the Australian production opens July 29 at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne. 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.

A co-production by Disney and Cameron Mackintosh, this stage production is based on P.L. Travers' cherished stories and the classic 1964 Walt Disney film. The show includes 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; Olivier Award-winning director Richard Eyre; and the Olivier Award-winning team of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who have composed new songs and additional music and lyrics.

TICKETING/BROADWAY PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
MARY POPPINS ticket prices range from $31.50 - $121.50 and are available online at MaryPoppins.com, in-person at the New Amsterdam Theatre Box Office (214 West 42nd Street), or by calling Ticketmaster's Disney on Broadway hotline at 866-870-2717 (running time is approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes). For performance schedule and more information, visit www.MaryPoppins.com.