Last month, a private screening of Mary Poppins Returns was shown to a test audience and it received a very poor grade from those that attended the screening. Disney is relying on “Mary Poppins Returns” to be the big December blockbuster movie that was originally reserved for “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and now Disney is rushing to make changes before the film is released. According to THR, Disney is planning a month of re-shoots for May and actress Rosie O’Donnell has joined the cast as Mary Poppins “Mum”.

Originally, Disney reached out to original Mary Poppins actress, Julie Andrews, but she declined since she is currently enjoying retirement. It was actually Julie Andrews that suggested casting O’Donnell after being a guest on The View several years ago. O’Donnell and Andrews hit it off and O’Donnell delighted Andrews by singing several songs from the original Disney classic, Mary Poppins, including “Superfagilisticexpialadocious”. Andrews commented that she was surprised how amazing O’Donnell’s voice was and that Rosie even reminded her of her real life mother.

Disney has worked previously with O’Donnell when she provided the voice of Terk in the Disney animated classic “Tarzan”, in which Rosie sang several songs written for her by Phil Collins. Rosie told THR that she is very excited to be joining the cast and has been frantically practicing her English accent at home. O’Donnell is expected to sing a duet with current Marry Poppins, Emily Blunt, called “My Mum And Me”. O’Donnell has released a small taste of the song on her official YouTube channel, which could be heard by clicking on the following link: Rosie YouTube

Mary Poppins returns opens December 25th.

Joe Hogarty