Mary Poppins lands in Melbourne
Posted July 13th, 2009 by debritz
Melbourne has secured another theatre coup - the premiere Australian season of the stage version of Mary Poppins. Victoria's Premier, John Brumby, made the announcement. Meanwhile, Queensland's Premier (and Arts Minister), Anna Bligh, insists Brisbane doesn't need a venue that can host the open-ended run of a premiere theatrical event - even though the Regent would be ideal if the government committed some money to restoring it to its original granduer rather than rubber-stamping its conversion into a little-needed 40-story office tower. Instead of money coming into Queensland, it will be heading south - again - via airline package deals!
PS: Note that the Herald Sun story refers to Poppins "coming home". Home for the children's author P.L. Travers was, in fact, in Maryborough, Queensland.
And a right one, Brett.
Brisbane needs a world class theatre, so things like film and stage premieres don't bypass the Sunshine State.
After all the new slogan for tourism in Brisbane is "Brisbane: Australia's new world city"
It would also, mean shows that currently do the Syd/Mel circuit (usually at The Capitol in Sydney and one of the many great theatres in Melbourne) can stay in Australia longer.
Honestly Brisbane, once you get a taste for good live theatre, something you cannot get with one "Lyric" theatre, maybe with some competition from a restored Regent, naturally you'll want more. This city if it had more of it's existing theatres remaining or even a investment in new theatres, Brisbane could be a theatre hub of the Asia-Pacific, comparable with Broadway in New York and London's West End, which host many plays and musicals every year, where people travel to for just that great live theatre experience.
The Seven TV news reported on Sunday night how Brisbane and the south east will grow enourmously in the next decade or so, but it was OK because we have planned for it. So we've got new roads, new houses and new football stadiums, but, they've apparrently presumed that none of these extra hundreds of thousands of people will want to go to the theatre.
Yes Brett, and we've got Cats again. I wish someone would put that show to sleep. I don't mean to sound catty but will anyway.