Jolly Holiday - Mary Poppins Musical Cast

In 2004, Mary Poppins: the Musical came to the Bristol Hippodrome Theatre in London and was a huge hit! And why not? It has all the fun songs, costumes and stories from the hit movie! Plus, it's just plain fun to go to the theatre!

The theatre rights were acquired by theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh from Mary Poppins author Pamela Travers in 1993 but it wasn't until 2001 that Mackintosh approached Disney about teaming up. I guess Mackintosh finally realized that the way to make money from a Mary Poppins theatre production is to include the songs and spectacle from the version that the general public is more familiar with. (Plus, I bet he got a budget increase.)

The musical uses the 1964 movie as its main source of inspiration but adds many things from the books that were left out of the film. One example is the inclusion of Neleus the statue from Mary Poppins Opens the Door whom Mary brings to life!

This scene is played out in the musical when Mary takes the children to the park (which we a know from the movie as the part when they jump into the sidewalk painting) and the song that is sung in the movie, Jolly Holiday, is reworked to include the story of Neleus. Then penguins, however, have been removed from the scene.

For you listening pleasure, I have included the Mary Poppins: the Musical version of Jolly Holiday just for you. It is from the original London cast recording from 2005 and features LAURA MICHELLE KELLY as Mary Poppins and GAVIN LEE as Bert.

Jolly Holiday Mary Poppins Musical Cast 2005