Preparations for the next Flin Flon Community Choir musical are moving ahead. The group will hold auditions next month to see who will fill each role in the group’s performance of Mary Poppins next year.
The choir will host auditions Nov. 5-6 through webconferencing app Zoom to discover new talent and see who will perform as who in the show, which is set for a trio of productions on May 5, 6 and 7, 2023 at the R.H. Channing Auditorium.
The choir and Flin Flon Arts Council announced Mary Poppins as the group’s next major musical at an event at Johnny’s Social Club back in May.
The show will be first major choir production since 2019, when the choir performed Mamma Mia for four sold-out nights. The choir typically hosts a major production every two years, having performed shows like Chicago, Grease, Les Miserables and other Broadway faves, but was unable to host a show last year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 show would have coincided with the choir's 25th anniversary.
Once casting decisions are made, scripts will be sent out to performers before the holiday season, starting an almost half-year production blitz, bringing in a director, building sets, producing the show and holding several rehearsals each week.
Some key off-stage roles have already been filled - Winnipeg-based director Ann Hodges, who also helmed the choir’s 2015 production of Les Miserables and their 2019 showing of Mamma Mia, will be back for a third helping of Flin Flon theatre, while locals Katy Anderson and Lori Lawrence will take on the roles of stage manager and costume designer.
When Mary Poppins was performed on Broadway, the show included several main cast roles, including the titular nanny, her Cockney friend Bert, the Banks family - father George, mother Winifred and children Ellen, Jane and Michael - and several others. The exact number of roles available through audition for the Flin Flon show is unknown as of press time.
Performers interested in setting up an audition can do so by contacting [email protected].
