Waimea flying Mary Poppins into Nelson

It has been three long years since Waimea College’s last musical production, but in June, Mary Poppins will be flying into Nelson’s Theatre Royal.

Production manager Tracy Gibbs says more than 100 students are involved with the show, from cast to orchestra and the large crew behind the scenes.

Nelson Musical Theatre had planned to take Mary Poppins to the stage and had the set ready to go, but Tracy says plans were twice “scuppered” by the pandemic. That opened an opportunity for Waimea College to hire the travelling set, props and costumes for their own show.

She says Covid-19 squashed Waimea’s production plans for the past three years and Mary Poppins will be a large-scale show to make up for it. One of the highlights will be running the show in the Theatre Royal Nelson, she says.

That means packing the sizeable set up and setting it up in the theatre in preparation for the show that takes to the stage on 26 June for five shows over four days.

The magical Mary Poppins with her umbrella is Year 13 student Shenae Speedy, who says even the younger generation know many of the songs of the classic including Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and A Spoonful of Sugar – which was the nanny’s solution to help the medicine go down.

Shenae is already a seasoned actress outside the school and says this production will be special as it is a show with her peers. Being on stage is right up her alley.

“I’ve just always loved the theatre and I’m probably a bit of an attention seeker! And the adrenalin rush is massive.”

Likewise, Year 13 student Myles Smalley, who is cast as Mary Poppin’s friend and jack-of-all-trades, Bert, is in his happy place on stage.

“I just love making a fool of myself in front of people.”

Show director Mike O’Malley says the aim is to capture the magic of the show when the team of 100-or-so students take Mary Poppins to Nelson.

Book your tickets for the show here.