Sweet success for Cameron's labour of love
FOR more than 30 years theatre trailblazer Cameron Mackintosh nursed shows like Les Miserables, Cats and The Phantom of the Opera into worldwide smashes – but all the time he had a secret hankering to put another musical on stage, Mary Poppins.
And in the words of Mary’s song, Anything Can Happen If You Let It because Cameron is now sitting on another hit, his co-production with Disney of that musical.
This month the touring version arrived at Birmingham Hippodrome and once it has finished its UK dates next year, Mary is to fly round the globe taking in Australia, South Africa, Japan, South America and possibly China having already conquered London’s West End and New York’s Broadway.
Speaking in a print exclusive with the Birmingham Mail just hours before curtain up on press night at the Hippodrome, Cameron cannot help but enjoy a self-satisfied smile at seeing his project not only reach fruition but achieve success on such a grand scale.
But he is not pretending it was by the most direct route.
“When I saw the Disney film for the first time I had just left school and it was 1964 and everyone went to see it,” he says. “It was the Raiders of the Lost Ark of the time.
“I was immediately interested in it and saw it was based on some books by PL Travers so looked them up.
“About 30 years ago I tried to get the rights, alongside a lot of other producers, but was rejected – as were all the others.”
In fact Pamela Travers, the woman who created Mary Poppins, was determined to keep her quirky character close to her chest.
But she had not counted on the tenacity of Cameron.
“In 1993 I was introduced to Pamela,” he recalls, clearly enjoying re-telling the story. “And I got her to agree that I could do the stage show.”
Conscious of the success of the Walt Disney film, Cameron knew a winner when he saw it and realised any stage show needed those much-loved songs such as Chim Chim-Cheree and A Spoonful of Sugar.
It took more than ten more years of discussions and pauses with Disney before the show finally opened in 2004 and then began to follow the path of worldwide domination. After three years in the West End, the show closed in London and a new touring production was created. And Cameron is confident it will hold its own over time.
“Some shows tend to self-perpetuate and are seen by different generations because the subject matter at the centre is timeless and this is the case with Mary Poppins.”
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