STAGE TUBE: Steffanie Leigh on Playing Mary Poppins on Tour!

MARY POPPINS, part of Broadway/San Diego's 2011-2012 35th Anniversary Season, is playing through Sunday, August 21st, at the San Diego Civic Theatre. With four productions currently running on three continents, MARY POPPINS is one of the biggest stage musical successes to emerge from London or New York in recent years. Worldwide to date, the six productions of the show have grossed over $521 million, welcomed 7 million guests and cumulatively run 11.5 years. The musical is the winner of 36 major theatre awards around the globe, including Tony®, Olivier and Evening Standard awards. In the video below, Mary Poppins herself, Steffanie Leigh chats about taking on the iconic role.

The entire original creative team has reunited to bring this magical story of the world's most famous nanny to audiences around North America. The MARY POPPINS North American Tour began performances on March 25, 2009 and has played to 1.5 million delighted theatergoers in 28 cities to date.

Steffanie Leigh stars as "Mary Poppins" while original Broadway company member, Nicolas
Dromard, assumes the role of "Bert." Joining Leigh and Dromard are Laird Mackintosh as "George Banks," Blythe Wilson as "Winifred Banks," Rachel Izen as "Mrs. Brill," Dennis Moench as "Robertson Ay," Q. Smith as "Miss Andrew," Janet MacEwen as "The Bird Woman," and Michael McCarty as "Admiral Boom." Performances in the role of "Jane Banks" will be alternated between Camille Mancuso and Marissa Smoker. Performances in the role of "Michael Banks" will be alternated between Talon Ackerman and Tyler Merna.

Rounding out the cast are Josh Assor, Jacob ben Widmar, Kiara Bennett, Elizabeth Broadhurst, Arielle Campbell, Debra Cardona, Hannah Chin, Eric Coles, Anthony Christian Daniel, Elizabeth Earley, Tyler Foy, Molly Garner, Eric Giancola, Geoffrey Goldberg, Mark Harapiak, Eric Hatch, Lisa Kassay, Koh Mochizuki, Michael Dean Morgan, Chuck Rea, Sam Strasfeld, Nic Thompson, Rachel Wallace, Michelle E. White and Neka Zang.

For additional information of the tour, visit: www.marypoppins.com.

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 Tony 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 Daniel Bowling.

Audra Stafford is excited to share her love of San Diego theatre with BroadwayWorld.com! As the entertainment reporter for ABC-10 in San Diego, Audra covered the world premieres of A Catered Affair and Dancing in the Dark at The Old Globe, the West Coast premiere of Xanadu at the La Jolla Playhouse, and she was also one of only two journalists in the nation to be embedded in a production of CATS during its national tour. Audra has also interviewed many of Hollywood?s and Broadway?s finest actors, directors and producers, including Scott Sanders, Tom Hulce, Frankie Valli, Robin Williams, Jon Voigt, Helen Mirren, George Lopez, Teri Hatcher, Dakota Fanning, Jerry Bruckheimer and Henry Selick. Audra is a distinguished graduate of San Diego State University?s Television, Film and New Media Production program, where she earned two Student Emmys. She also received an Emmy for her work as producer of 10-4 San Diego. Audra is a proud member of the Screen Actors Guild. To see more of Audra?s entertainment coverage in San Diego, check out her blog: http://audrastafford.wordpress.com

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