Aussie stage show seeks NZ 'Mary Poppins'

A Melbourne stage production is to search New Zealand for a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious actor to play Mary Poppins, after failing to find anyone suitable in Australia.

New Zealand auditions for the role immortalised in film by Julie Andrews are set to start on December 7, but the musical's producers have yet to settle on a venue.

The musical, to open in Melbourne in July, hasn't been able to find an Australian performer with the necessary skills for the role, The Age reported.

"We have seen some very talented people but they have not been quite right for Mary Poppins," said co-producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh.

Of the eight major roles in the A$16 million ($20.2 million) production seven have been announced. Only Mary Poppins remains.

"We are willing to see anyone," Walt Disney Theatricals Tom Schumacher said.

"If anyone wants to send us a letter, or a CD or post a clip on YouTube, we will look at it."

The show's British director, Richard Eyre, said the role required a rare cocktail of talents: "She needs a kind of warmth married with a crispness and an English kind of rigour, as well as a sense of other-worldliness."

The part also requires a "voice that's a very good, clear soprano".

Casting agent for the show, Lynne Ruthven, told NZPA local auditions would be between December 7 and 11.

"We haven't finalised the schedule exactly, and won't until we know who there is for us to see and how many people and where they come from within New Zealand."

The 1964 film musical told the story of two children from a well-to-do Edwardian family in London who end up with their dream nanny, the always singing, ever cheerful, Mary Poppins (Andrews).

The film which also starred American comedian Dick van Dyke won five Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Andrews.

- NZPA