Cast of Mary Poppins visit Beamish Museum

To mark the arrival of MARY POPPINS in Wearside ahead of a 4-week run and a Sunderland premiere, the cast of Cameron Mackintosh and Disney Theatrical Group’s MARY POPPINS, stepped back in time and visited Beamish Museum’s 1900s Town to relive the era in which the classic story is set while welcoming the cast to the region.

Cameron Mackintosh and Disney Theatrical Group’s production based on the iconic P.L. Travers tale and the Walt Disney film has just premiered at Sunderland Empire where it plays from Wednesday 1 to Saturday 25 October, featuring dazzling choreography, incredible effects and unforgettable songs.

The cast including Australian Leading Lady Stefanie Jones (Mary Poppins), Australian “triple threat” Jack Chambers (Bert), Olivier nominee Michael D. Xavier (George Banks) and West End star Lucie-Mae Sumner (Winifred Banks) travelled to the recently awarded Art Fund Museum of the Year, Beamish Museum, to discover the era in which the story of Mary Poppins was set. 

The cast spent the afternoon exploring the Edwardian era street, counting shillings at the Bank, capturing family photographs at JR & D Edis Photographers and visiting Ravensworth Terrace, which brought all the charm of Cherry Tree Lane as Mary Poppins made sure the children’s nursery was spit spot!

This tour of Mary Poppins marks the 20th anniversary of the musical and is the largest production on tour with a touring company of 100 people and 17 45-foot trailers moving the production into Sunderland Empire.

When asked about his visit to Beamish for the first time and returning to Sunderland Empire, Michael D. Xavier said:

“We had an absolutely fantastic day at Beamish today wondering the streets, sampling the atmosphere and interacting with the lovely staff members. It was the perfect start to our time up here in the North East. I’m such a huge fan of Sunderland and the Empire theatre. The audiences here are fun, fully invested and full of joy. It’s going to be a magical three weeks!”

Mary Poppins actor, Stefanie Jones said:

“I’m so thrilled to be opening our show here in the beautiful Sunderland Empire theatre and look forward to discovering all the North East has to offer!”

Emily Frankish, Visitor Experience Manager at Beamish Museum said:

“We were delighted to have the cast of Mary Poppins join us at Beamish. It’s such a well-loved, iconic show, and it was amazing to see aspects of it brought to life at the museum.

“The 1900s Town and Fairground are ideal settings to complement the cast and the story of Mary Poppins – practically perfect, in fact – and it has been a real honour to welcome the teams from Mary Poppins and Sunderland Empire to Beamish.”

Based on the stories of P.L. Travers and the Walt Disney film, the story of the World’s favourite nanny arriving on Cherry Tree Lane is more magical than ever before. The timeless score includes the classic Sherman Brothers songs; Jolly Holiday, Step in Time, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and Feed the Birds with new songs and additional music and lyrics by the Olivier award-winning British team of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.

MARY POPPINS has original music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman with new songs and additional music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. The book is by Julian Fellowes and this production is co-created by Cameron Mackintosh. It has orchestrations by William David Brohn and dance and vocal arrangements by George Stiles. It has sound design by Paul Gatehouse, lighting design by Hugh Vanstone, projections by Luke Hall and illusions by Paul Kieve & Jim Steinmeyer. The set and costume designs are by Bob Crowley. Co-Choreography is by Stephen Mear. Co-direction and choreography is by Matthew Bourne and direction is by Richard Eyre. The UK & Ireland Tour is directed by James Powell with choreography recreated by Richard Jones and musical supervision by Stephen Brooker.