After the Bank Holiday - a photo!!

It's been a Bank Holiday here in the UK so to celebrate going back to work -  a random photo from my collection. Taken from 'The Seagull' of the late Sheila Gish and Philip Quast.

Back to work!!!
copyright unknown

Three Pics from 'Mary Poppins opening night'

I've found three pics on flickr for you to look at. As the photographer wishes the rights to remain his, I have put below the links to the photos. They are really good by the way. Definitely worth a look as are the rest of the photos by this guy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39093329@N03/4910388526/in/pool-554413@N21/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39093329@N03/4909790641/in/pool-554413@N21/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39093329@N03/4909785863/in/pool-554413@N21/


Enjoy!!!

The Photos page - a reminder :)

Just a quick reminder for those who have used this blog before, and also for those of you who are visiting for the first  time (hello by the way!). The Photos page has a photo album which contains ALL the photos used on this blog. So to save you going though the posts to find a picture you want, have a look at the album it will be on there, and maybe even some you have missed!

Philip as Captain Hook from 'Pan'
picture copyright Jim Henson productions

Leader Life: A review of Mary Poppins

Yes it's the weekend and its review time again. I shouldn't be cynical as contained in this article of what's on in Melbourne is a very short but sweet review about Mary Poppins, and praise for both Philip's and Marina's roles as Mr and Mrs Banks.

The link as ever is below.

Melbourne Leader: Leader Life

Sons and Daughters

There isn't too much kicking about news-wise about Philip at the moment so I thought I'd share this. The very first appearance of Philip Quast on the Australian soap/drama 'Sons and Daughters'.  I'm also having a debate with myself as to whether I like Philip better with or without a moustache. I can't decide!! It's taken me 25 years to get this far, and I still haven't made a decision. You can't rush these things you know LOL :D  Here's the clip. Enjoy!

You guessed it - a very late Mary Poppins review

Phew!! I think this one made it by the skin of its teeth. A short but sweet review! Clicking the linky takes you there.

Anything can happen if you click it :D

A brilliant screencap - Police Rescue

I found I've got this brilliant screencap from 'Police Rescue', and I thought I'd share it with you. I think it would make a wonderful wallpaper, should you choose to use it as such :)

Oh Boy!!

photo courtesy of ABC tv

Hats Off to Mary Poppins - UPDATE!!

Hats Off in Melbourne, Australia have confirmed on their Facebook page that Philip Quast will be among the line-up for the annual variety showbiz concert. Information is available on their Facebook page about this and other things connected with the concert.

(Facebook is being awkward and not recognising the link. Hopefully it will be up and running soon. But please go and check it out although it will mean a manual search - sorry!! :(  )

Singing along to 'Play School'

I was at a loss last night as to what to watch because as usual there was nothing on tv. So I finally got around to watching 'Play School' which I have not seen for ages. Bear in mind I don't have kids but Philip was in this one so I had it in my collection. And what fun did I have? A lot as it happens. The episode was from around 1984 or so and to see not only Philip but the wonderful Don Spencer again was fantastic. Who knew that Don would grow up ( LOL :D ) to be Russell Crowe's father-in-law? I remember him when he was on the UK version of the show and loved him on it then. Heck I'm showing my age now!! But it is this, and also testament to Philip, Don and the other performers that this 43 year -old (I know - sigh!) ended up rather less guiltily than she thought watching Philip with his hole in his shoe, and singing along to 'If you're happy and you know it'.

Philip and Big Ted
Copyright ABC tv  & Philip Quast Guide

OT: the Kids from Mary Poppins

This is ever so slightly off-topic but it is a good article about the children who play the Banks' children in Mary Poppins. As the article says they are on-stage longer than the star of the show, and work their little socks off. So a quick 'Hi!' to them all, and please have a look at the article.

Police Rescue - Mates (1990)

I've been trawling youtube again :) And I found someone has been nice enough to put 'Police Rescue' from 1990 on there. So I've done a playlist for everyone to look at, and wile away your weekend looking at Philip. Gary Sweet ain't that bad either :D

Latest Mary Poppins interview - The Philip Quast Guide

Check out the audio interviews page on the 'Philip Quast Guide' for the latest interview with Philip Quast and Verity Hunt-Ballard. This was broadcast by 'Broadway at Bedtime' on live365.com last Sunday.

When you finished with this interview, why not check out the others on the page. There is some good stuff on there. Link as ever is below.

http://www.allthingsquast.info/press/audio.htm

Mary Poppins -UCTV.FM

A BIG, BIG thank you to Eli from the Philip Quast Guide for finding this. An absolutely brilliant 17 minutes (yep you read that right) of the Mary Poppins media call from July of this year. Interviews with Verity Hunt-Ballard, Matt Lee and Richard Sherman. There is a short glimpse of the Banks family at the end. It is only a 6 second marvel but as the clips' description says its part one, I'm hoping that there is a follow-up to this clip.

But here is the link - and as they used to say 'Enjoy the film' :D

uctv.fm/Undercover Interviews Mary Poppins

Shooting Star
screencap - UCTV.FM/Disney/CML
For educational use only.

It's Sunday!!!

And like Friday I thought it warranted a picture. This time it is in homage to all us lovely people who have to work on a Sunday. Enjoy!!

courtesy of the Philip Quast Continuum

And if you were wondering - it's from 'Around the world in 80 ways'. And yes it is Philip under there :D

As it is Friday the 13th!!

And I think we all need cheering up a little!! A pic to keep us going :)

copyright Lynda La Plante and ITV

Stars -1992 UK tour

I found this on youtube. The sins of not being able to go to sleep :) I actually have the full recording of this myself but never thought to share it on the web.So someone has, so I thought I'd share it with you. I do have to say that it is one of the best recording of 'Stars' because it is straight off the sound-desk, and the sound is the best you can get. Have a listen and you'll see what I mean.

Jules report on her trip to Melbourne

Below is Jules take on Mary Poppins which she saw on her recent trip to Melbourne. Hope you enjoy. And as an added bonus, I've now included the touched up colour versions of the original shots taken in Melbourne.

Posted this on the Philip Quast Forum but wanted to share this with you too.  Trying to get back into the swing of things but have to say would prefer to be in Melbourne!!!

As you all know by now (and we all knew he would be!!) Philip is just superb as Mr Banks - one of the reviews posted says it so well...

"As the austere and repressed patriarch George Banks, Philip Quast is superb. This role in lesser hands could be a one-dimensional caricature, but Quast brings to it depth and gravitas as well as that marvellous voice."

What the review fails to mention is how funny Philip is too - he moves from austere/repressed to angry to frightened to vulnerable to hilarious and then becomes the most wonderful, loving father and husband - just a brilliant, wonderful performance!!!

My favourite scene has to be the discovery of his stars and the following interaction with his children and Bert  - the most touching performance I have seen in a long, long time – reminded me so much of what Philip said about how powerful fighting to control emotion can be on stage during his Masterclass at the Haymarket Theatre – it was indeed very powerful.  Another favourite is the scene with the children and Mrs Banks in the nursery near the end! However all Philip's scenes are great - the funny ones especially – one in particular brings the house down!! Don't want to spoil anything for those others going over - they are in for a real treat!! Anyone going who will see it more than once - you should watch Philip at his desk when other action is going on - the detail in his performance is wonderful!

Verity is just terrific - the reviews are correct!! Think what she also brings to the role is a sense of fun - she really makes you think that Mary likes to have fun as well as being slightly stern, which she is, yes there is the no nonsense approach but the softer side shines through. Another thing that does come across so well is that she is not there just for the children but for Mr Banks and the interaction and dialogue between them is lovely.

As an example of how Verity captures the children in the audience one night in the scene where George shouts at everyone and then at Mary a little girl in the audience called out "don't you shout at Mary Poppins" - she was so into the whole thing - it was great!! Also proves Philip is doing a fantastic job too!!!!

The children playing Jane and Michael are all also wonderful - they are all terrific performers and we were so lucky to see all of them in action over the time we were there!

We also saw Verity’s understudy Sarah Bakker.  She was just great – especially considering she had only done technical run throughs.  Some of her  friends who had been due to fly back to Brisbane on the Sunday morning were with her when she got the call that she was “on”.  Needless to say they changed their flights,  got tickets to the show and nearly brought the house down when she flew over them in the Dress Circle – it was another great moment to remember!!

The whole cast are fabulous and work so hard - special mention from me for Sally-Anne Upton who is just fantastic as Mrs Brill!!  On top of that she is a lovely, lovely lady.

As we are back to the adults - this cast really is the royalty of Australian theatre - doubt in any other country (as has been said) that Cameron would have got a stellar cast like this together - I do see why he says it is his "dream cast" and Verity is the icing on the cake and the cherry on the top (thinking of kitchen scene!!). She plays the role of Mary beautifully - in fact she is "Practically Perfect"!!!

I would rather be back on Cherry Tree Lane than here at the moment but need to work to pay for the trip! I do think this is a show you could never tire of seeing and with the inestimable, wonderful Philip Quast as Mr Banks that is a definite!!!!!

Jules

Couple of photos at the stage door for Mary Poppins

Here are couple of photos from a friend of mine who wants to remain anonymous cause she thinks these aren't that good. She is wrong however, they are brilliant. The B/W effect by me as the contrast worked better at night. All I can say is yay for camera phones :D

Philip Quast outside Her Majesty's theatre, Melbourne Australia

Signing programmes 

Hope you like. Enjoy!! :D

A random photo

Just thought I'd like a random photo of Philip on here. Heck it's Sunday and I'm bored :D So here we are - a screencap from 'Sons and Daughters'.

Digging the snazzy shirt!!
courtesy of  http://www.sonsanddaughters.tv/

A late arrival in the Mary Poppins' reviews :)

Here is a little something I found from 'The Drama Teacher'. A nice review giving more of an insight to behind the scenes than most reviews have given.

http://www.thedramateacher.com/mary-poppins-review/

Hats Off to Mary Poppins

Members of the 'Mary Poppins' cast are to appear in 'Hats Off', the annual fundraising concert for OSCEFA (Oz Showbiz cares/Equity Fights AIDS). It will take place on Sunday 29th August at St Kilda's National Theatre.

More information can be found here :- Southern Star

With tickets available from Ticketek (and with more info!) at:- HATS OFF

Merchandise for 'Mary Poppins'

A major thankyou to the 'Philip Quast Guide' where I found this link originally. I ordered the souvenir programme on reputation alone, and not being able to get to Australia, it would be my chance to see what the production was like. And this programme is absolutely brilliant and they send you the 'little' programme as an added bonus. And what a bonus - not only does the main programme have stunning pictures of the show but the little one has wonderful rehearsals' pictures too. And us Philip Quast fans are NOT hard done by - the shot of him and Marina Prior is beautiful :)

For obvious copyright reasons I can't show you the programme but take my word it is worth the money. It is fairly expensive but if it is the only way to see these lovely photos, I would recommend it.

When you get to the website you will have to click through the links though. Start with the 'products' icon, then  'current shows' icon,  and then follow your nose. You'll get there.

http://www.playbill.com.au/

And still they keep coming :) - a Mary Poppins Review

Here is a review from 'The Spectator' newspaper on-line. This is quite a lengthy review going to 3 pages. Be warned each part of the review starts after the ads. Threw me a bit as thought blank page :D But here is the link.

mary-poppins-makes-a-sweeping-statement

Needed a bit of rough and ready

After chasing all the reviews and photos for Mary Poppins this week, I realised I needed a bit of rough and ready Phil. So I dug around on youtube and here is a quick clip from 'Silent Witness'.




Enjoy! I know I did :)

Rob Guest Endowment Concert 2010

Members of 'Mary Poppins' including Matt Lee will be attending the 'Rob Guest Endowment Concert' at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne, on Monday 12th October 2010. It is not known if Philip is attending but I would think it would be highly likely that he is. Keep an eye out cause hopefully should find out soon.

hmt.com.au/rob-guest-endowment-concert-2010

Cast illness and other snippets - Mary Poppins

There has been a bug going round the cast of Mary Poppins with several cast members missing performances. The blog 'Mystery in Musicals' had this post about it.

cast illness

Unfortunately with having people working together like this all the time, colds and flu spread like wildfire, but I'd like to take this opportunity to wish them all a speedy recovery.

On a lighter note, the complete cast including Philip Quast are due to perform at the Sydney Opera House on Monday 6th September, at the 2010 Helpmann awards. Information and news of nominations is here.

A short article, more so than a review, from Les Solomon from aussietheatre.com about Mary Poppins and also a few words about the up-coming Helpmann Awards.

Poppins and Helpmanns

A review from the Australian Jewish News, focusing on Troy Sussman who is in the show.
http://jewishnews.net.au/news/2010/08/03/up-in-the-air-over-mary-poppins/14634

Mary Poppins - slideshow

This link is for a slideshow of recent Mary Poppins photos, taken at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne.

http://www.australianstage.com.au/201008033741/slideshows/melbourne/mary-poppins.html

Many thanks to David Wyatt for sending me the link. *Big grin*

Ian Nisbet's review of Mary Poppins

This is now available on-line via Stage Whispers. It's a good review and as with the majority of the others, has high praise for the cast. Philip and Marina get a nice mention in this one :)
http://www.stagewhispers.com.au/reviews/mary-poppins

Latest Mary Poppins News from Her Majesty's Theatre

Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne have just added two pages, one about reviews (and their links); and one on extension of tickets sales. I have put both links below.

http://www.hmt.com.au/new-tickets-selling-quickly/

http://www.hmt.com.au/first-reviews-for-magical-mary/

Playbill:photo call for Mary Poppins

Here is a small gallery of pics taken at various times for Mary Poppins. Enjoy!!
playbill.com/multimedia/gallery for MP

Also found a picture on Newsphoto.com. It was apparently published in the HeraldSun on July 31st. As always click the link :)

I liked this Mary Poppins blog review

I found this and I liked it. It is a wonderful blog review of 'Mary Poppins' and I'd thought I'd share it :)

blogs.crikey.com.au/mary-poppins-her-majestys-theatre-melbourne/

And no longer do I find one but I find this one too. If you haven't seen the show this does contain a few spoilers as to what happens in the show. Be warned :)

http://cacroker.blogspot.com/2010/07/lets-go-fly-kite.html

And this one extra news article from the 'Australian'

theaustralian/cruel-edge-to-benign-fantasy