I was hanging around at the stage door of BATB the other night and four girls that will be playing "Jane" from Mary Poppins were there. They were talking about how Tech. Rehearsals start the next day.... yadayada.

I don't mean to be rude, but here we go.

They were some of the most obnoxious girls ever. They wouldn't stop talking about Mary Poppins, which I would understand, but they were talking really loud so everybody would hear. They drove me up the wall.

And now you know. The end.

Why did the quadruple cast the kids anyway. Ussally double casting is sufficiant

Yeah, that is kind of weird.

Maybe it's because they kids are in both acts? In TLK, Young Simba's only in one act, so he uses half his energy??

Actually, I have no idea. That was a total shot in the dark.

Maybe Disney had troubles in the past with having two kids, so they had four. *shrugs*

I have been to some shows where they have had more than 2 childern cast for the same part... Billy Elliot (3 kids for most or the main child characters) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (there were about 3 boys and girls for that too).

Probably because kids have a tendency to get sick easily...and spread it easily (well more likely with kids than adults that is)...that if they had two and one got the other sick they wouldn't have anyone else? Eh, that's what I would guess. That and the kids also would have more time to get their schoolwork done, the less they perform during the week.

Yeah, it would be a lot of pressure on a kid that is just starting his/her career at the age of 8 to perform their very best and grow up and do school work all at the same time.

i don't think those kids are 8. i'm guessing between 10-12. but still hard none the less. it's hard for anyone who is in school to balance doing shows, especially 8 broadway shows a week.

It would also be against child labor laws to make them rehearse/perform that much...

^I guess when I was in SOM, we kind of... broke that law. We did eight shows a week. The only alternate was Gretl (there were two) and they were 6 and 8 years old.

I think that child labor laws apply differently than normal to theatre. When I was little I worked at a dinner theatre that performed 8 times a week, and I think they're allowed to do that, but they can't keep them too late at night during rehearsals. Something like that, I think it had to do with how many hours a day you could work them- but when it comes to entertainment (movies, theatre, dance, etc.) the laws are a slightly different because of the kind of work it is...I could be wrong...but I remember being told something like that.

It does have to do with Child Labor laws and tutoring and all of that. Those kids are NOT 12, they are younger and having more of them also allows rotation if one or two have growth spurts and end up two big for the roles This is the first Americal show, to my knowledge, to have so many parings of children; I mean one can understand it in Billy Elliot where there is virtual no-stop action, but I think 4 pairs for "Poppins" is a bit of overkill. I have heard that some of the adults have difficulty remebering WHO they are playing with during any given performance and it makes for some funny moments

Actually Katherine Doherty was 12 as of her opening as Jane in Mary Poppins, I'm not sure how old the other two girls are that's why I said probably around 10-12. Matthew Gumley is 11 and according to ibdb.com Henry Hodges is either 12 or 13 because he was born in 1994! The third boy, Alexander- I'm not sure how old he is either. But I found ages for half of them and they were between the ages of 11-13...so giving some room for the other three to possibly be a that much younger than the rest, my guess was 10-12. But yes there are at least two cast members and soon to be three that are at least 12 years old.


Just saying.

Although I do agree that it has to do with overworking the children, you're correct in that.