After two full weeks of rehearsals, six days a week, eight hours a day, the cast and crew of Mary Poppins is set to take the stage at Theatre in the Country, beginning next Wednesday, July 15.

A collaborative effort between Maple Ridge-based Odeum Theatre Society, Theatre in the Country, and the Ridge Meadows Orchestra, the show has all the makings of a performance that captures the magic of the well-known and much-beloved tale.

“What’s cool about the Mary Poppins musical, is that it is different than the movie,” expalined Rayne Beveridge, Odeum’s artistic director. “It still has the traditional Mary Poppins – the one people remember from the movie – but there’s a lot of extra stuff too. There’s different songs and scenes, and characters that come into play that add a lot more depth and character to the musical as a whole.”

Odeum has been in the community for about six years now, Beveridge explained, and runs more of what he calls a performance workshop.

“This means we bring in professional educators and artists to come run the program: I am a singer for the UBC Opera, the musical director performs with the Bruce James Orchestra, our dance director does choreography for Theatre Under the Stars, and our theatre director just got her degree from UBC.”

The decision to work with Theatre in the Country came about after Odeum “saw the incredible production value, the stage, the sets, the projection, and all the cool things that they do,” Beveridge said.

The show runs July 15 to 18, and tickets are $15. For further details or to buy tickets, visit www.theatreinthecountry.com, and follow the links.

Langley Advance