MARY POPPINS Opens Tonight in Jacksonville

The Jacksonville premiere of MARY POPPINS opens tonight, Tuesday, January 22 at 7:30PM at the Times-Union Center for a limited engagement of 8 performances through Sunday, January 27. "We are delighted that sales have exceeded expectations, but there are still great seats available for this wonderful musical," said Milt Russos, Executive Director of the Artist Series.

With seven productions produced 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 show has grossed over $812 million and welcomed more than 11 million guests. The musical is the winner of 44 major theatre awards around the globe, including Tony, Olivier, Helpmann and Evening Standard awards.

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 more than two and a half million delighted theatergoers in over 60 cities to date.

Madeline Trumble will star as "Mary Poppins" while Con O'Shea Creal will assume the role of "Bert." Trumble is making her return to the national tour of Mary Poppins after recently appearing in the Broadway company of Disney's Newsies-The Musical. She has also been seen in stage productions at the MUNY in St. Louis and Berkley Repertory Theatre. Trumble will appear alongside Con O'Shea Creal, who plays the affable chimney sweep, "Bert." Creal recently performed with the Broadway and national touring companies of Irving Berlin's White Christmas. Originally from Lincoln, Nebraska, Creal has also appeared in regional productions of Singin' in the Rain, 42nd Street, Annie Get Your Gun, A Christmas Carol, and Urinetown.

Joining Trumble and Creal will be Michael Dean Morgan as "George Banks", Elizabeth Broadhurst as "Winifred Banks", Tregoney Shepherd as "Mrs. Brill", Blake Segal as "Robertson Ay", Karen Murphy as "Miss Andrew" and "The Bird Woman", and Ryan Hilliard as "Admiral Boom." Performances in the role of "Jane Banks" will be alternated between Madison Ann Mullahey and Julianna Rigoglioso. Performances in the role of "Michael Banks" will be alternated between Eli Tokash and Zachary Mackiewicz.

Rounding out the cast are Danielle Benton, Elizabeth Ann Berg, Callan Bergmann, Lindsey Bliven, Jonathan Burke, Ben Cherry, Kerry Conte, Andrew Eckert, Jordan Grubb, Leeds Hill, Kenway Kua, Matt Meigs, Sean Montgomery, James Patterson, Louise Stewart, Tonya Thompson, Paige Williams, Minami Yusui, Elizabeth Earley, Annie Petersmeyer, Stephen Roberts, and Curtis Schroeger.

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 TonyÒ 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.

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