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A Jolly Holiday with Ashley Brown -- Broadway's first Mary Poppins is L.A. bound
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Ashley Brown as Mary Poppins in the new musical playing at the Ahmanson Theatre.
Hang on to those “practically perfect in every way “ jokes… the actress tabbed to be Broadway’s first Mary Poppins won’t profess perfection, but the role of Disney’s magical nanny is pretty top drawer. And Ashley Brown wasn’t ready to tuck away her parrot headed umbrella just yet.
Brown, of Gulf Breeze, Florida, headlines the national tour of Disney’s “Mary Poppins” which opens Nov. 15 at the Ahmanson Theatre. The 27 year old originated the role on Broadway and played it for two years before taking a break and gearing up for the national tour. She previously toured with the Disney revue “On the Record” and was starring as Belle in “Beauty and the Beast” on Broadway when she was tabbed to open “Poppins.”
She spoke to Examiner.com last year before the tour began rehearsals.
Q: You actually had a few “Poppins”-less months. How did you spend them?
Ashley Brown: Oct 5 (of 2008) was my last show which was very bittersweet. I (went) home for the holidays fr the first time in forever. I did “Guys and Dolls with the Indianapolis Symphony and a concert with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. Mostly I tried to get my life back together after doing eight shows a week for two years.
Q: Why return to the part? Why do the tour?
AB: It’s a whole new production, a whole new cast. They asked me to do it, and I just wasn’t ready to give up the role yet. I thought it was time for me to get out of the city. I just wasn’t ready to leave the show I would love to tour. (Co-star) Gavin (Lee) and I are great friends and it’s going to be a blast. We’re going to be able to work with a whole new set, and new people. I just wasn’t ready for Mary Poppins not to be a part of my life. So I’m very excited.
Q: Will the tour get anywhere near your home town?
AB: No. Atlanta is usually the closest to Gulf Breeze, Florida, and we’re not going there. We’ll make it up there some day.
Q: It’s several years ago now, but could you talk about what the audition process was like for this role?
AB: It was a tough process. I was in there like nine times. Mary Poppins has to do so much. She has to dance and sing and carry the show. She has to fly, but obviously I had help with that. It was a very grueling process. I was in “Beauty in the Beast” at the time, and I was doing eight shows a week, and I would go to the auditions in the morning on a sprained ankle. I got caught in a track during “Beauty” and I fell.
Anyway, I went in, and they were all there: Cameron Mackintosh, Tom Schumacher, Richard Eyre and Matthew Bourne and I’m supposed to be amazing. I sang “Practically Perfect” every time, and I just kept getting called back. They asked me to learn some of “Jolly Holiday” and do some tap for “Step in Time.” I basically did the whole show by the end of it. It was a very grueling process, but it was exciting because I wanted it so bad.
I knew the girls I was going up against had way more experience than I did. This was only my third show. I always thought someone else was going to get it. Then Tom Schumacher came to my dressing room, and he said, “You know why I’m here, right?” I said I didn’t know. He said, “We want you to be our Mary Poppins,” and I just started bawling and crying. It was such an exciting moment. April 20, 2005. I will never forget that day, the day I found out.
Q: Then they whisked you off to London, right?
AB: yes, I saw St. Paul’s Cathedral, the parks and all the settings, places where the Banks might have lived. I went to the show twice. Any more and you know you’re going to start copying.
Q: If there’s that risk, then why see it at all, then?
AB: It was hard, but I wanted to see the sets and how it would all come together. I did bits and pieces of the script. I had read the books and seen the movie, but I didn’t watch the movie before the auditions. I saw it when I was young. I can’t watch it. Actresses tend to mimic without knowing it. It’s very overwhelming to see a show you haven’t rehearsed yet and you know you’re about to do. This show is so huge and she does so much. Trying to take in the whole picture was a little intimidating.
Q: Was the movie a childhood favorite?
AB: Yes. My favorite song was “Feed the Birds.” I’m the youngest of four, and I’m sure my family was like, “Gosh, I wish we had a magical nanny.”
Q: How long does it take you to get into character – costume, wig, etc.
AB: I’ve got it down to about an hour. The makeup is not too intense. They want her to look like she hasn’t got any. Some of my hair is involved in the wigs. So I warm up and put on my layers and layers and layers of clothes.
Q: Any traditions or superstitions?
AB: I always put my left shoe on first every time I put on shoes., and I change shoes a lot. I don’t know when I started or where that came from.
Q: What are your plans for when “Poppins” finally ends?
AB: I’ll probably go back to the city and start auditioning for things again, just get back in line with everyone else. I love the old school musicals, all those sorts of things. I would love to keep working and be able to keep creating these amazing parts. Nobody in my family is musical at all. We don’t know where I came from. I started singing in church when I was little, singing in the church choir and the community choir. When I was in the community choir, I performed on stage and it kind of evolved from there. I started taking voice lessons in high school and I started auditioning for colleges and it just kind of happened. I went to the Broadway Theatre Project that Ann Reinking does in Tampa. It just kind of happened that I came across the right people at the right time which was lucky coming from such a small town with a family who had no idea what to do with me other than to just let me sing and keep loving it.
Q: How easy is it for you to pick up and hit the road for months on end?
AB: I don’t have a husband or a boyfriend. I have a little French bulldog who will come with me. I was lucky enough to have him in the theater with me on Broadway. He’s such a good boy and such a theater dog. He goes to bed if I’m on in Act 1. When he hears “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” he knows I’m coming down to the dressing room.
"Mary Poppins" plays 8 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sat., 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sun.; through Feb. 7, 2010 at 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A. (213) 972-4400, www.CenterTheatreGroup.org, www.MaryPoppinsTour.com.
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