Ashley and Mary Poppins

There are about a thousand other threads on this. Most likely not.

Start a petition. That always works!

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Yeah I started a petition to get a new cast recording of Wicked with everyone who has ever played elphaba singing all the songs at the same time, in different keys. It comes out next week, Petitions ALWAYS work!

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There's no reason whatsoever to produce a new cast recording for MARY POPPINS. Disney shows aren't Broadway theater for the purpose of good theater. They are Broadway theater for the purpose of making money from tourists who want to recognize the characters they know from the Disney film that's been adapted, regardless of who the actor playing the role is. It's a heck of a lot less confusing for parents to see one MARY POPPINS cast recording at the record store when their kids whine about how they must have it. Do you really think these kids are going to know the difference between Laura Michelle Kelly and Ashley Brown? Of course not. Mary Poppins is Mary Poppins is Mary Poppins. Soon enough Brown will end her run and the first Mary Poppins replacement will come in, just as Brown replaced Kelly. Every Mary Poppins is going to sound like a carbon copy of Julie Andrews regardless of who they are. There aren't going to be new "interpretations" of the character of Mary Poppins. Ashley Brown had the same interpretation as Laura Michelle Kelly, who took her interpretation from Julie Andrews. When you're talking about a show that is being created FOR tourists who aren't going to remember the names of the cast members they saw at that performance (i.e. MAMMA MIA), then one cast recording will suffice (as it has for MAMMA MIA).

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Updated On: 11/25/06 at 06:44 PM

i agree there need not be another cast recording, but the stage poppins is HARDLY a carbon copy of julie andrews.

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"Soon enough Brown will end her run and the first Mary Poppins replacement will come in, just as Brown replaced Kelly."

Foster: Did Ashley Brown replace Laura Michelle Kelly in London before she started her run in New York? I didn't know that...can someone confirm or deny? Thanks!

WithoutATrace, I wasn't clear, I'm sorry. What I meant was that Laura Michelle Kelly originated the role of Mary Poppins in the stage musical, and now for Broadway that role has been passed onto Ashley Brown, but regardless of who originates the role in whatever mounting (London, Broadway, touring companies), the characterization of Mary Poppins won't change much.

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Ready 2 Defy Gravity, may I suggest that you PM a person named bryan.

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They would have to pay each cast member an entire week's salary for each recording day

Is this a union thing or is it in contracts?

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It's a union thing...that's why not every show gets recorded. TIME'...CHANGING didn't run long enough for them to pay the actors an extra week's salary.

Of course, investors, producers can foot the bill, but it's better if the box office can do it.

Most cast albums don't make a dime.

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The reason why they are not making a Poppins OBC is because it would essentally be the same thing as the OLC and would just coast a lot of money which doesn't need to be spent. I think it is that plus a combonation of the fact that they both have one cast member that is the same which is Gavin Lee. I think that is the reason why they aren't doing a Wicked OLC and an Avenue Q OLC. I know that the OBCs for Wicked and Q were going around stores in the UK before they planned to open them up in London. The same with Poppins. I know that as soon as they announced the show comming to Broadway in the beginning of the year the OLC popped up all over stores.

I also think that disney learned a hard lesson about producing cast albums that they didn't need. Disney made soundtracks of Beauty and the Beast in every language for every international country it played in. They found out the hard way that those coast too much money and were not nesscary to make.

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