HAMPSHIRE'S newest stage star will show just how "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" she is when she takes the title role in Cameron Mackintosh's new musical Mary Poppins.
Totton-born Laura Michelle Kelly will star as the magical nanny when the show receives its world premiere on Wednesday, December 15 at the Prince Edward Theatre in London's West End.
Just a few months ago, the rising star appeared in the revival of Fiddler on the Roof at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway.
Two months before taking her role in the musical, her mother Allyson died from breast cancer at the age of 43.
Despite this, the 23-year-old actress won rave reviews from the New York critics for her performance as Hodel in
the musical, with one leading critic describing her as "adorable".
Cameron Mackintosh said: "When we started discussing the casting of Mary Poppins for the stage, we dreamt of finding an actress who was on the brink of stardom but not yet associated by the public with a particular role.
Laura, whose family moved from Totton to the Isle of Wight when she was nine, learned her craft singing in church and acting in amateur productions on the Island.
Last year, the former Sandown High School pupil took the musical world by storm when she starred as Eliza Doolittle in the London revival of My Fair Lady.
Laura had to turn down a role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's new show, The Woman in White, because rehearsals clashed with Mary Poppins.
Laura said: "This is truly the role of a lifetime."
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