One highlight of my calendar is the annual stage musical production at The Arts Centre Gold Coast. While the company may only opt to do one a year, compared against other theatre venues locally who do several, but what they do provide is often high quality and magical. Their 2015 production of Miss Saigon was incredible (★★★★½), and this year’s performance of Mary Poppins was almost equally as good. From professional features such as having Bert tap dancing around the Proscenium Arch to having a full Old English Fare with many (and quite delicious) food options – they went all out again this year.
But unfortunately, performances cannot last forever. After eight shows from June 17-25, the winds have changed once again, and seen Mary Poppins leave The Arts Centre Gold Coast. She may not be back anytime soon, but this musical will no doubt continue to entertain audiences across the world for many years and decades to come – in both amateur and professional productions.
The Gold Coast production of Mary Poppins saw the titular character portrayed by the brilliant Georgina Hopson, following roles in Harvest Rain’s productions of The Pirates of Penzance and Into the Woods. She was joined on-stage by Max Patterson, who took on the role of the charming Bert. Also part of the lead cast was Stephen Hirst as George Banks and Carla Tooma as Winfred Banks. With their largest child cast to date, this musical also saw local youth take on the roles of Jane and Michael Banks. Young actors Jamieson Schmitzer and Elysium Hipwood took on the role of Jane, while Michael Fryer and Elijah Fern performed as Michael.
Want to read more about this now former production? Check out my review HERE. Assuming The Arts Centre Gold Coast will choose to do another stage musical in 2017, expect to hear more closer to the end of this year when the 2017 Season Launch takes place.
