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The showbiz phrase ''a star is born'' might be hackneyed but it got its lustre back on Thursday night when 28-year-old newcomer Verity Hunt-Ballard stood triumphantly on Her Majesty's Theatre stage as the curtain came down on the opening night of Mary Poppins.
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''In the first half I was making sure that technically everything was right, but in the second half I could absorb the love from the audience,'' Hunt-Ballard said yesterday. ''Something just clicked. I can't explain it but there was this wonderful magic in the audience and on the stage,'' she said, adding the lights were so bright she couldn't see the first row of seats.
Thursday's audience included the team of English creative talent and Disney producers from New York who created the show in 2004, fashioned from Travers's books and the 1964 film starring Julie Andrews.
''She's been terrific through the previews but somehow last night she went that 10 per cent more and found a wonderful 'stillness' in the role,'' said Cameron Mackintosh, the British impresario who is co-producing the $16 million Melbourne production with Disney.
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''And this is my dream cast. Only in Australia could I get all the leading parts played by the leading ladies and gentlemen of the stage,'' he said, referring to a line-up that includes Marina Prior, Debra Byrne, Philip Quast, Judi Connelli, Sally Anne Upton and Matt Lee.
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© Fairfax Media
