As the curtain opens, a crammed auditorium filled with anxious students and parents are ready to see Mary Poppins. All of the nerves come to surface, this is the night the cast and crew has been waiting for. 

“I feel like it was a big hit, I’ve heard a lot of people, not just family, comparing it to Broadway shows,” sophomore Micah Collins said. 

More than 60 cast and crew members were at school for hours on end the last few months preparing for show. To theatre students, the week before the show is formally known as “tech week”.   

“Tech week is definitely stressful, tears were shed, but it’s needed,” junior Gabby Higdon said.  “Without it, we would not be prepared for the show at all.”

Higdon plays the lead role of Mary Poppins and has been preforming in theatre since she was a freshman. 

“Unfortunately, what was going to be our opening night [Friday, March 3] was canceled due to the weather and lack of power, but we came back strong on Saturday and it ended up being a really great first two shows,” Higdon said. “I was incredibly nervous before the show, but as soon as I got onstage, I knew that I would be fine,”

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Coming home from a long day at work, George Banks has a conversation with his wife. Sophomore Micah Collins played George Banks in the 2023 Mary Poppins play. “My favorite part was backstage when I sprinted off, yelling ‘The holy terror,’ I would sprint into Gabby who played Mary Poppins every single night. Directly into her.”

Collins plays one of the other lead roles, George Banks, and has been doing small performances since he was a kid. He says he started doing bigger theatre performances his freshman year.

“My favorite part was backstage when I sprinted off, yelling ‘The holy terror,’ I would sprint into Gabby who played Mary Poppins every single night, directly into her,” Collins said. 

Throughout all six performances, more than 3,000 tickets were sold, leaving their last show at nearly sold out.

“That is a big number but I feel like we could’ve gotten more [tickets sold] if we had started Friday,” Collins said. “If we started Friday and got more word out about how good the show was then I feel like a lot more people would’ve come to the second weekend and I feel like all of them could’ve been sold out.” 

Overall, the cast and crew members say they believe that Mary Poppins was yet another successful show and sees theatre as something they very much enjoy.

“It’s a good play and has a good message and a lot of underlying tones that really hit the audience hard when they don’t expect it,” Collins said. “Overall its one of my favorite musicals, if not stories.” 

“I love doing this show and it was super fun being a lead,” Higdon said. “Poppins holds a special place in my heart for sure!”