McCutcheon Returns to Stage as Mary Poppins???

Many thought - and some hoped - that pop and soap star Martine McCutcheon would not work in the West End again after her troubled, illness-riddled run last year in Trevor Nunn's revival of My Fair Lady. However, impresario Cameron Mackintosh, who transferred the NT production to the West End's Theatre Royal Drury Lane, has apparently not been put off by the leading lady's frequent absences and a four months' premature conclusion to her contract. The Daily Express reports that he has offered McCutcheon the title role in his planned stage adaptation of film musical Mary Poppins, which he's been working on with Andrew Lloyd Webber. The part would find McCutcheon once again following in the footsteps of Julie Andrews, who played My Fair Lady's Eliza Doolittle on stage and immortalised the magical carpet-bagged nanny Mary Poppins in the Oscar-winning 1964 film. After recurring throat infections, McCutcheon left the West End My Fair Lady on doctor's orders in December 2001. Her spokesperson said the strain of the production may have irrevocably harmed her voice. In February, she controversially won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical, even though her understudy performed the role more frequently.

Got some goss? Contact gossip@whatsonstage.com

Related Content