at long last some positive news – The winter wind blows a magical Mary Poppins into Detroit for Christmas!

The winter wind blows a magical Mary Poppins into Detroit for Christmas!

The world’s most famous nanny, Mary Poppins, will be appearing at the Detroit Opera House for a limited three week engagement, Dec. 16 – Jan. 2, 2011.

This may be the perfect gift idea for the kid who has everything. After all, tickets are SO easy to wrap. And you can even wait until after Christmas to take the kids to the show.

By the way – we use the term ‘kids’ strictly in the Christmas context – as in, ‘kids from one to ninety-two.’

At Friday night’s show, the adults were laughing, cheering and shouting hurrahs even louder than the children. And who could blame them? For a lot of us, Mary Poppins is an old childhood friend, and it’s nice to witness her triumphant return.

As part of the Broadway in Detroit series, the entire original creative team has reunited to bring to life the magical story from the P.L. Travers books 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. 

Like Mary Poppins herself, this show is ‘practically perfect.’

The staging is magical.  Literally.  So is the cast.

Caroline Sheen, who played Mary Poppins on the West End, recreates the role for the National Tour, replete with bell-like vocals and droll humor. Nicolas Dromard shines as Bert – elevating his song-and-dance-man credentials to gymnastic heights. Local fans of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival may recognize former company  members Laird Mackintosh and Blythe Wilson as George Banks and his charming wife, Winifred.

The entire ensemble is spot on. This is a big show, with multiple production numbers. It is breathtaking – in the sense that the audience scarcely has time to draw breath between one enchanting scene and another. We don’t know how the cast does it. But if you like shows that are packed with beautiful costumes, familiar songs, energetic dance numbers and happy endings, order your tickets now.

Mary Poppins runs December 16 through January 2, with evening performances at 7:30 p.m. (Tuesday – Saturday), 2:00 p.m. matinee performances on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday (12/18 only), and Sunday performances at 1:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.  There are no shows on December 24 or January 2, and there will be no matinee shows on December 25 or January 1.

Ticket prices start at $25.00 and can be purchased at the Fisher Theatre box office and all Ticketmaster locations. Tickets will also be available for purchase online at  or by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-982-2787.  For additional information, call (313) 872-1000 or visit the show’s website.  

Book Mark it-> del.icio.us | Reddit | Slashdot | Digg | Facebook | Technorati | Google | StumbleUpon | Window Live | Tailrank | Furl | Netscape | Yahoo | BlinkList