Mary Poppins in the west end plans to close at the end of the year

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 3:12pm

The show will close at the end of the year as jersey boys will open in London.

Mary Poppins will tour the UK starting in manchester.

Im pretty shocked is off already especially since the broadway one seems to be doing well.

Do you think the broadway version will have a long run?

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 3:13pm

Source?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 3:13pm

I think it will have a small run on Broadway. Not CHITTY small, but not THE LION KING either.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 3:16pm

Jersey Boys has announced it is going in to that theatre

And the theatre i work looks like it will be the first venue on the tour

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 3:19pm

here is one of the articles

Boys take on the West End
by BAZ BAMIGBOYE


Hitting the high note: The real Frankie Valli

Cameron Mackintosh is in negotiations to open the prize-winning Broadway musical Jersey Boys at one of his West End theatres.

He was vying with Andrew Lloyd Webber to provide the venue for the fingersnapping, toe-tapping show about the rise of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

The choice was the Adelphi (which is controlled by Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group) or Mackintosh's Prince Edward Theatre.

Jersey Boys director Des McAnuff and producer Michael David had coveted the Adelphi, but there was an architectural problem over stage size.

Plus, Lloyd Webber has decided to put in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, once its cast has been selected through the TV show Any Dream Will Do, which some folk in the West End are calling Any Queen Will Do. That's not nice, is it? Now the matter appears to have been settled.

"We are in discussions with the Prince Edward and we are not looking at any other theatres at this time," says Julian Stoneman, Jersey Boys' UK general manager.

The plan is to open the show in late March 2008.

That means hit musical Mary Poppins would embark on a national tour next year. It has recouped its mammoth costs since it opened nearly three years ago.

Now the search is on for a young actor who possesses a voice from God to hit those Frankie Valli high notes.

If there are problems finding such a performer in Britain, the producers might bring over John Lloyd Young, who created the role so memorably in New York..

Updated On: 3/25/07 at 03:19 PM

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 3:29pm

NO WAY! That's a shock.

I beleive Mary Poppins on Broadway will have about 6 years. About as long as THE PRODUCERS.

[clarkstallings]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 3:42pm

I'm going to wait for the summer season to end before I make my prognostications about Mary Poppins' NYC fate. It hasn't done as well as other Disney shows in its first six months but it could pick up after you get a batch of summer tourists to see it then return back to the far corners of the country really talking it up. In general, the Disney marketing machine has really fallen flat on this one. I hardly see anything about it.

[winston89]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 4:07pm

The way I feel about Poppins's fate on Broadway is this. Poppins is one of two diseny shows to open in one year. keep in mind the other one is Tarzen which was a mess since day one. Poppins has been though of the better of the two. I think it has a legit life for it on Broadway. Keep in mind that the Tony's haven't come up yet and depending on how they do there it may help out the show. But, it did a good job with ticket sales in the fall. Butm really until summer comes around its currenlty the time for broadway when not many tourists are around and a lot of people from NYC go to the theatere.

I read the same article from the Daily Mail's website. And it gave off the impression that they were looking at the Prince Edward's theatre not that they announced that they will be using it.

I also feel that Poppins will play for awhile because a lot of tourists that are comming to Nyc like to see a show that they already know. that is why so many people flock to shows like Beauty, Lion King, Tarzan, Phantom and Poppins because those are names that they already know. Its a sad fact about broadway that tourists oly want to see what they know.

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 4:08pm

West End shows seem to have really differnt runs than shows on Bway. They never open then as "open ended" it seems they keep extending.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 4:11pm

UK shows will always have in mind an open ended run but never say it.

The shows just keep extending there booking period until it fizzles out.

Many shows do have a long run in london but we are having a bit of a revolving door year

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 4:22pm

yeah it is always very interesting to see how bway shows do in the west end and vice- versa.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 4:29pm

well london seems to be closing shows a lot quicker nowadays

we are saying goodbye to
Evita
Porgy and Bess
Guys and dolls
Mary Poppins

and saying hello to
Hairspray
Fame
Grease
Joseph
Fiddler on the roof
Rent
Jersey boys

[Broadwayboy2631]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 4:40pm

Rent? A revial?

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 4:41pm

Thats the rumor whats doing the rounds and they have been auditions for it so fingers crossed

[ruthiefan_felix]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 5:25pm

Why can't we keep Mary Poppins? One of the few good and UK-originated shows in London!!!!! The new shows are either Broadway-transferred or realiy show shows or revivals... nothing NEW? Please let us keep MP! You've kicked Guys & Dolls out already, please keep MP plz ~

If the show's closing at the end of this year, it'll probably end when Gavin Creel's contract end around Nov?

[zerodanny]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 7:52pm

I totally agree with you felix! I am sooooooo gutted and sad, will miss it soo much!! I hope that at least they will bring out the DVD of the updated version of the show!

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 8:02pm

Haven't sales slipped quite a bit in London?

The advertising for MP has been okay...the logo is rather uninteresting...and cartoonish. They could've done better. It's the font that kills me the most. The should've done something with more of a closeup of the figure, etc.

September 2007 will likjely decide Mary Poppins' fate here in the USA. I think it will last at least a few years, and it will likely make a profit. Probably six years...which is great.

I think another problem with it struggling a tad compared with other Disney mammoths is that it's very different from the film, and the average joes have a very hard time understanding that it is not the film (and in many ways, superior, in my opnion).

On a final, although a tad off topic note, I'd like to respond to the post by Ruthie...Felix about how the West End is getting a lot of Broadway transfers this Fall. Personally, I do not understand in the least why producers keep bringing US shows to London (new ones from the past decade). Almost all have been surprising dissapointments in length and ticket sales. The Procuers is closing after arather short run, Wicked's reportedly dropped off 75% since January...I'm just baffled...especially with Hairspray, where its productions have lagged outside the US, even in Canada.

[Julie5]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 3:33pm

That does feel like a relatively short run for such a British story in London, but casting contracts are very different in the UK. Unlike in the US; In the UK the entire cast changes out every year. As a result, I would think it is difficult to keep continuity and consistency throughout a long run. Possibly that has something to do with a decision to close the show within four years. With regard to the Broadway production. I saw it last weekend, with understudy Catherine Walker in the lead! She was brilliant; and she, and the show, were Totally Perfect in every way! With a Mary Poppins as wonderful as the one I saw, I think the show will enjoy a very long run.

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 3:37pm

I'm glad Catherine did well...early in the run I heard she was veyr nervous about going on, so it's great to hear she's fine with it now!

[Julie5]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 3:48pm

Catherine Walker totally OWNED the role and the stage in a beautiful way! It was an incredibly moving performance and, by their reaction, the audience was overwhelmed. That particular show was a perfect example of why we go to the theatre...to be uplifted!

[SpotlightAnnie]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 4:51pm

HaHa!! Why would an understudy be nervous?!? HAVE YOU SEEN THIS SHOW?!? Along with having to go on at a moment's notice, the sets are MASSIVE, there must be a thousand technical "magic" effects, and then you fly about 150 feet in the air!!! I'd be FREAKING PARALYZED!!!!!

[FriedmanFan]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 5:01pm

Great to hear that Catherine Walker was great in the show! I loved Ashley Brown's performance. What a beautiful young lady!

Thankstophantom- You know I LOVE your avatar! Wish she would make another appearance on Broadway!

[winston89]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 8:37pm

I think that there are many factors between how the west end and broadway works that have to do with the length of a show. On Broadway pretty much each preformer has their own individual contract. Whereas in London the entier cast stays for one year and then leaves. Also, on broadway if a show is planning to be open ended or have a limited run they will say it right off the bat. It is true that with broadway tickets both being sold from ticketmaster and telecharge that they always only sell up to a particular date and they don't list anything past that. That's just how they do it. But, in London they use that to figure out wheather or not to keep the show open. If someone sees that a broadway show isn't sellping past a partiuclar date no one gets worried about it but in london it might mean the end of a show.

But, I do think that Poppins will have a healthy run on broadway. I mean compared to Tarzan it is the better of the two. Also, ThanksToPhantom. It is true that Wicked is now getting down to 75%. But, look at how long its been running at 100%. Many people are suprised that it went that long at 100. Most shows wouldn't have gone so far long in their run and stay at 100 the entier time. For a show to play 3 years at 100 and to just now go down to 75 is amazing.

But, it's true. I do wonder why hairspray is going to London when it hasn't managed a goot fate outside of america. The Toronto production ( the first one ever outside of the US) didn't do so well.

[bundy5000]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 8:44pm

i will be crying in my bed tonight listening to Temper Temper

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 8:49pm

Winston...I wasn't talking about Wicked in NY...I was talking about Wicked in London...Wicked in NY has never been 75% (MAYBE once in previews).

Friedmanfan: I'm so with you on that one! She must return!