Mary Poppins Announced! Ashley Brown and Gavin Lee to Star

Producers Cameron Mackintosh and Thomas Schumacher are pleased to announce that after a search spanning many months, Ashley Brown and Gavin Lee will play the roles of Mary Poppins and Bert on Broadway when the hit production of MARY POPPINS arrives at the New Amsterdam Theatre this fall.

MARY POPPINS, produced by Disney and Cameron Mackintosh, begins performances on Saturday, October 14, 2006 at the New Amsterdam Theatre (Broadway at West 42nd Street) in preparation for a Thursday, November 16 opening night. MARY POPPINS continues its record-breaking run at the Prince Edward Theatre in London's West End.

"After the phenomenal success of MARY POPPINS in London, we were excited to cast the roles of Mary and Bert for Broadway" Mackintosh and Schumacher said in a joint statement. "The moment Ashley Brown auditioned for us and members of our creative team, we knew we had found our Mary Poppins. Gavin Lee, who continues to amaze audiences at the Prince Edward Theatre in London, has embodied Bert with such irrepressible charm and warmth that we knew he must perform the role on Broadway. We are delighted that Ashley and Gavin will bring these two legendary characters to life at the New Amsterdam Theatre."

23 year-old Ashley Brown was first discovered by Disney Theatrical Productions in 2004, shortly after her graduation from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Just a few months out of college, she landed the leading role of Kristen in a workshop of the touring production of Disney's On the Record. She then was offered the role when the world premiere production launched later that year. Shortly after ending her run with On The Record, Brown was offered the chance to star in Beauty and the Beast and made her Broadway debut as Belle in September 2005.

Gavin Lee will be making his Broadway debut with MARY POPPINS after originating the role of Bert in the world premiere production in London's West End. Lee received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Bert and an Oliver Award nomination for Best Actor. His London theatre credits include Peggy Sue Got Married, Contact, Oklahoma!, Sondheim's Saturday Night, Crazy For You, and Me and My Girl. In addition, he has appeared in the recent film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera and Beyond The Sea.

Ashley Brown said, "Playing Mary Poppins on Broadway is a dream come true. As a little girl in Florida, I always imagined creating a role in a Broadway show. Now to have Cameron and Tom entrust me with this role is such an honor. I can hardly wait to start."

Gavin Lee said, "I am thrilled to be making my Broadway debut in a role that has given me such pleasure every night in London. Playing Bert has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. I know that American audiences will embrace this magical show just as British audiences have."

Based on P.L. Travers's cherished stories and the classic 1964 Walt Disney film, MARY POPPINS features the Academy Awardâ-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.

Three time Olivier Award-winning director Richard Eyre leads the award-winning creative team assembled for MARY POPPINS with co-direction and choreography by Olivierâ Award winner Matthew Bourne. MARY POPPINS features set and costume design by Tony Awardâ winner Bob Crowley, co-choreography by Olivierâ Award winner Stephen Mear, lighting design by Howard Harrison, sound design by Steve Kennedy, orchestrations by William David Brohn, and musical supervision by David Caddick.

It took Walt Disney twenty years to make the film of MARY POPPINS, from the time he first tried to secure the film rights to its triumphant premiere in 1964. The film was an immediate and phenomenal success, earning universal acclaim. The film played to an estimated 200 million people when it was released, engendering extraordinary affection in its audiences, and has remained one of Disney's most enduring and best-loved films.

MARY POPPINS creator Pamela Lyndon (P.L.) Travers was born Helen Lyndon Goff in Australia on August 9, 1899. While touring as a theatre actress, Pamela began publishing poems, articles, and stories; which led to a career in journalism. It was in 1934, while living in England, that she wrote the first of six books featuring Mary Poppins. When publishing, Pamela used only her initials, hiding her gender to avoid being dismissed as an archetypal female author of children's books. Travers wrote a number of other adult books, including The Fox at the Manger, Friend Monkey, and About the Sleeping Beauty. Pamela Travers passed away on April 23, 1996.

Additional casting and information for MARY POPPINS on Broadway will be announced at a future date.

DISNEY THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS, a unit of BUENA VISTA THEATRICAL GROUP, operates under the direction of Thomas Schumacher. Disney's hit productions of Beauty & The Beast, The Lion King, and Elton John & Tim Rice's Aida, have been presented in 40 international productions that have been seen by over 60 million people worldwide – making Disney one of the world's largest producers of live theatre. Disney's newest musical, TARZANâ, is currently in previews at Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre for a May 10 opening. Mary Poppins, in partnership with Cameron Mackintosh, is now playing at London's Prince Edward Theatre, and will arrive on Broadway in October 2006. Further information about productions can be found at www.disneyonbroadway.com

Cameron Mackintosh produced his first musical 37 years ago and since then has produced hundreds of productions all over the world including Cats, Les Miserables, and The Phantom of the Opera, the three longest running musicals in Broadway history, Miss Saigon, Little Shop of Horrors, Side By Side By Sondheim, Follies, Martin Guerre, The Witches of Eastwick, and acclaimed revivals of My Fair Lady, Oliver! and Oklahoma! For the last 25 years it has been Cameron's long-standing ambition to produce a stage musical of Mary Poppins and he was delighted to bring this to fruition with Disney in December 2004. He owns seven theatres in London's West End – the Prince of Wales, Gielgud, Queens, Wyndhams, Albery, Novello and the Prince Edward that is now home to Mary Poppins. In 1995 his company received The Queen's Award for Export Achievement and he was knighted in the 1996 New Year's Honours for his services to British Theatre. He is President of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and in 1990 he endowed the Chair of Contemporary Theatre at St Catherine's College, Oxford where he is also an Honorary Fellow and Member of the Court of Benefactors.

http://www.DisneyOnBroadway.com