The West Virginia Public Theatre announces auditions and casting for its 2015 Holiday Production of Mary Poppins
Rehearsals : November 17
Opens: November 29
Closes: Dec 21
Auditions: Sunday October 5th. Appointments between 1 PM and 5 PM.
Location: AW DANCE COMPANY
256 Greenbag Rd
Morgantown, WV 26501
*To schedule an audition, please send an email to casting@wvpublictheatre.org. Please make sure “audition appointment” is in the subject line and include an electronic picture and resume.
Actors unable to attend the audition may submit their materials to casting@wvpublictheatre.org.
Please do not call the office. Appointments only will be made via e-mail.
Casting Breakdown
1. Mary Poppins: Mid 20s-30. Mezzo Soprano w/a strong top. Must be able to dance well. British accent. Neat & tidy, delightfully vain. Very particular & sharp. Strange & extraordinary, sometimes frightening but at the same time exciting. Practically perfect in every way. Always means exactly what she says.
2. Bert: 30s. Baritone to G. Manly but warm. Cockney accent. Inexplicably has a variety of occupations – match man, pavement painter, chimney sweep, hurdy gurdy player. A friend of Mary Poppins who is always nearby to watch the children & observe the goings on in Cherry Tree Lane. A song & dance man. Excellent tap dancer. Acro skills a plus.
3. Mr. George Banks: Early 40s. Baritone. A senior bank clerk by name, nature, & occupation. Believes, however wrong he may be, that he had the perfect childhood. Rules with an iron fist but his emotional armour is concealing a sensitive soul. Is a pipe & slippers man who doesn’t have much to do w/his children. Absent minded, always losing his possessions. Likes things just so even though money is always tight for a salaried man.
4. Mrs Winifred Banks: 30s. Mezzo Soprano. Very busy trying to live up to her husband’s desire to only associate w/the best people. A loving but distracted mother. She is overwhelmed by the conflict between her desire to please her husband & children & the contradictory suspicion that she’s both not up to the job & worth more.
5. Jane Banks: 11. Pretty & attractive girl. Exuberant but willful. Occasionally inclined to snobbishness. Must sing well.
6. Michael Banks: 9. Cute & cheeky. Excitable. Naughty. Adores his father & tries to be like him. Maximum height: Must sing well.
7. Mrs Brill:Ensemble, Alto. The Housekeeper. Always complaining that the house is understaffed. Most of the time her intimidating exterior barely masks the warmth underneath. Big, bosomy & harassed. Barks rather than speaks. Doesn’t have a high opinion of nannies in general & Mary Poppins in particular. Will play other roles and ensemble.
8. Miss Andrew Ensemble : Soprano with Alto Belt. George’s old nanny. Overbearing lady w/a huge trumpeting voice. Beak nosed, grim mouthed, small peering be-spectacled eyes. A bully who only knows one way of doing things – her way. Will play other roles and ensemble.
9. Robertson Ay: Ensemble
Early 20s, Tenor. The house boy to the Banks family. Lazy, sleepy & grumbling. He never gets things right so believes himself to be useless. Will play other roles and ensemble.
10. The Birdwoman: (Ensemble –. Covered in patchwork of old shawls, her pockets are stuffed w/bags of crumbs for the birds. Sings “Feed the Birds.” Will play other roles and ensemble.
11. Admiral Boom / Chairman: Character Ensemble
Baritone. Retired. A physically large man who has a loud & booming voice. Speaks in navy jargon. Also plays Chairman: an Edwardian stuffed-shirt. Head of the bank. Will play other roles and ensemble.
12. Man ENSEMBLE
13. Man ENSEMBLE
14. Man ENSEMBLE
Ensemble members must be extremely skilled Singers , Dancers and Actors as they will be portraying an array of roles in the production.
