This year’s North Platte High School musical is Mary Poppins.

The show will be directed by Brittany McDaniel and Leah Purdy, Mary Poppins cast began preparing for the fan-favorite show.

“Everyone loves Mary Poppins,” Mrs. Purdy said.

Mary Poppins is the story of the Banks family who live in London in 1910. With trouble in the family and the children, Jane and Michael, the Banks are in need of a new nanny. In comes Mary Poppins.

“It’s a show everybody knows from their childhood and everyone has kind of grown up with her. Whether you are my age, older or younger, its nice to revisit that nostalgia and the magic of Mary,” McDaniel said.

Mary Poppins will be played by senior Carly Purdy.

Costarring alongside Purdy are seniors Joshua San Miguel as Bert, Jacen Smith as George Banks and Breanna Lungreen as Winifred Banks, sophomore Marisa Pfeifer as Jane and freshman Henry Cline as Michael.

Mary Poppins is different from last year’s historical musical, Anastasia.

“Mary Poppins is a lot more fun and happy,” Lungreen said.

The musical includes themes such as family, isolation, the power of imagination and happiness.

“Family is the whole point of Mary Poppins, because their family is broken and

Mary comes to fix it,” Lungreen adds.

The show will include dance numbers like Jolly Holiday, Step in Time and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

“It is the most technical musical I have ever directed. There are so many moving pieces and adding a flying system makes it over the top,” Mrs. Purdy said.

The dance scenes have been one of the most fun challenges throughout the musical.

Luckily, actors were able to learn the choreography to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious with Broadway artist, Elizabeth Earley and NPHS alumni Makenna Koehn.

The cast and crew urge North Platte and surrounding communities for their support.

“It’s a family and community that get to come together to make a really amazing show,” Pfeifer said.

The show will premiere on March 16-19, 2023 at 7 p.m. and March 20th, 2023 at 2 p.m. in the NPHS performing arts center. Tickets are currently available at www.showtix4u.com