'A Spoonful of Sugar' Hits Broadway

Nov. 7, 2006 — -- The wind is bringing in a new Mary Poppins, and the story involves a precocious girl from the Deep South, an eccentric writer from Australia and a group of composers who immortalized the perfect British nanny in music.

The musical "Mary Poppins" has run for two years in London. It will open on Broadway on Nov. 16. It is co-produced by the Walt Disney Company, the parent company of ABC News.

Twenty-four-year-old Ashley Brown takes on the iconic role that won an Academy Award for Julie Andrews when she was in her late 20s.

"I watched that movie 1 million times," Brown said.

Brown's everyday conversation may be tinged with a Southern accent -- she's from Gulf Breeze, Fla., near Pensacola -- but her director, Sir Richard Eyre, who also directed the London production, said Brown's diction onstage is flawless.

"She has remarkable poise and grace and something you can't fake -- a sort of precocious authority," Eyre said.

At first, Brown wasn't a candidate for the stage role. But her star qualities emerged during auditions.

"She's got such a presence about her," said Thomas Schumacher, producer for Disney Theatrical Productions. "And that's a sort of X-factor thing -- that when you look at a bunch of people, one just pops."

Like the character of Mary Poppins, Ashley Brown is wise beyond her years and talented in surprising ways.

She's had vocal training since childhood and has already played the role of Belle in "Beauty and the Beast" on Broadway. It was in her dressing room during "Beauty and the Beast" that Schumacher told her she had won the role of a lifetime.

"He came in, and he asked, 'You know why I'm here, right?'" Brown said, remembering her nervousness during the visit. "And I was like, 'No, but I'm feeling sick, so you better tell me.'"

"And then there was much screaming from her," Schumacher said. "When I left, I said, 'Now, keep this a secret.' But by the time I got down to 46th Street, I think everyone on Broadway had already heard."