This news has actually made our day.
Dick Van Dyke, who is best-known for his turn as the charismatic chimney sweep Bert in Disney’s Mary Poppins from 1964, will play a wee role in the movie’s upcoming sequel, Mary Poppins Returns.
Emily Blunt takes over from Julie Andrews as the lead in the new film, and Lin Manuel Miranda (who we expect could be doing a duet with Van Dyke) will also star.
The 91 year old Dick Van Dyke said: ‘This one supposedly takes place 20 years later and the kids are all grown up. It's a great cast - Meryl Streep, Angela Lansbury and that guy from Hamilton [Miranda].’
The actor will act, sing and dance in Mary Poppins Returns, playing the son of his second character (he played the banker Mr Dawes, as well as Bert, in Mary Poppins) in the original. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, he said: ‘I’ll be going to London in the spring to do my role, and I get to do a little song-and-dance number. I gotta be a part of it.’
Van Dyke also said to THR he has no plans to retire anytime soon: ‘I think it's the worst thing you can do. Certain people who do retire suddenly age. I think you have to stay active.’
Directed by Rob Marshall, Mary Poppins Returns is due to be released on Christmas Day 2018. Colin Firth, Emily Mortimer, Ben Whishaw have also signed up. It will tell the story of an older Jane and Michael Banks and Michael's three children, who are visited by Poppins in the aftermath of a ‘personal loss’ in Depression-era London.
Oh please let there be another number like this: