Tech glitches scrap Chicago 'Poppins' perf

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CHICAGO, June 29 (UPI) -- A Chicago audience for a weekend stage performance of Disney's "Mary Poppins" was sent home after computer malfunctions forced its cancellation, producers said.

Several people who e-mailed the Chicago Tribune said the Saturday show at the Cadillac Palace Theatre was shut down after 15 minutes and audience members waited 45 minutes before it was announced the show would not go on due to safety concerns, the newspaper reported Monday.

"Mary Poppins" has two weeks left to go in its Chicago run. The Tribune said there had been earlier anecdotal reports of a balky computer system causing problems with the production, including opening night, in which several technical cues were reportedly missed.

Broadway in Chicago vice president Eileen LaCario confirmed the cancellation, saying that such a mid-show move is "very unusual. This particular malfunction made it impossible to produce a safe performance."

She told the Tribune ticketholders would be offered their choice of refunds or tickets to an alternate performance during the next two weeks.