Ben Apfelbaum

RED CARPET : MARY POPPINS

Briden Starr
Candice Dixon
Carla ( Ben Grey) from Bankstown
Deputy Premier Matt Kean & Family
Bob Sewell, Carlos Candall and Sam Sewell
Hayley Flowers & Sophie Lavender
James Tobin & niece
Jeremy Fernandez and guest
Karina Carvalho
Lucy Durack
Michael & Camille Cassel & Kids

Premier Dominic Perrottet & his daughters
Ros Childs and son
Sally Obermeder & daughter
Verity Hunt- Ballard (previous Mary Poppins)
Young Cast Member Alternates
Stuart Ayres MP

It seemed that the entire front bench of the NSW Government attended the premiere of Mary Poppins. 

In particular, Deputy Premier Matt Kean attended with his young family and Premier Dominic Perrottet walked the Red Carpet with three of his daughters. Former Premier Mike Baird was spotted as he left the Sydney Lyric Theatre. 

The other unusual aspect of this premiere relates to what I discussed in my opening paragraphs.

As I descended the escalator to the street level there was a very large contingent of police ready to protect the Premier and his Ministry as they left. 

Other distinguished guests were the Mary Poppins Australian producer Michael Cassel and his family, Sir Cameron Mackintosh and his partner, and George Stiles who wrote additional songs for this production.

Featured image : Belinda & Coco Russell. All photos by Ben Apfelbaum

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.