Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn opens its holiday musical on Wednesday, November 18: Disney and Cameron Mackintosh's Mary Poppins, running through Sunday, January 3, 2027. The theater has scheduled accessible performances and a cast talkback inside the run.

The show and the company

The stage musical follows the nanny who arrives at the Banks household on Cherry Tree Lane and takes two children on a run of adventures. It is based on the P. L. Travers stories and the Walt Disney film, with the original music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, a book by Julian Fellowes, and new songs and additional music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. Cameron Mackintosh co-created the stage version.

Kara Lindsay plays Mary Poppins, with Will Burton as Bert, Will Blum as George Banks and Ashley Blanchet as Winifred Banks. Two pairs of young actors share the Banks children: Beatrice Goddard Beggs and Emery Layne Large as Jane, and Max Ryan Burach and Rocco Van Auken as Michael. Natalie Charlé Ellis plays the Bird Woman and Miss Andrew, Dierdre Friel is Mrs. Brill, Alvin Crawford doubles as Admiral Boom and the Bank Chairman, and Sam Faulkner is Robertson Ay.

Mark S. Hoebee directs, Denis Jones choreographs and Ben McNaboe is music director. The flying effects are by Foy, and the scenic design is by Timothy Mackabee.

Dates worth circling

  • Cast Q&A: Saturday, December 5, after the matinee.
  • Audio-described performances: Sunday, December 13, and Saturday, December 19, both at 1:30 p.m.
  • Open-captioned and ASL-interpreted performances: Saturday, December 19, at 1:30 p.m., and Sunday, December 20, at 7 p.m.

Before you buy for the kids

Paper Mill recommends the show for ages 4 and up, and children under 4 are not admitted to the theater. The running time is two hours and 30 minutes with one intermission. The theater has posted a study guide, a content guide and a digital program on the show's page.

A season during construction

Audiences will notice work going on around them. Paper Mill began a campus-wide renovation on July 1, 2026, that reworks the lobby, the restaurant and the outdoor spaces and adds more restrooms, and the theater expects construction to continue through August 2027. To make room for it, the playhouse is staging four shows this season instead of its usual five, which it describes as a temporary change, and it has posted answers to questions about how the work affects visits.

After Mary Poppins, the season continues with Ken Ludwig's farce Lend Me a Tenor from January 27 to February 21, Million Dollar Quartet, about the night Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins played together at Sun Records, from March 17 to April 25, and Dear Evan Hansen from May 19 to June 27, 2027. Subscriptions are sold through the box office at 973-379-3717.

Getting there

Paper Mill Playhouse is at 22 Brookside Drive in Millburn. The nearest train is the Millburn station on NJ Transit's Morris and Essex Lines. The box office, at 973-376-4343, is open daily from noon to 6 p.m. and until 9 p.m. on performance days, and tickets are also sold on the theater's website.

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