Mary's Poppin in

The Producers lost star Richard Dreyfuss days before its first performance. Billy Elliot was forced to cancel its first provincial run and delayed its London opening.

And Andrew Lloyd Webber's Woman In White was panned by the critics.

All in all, it has been a decidedly awkward autumn for London's new batch of mega-musicals - with one exception.

Mary Poppins is poised to fly into the West End, propelled by the best advance word-of-mouth buzz London has heard for years.

Its preview run in Bristol closed this weekend, and the £9 million show - which has been conjured up by legendary impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh and Disney theatre boss Tom Schumacher - will have its first performance at the Prince Edward Theatre on 6 December.

Advance box office sales have reportedly topped £12 million, a figure Sir Cameron insists is not correct. He will not say what the real figure is but does describe it as "bloody good".

These are the first production pictures of Laura Michelle Kelly and Gavin Lee, who will take the roles of Poppins and Bert, first made famous by Julie Andrews and Dick van Dyke in the 1964 film classic.

Sir Cameron told the Standard: "From the first night in Bristol the audiences have been responding to the show in a tremendously strong way.

"That reaction is up there with what I saw with some of my other big shows, somewhere in between Phantom and Miss Saigon. We've been tightening the show, crafting it and making the kinds of changes you can only do once it is in front of the audience. Now it is ready for London."

He added: "Tom and I have approached this by putting what we want on the stage, then stepping back and letting the public decide. Now we're coming to London we want audiences - and the critics - to come and discover the show for themselves.

"That is why we haven't been doing saturation advertising. Word of mouth is the most important thing. All my big hits have had a similar genesis. It is the show itself that makes people react, makes people tell their friends - hype doesn't do anybody any good."

Although weekend performances are booked out for months ahead, there are still tickets for what seems set to become the biggest hit of 2005 available. Mary Poppins is directed by Richard Eyre and the musical's "book", based on P L Travers, has been written by Oscar-winner Julian Fellowes.