Keely Wirtz is about to take off in her dream role.

The Bend actress will soon star in the title role of “Mary Poppins,” the beloved musical about a flying nanny who enters the lives of Michael and Jane, two siblings wishing for a nanny upgrade. The Thoroughly Modern Productions show opens this weekend at the Tower Theatre in Bend.

“It’s actually my absolute dream role. I grew up watching ‘Mary Poppins’ as a kid, and I would force my brothers to watch it,” Wirtz said, laughing.

Her siblings didn’t necessarily enjoy the coerced screenings, Wirtz added, but she certainly did. For one thing, the 1964 Disney film starred Julie Andrews as the nanny who brings a little cheer and magic into the lives of Michael and Jane.

“I’ve watched her in so many (films),” Wirtz said. “I’ve watched her in ‘My Fair Lady.’ I’ve watched her in ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie,’ ‘Sound of Music,’ and so the fact that she was playing that role … but Mary was this mysterious character. She seemed so perfect, and I definitely am not. And so I just always aspired to be that character.”

Thoroughly Modern Productions lives up to its name with this updated version of the musical, which is set in Edwardian London. This version, produced by Cameron Mackintosh, premiered in London in 2004, and while it includes most of the film’s famous songs, written by award-winning songwriters Robert and Richard Sherman, it also has a few new tunes, written by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, and new characters, according to Scott Michaelsen, music director of the TMP production.

“This is based a little more off the original P.L. Travers books,” Michaelsen explained. “It’s notably different from the movie. Even though the most popular songs from the movie are in this show, even there, (they are) kind of a little bit different arrangements.”

“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” made the cut, as did “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” “Step in Time” and other favorites. And don’t worry, kids: Chimney sweep Bert is still here, played by Harlan Daniels. In all, the show stars about 45, including two kids casts, each doing three of the six performances, while the adult cast will appear in all six. There’s even a villain in the character of Miss Andrew, a character from the P.L. Travers books but absent from the film.

“She’s basically the evil nanny that Mary Poppins has to vanquish,” Michaelsen said. “Spoiler alert, but Mary leaves at one point, for reasons unknown, and they end up getting Miss Andrew, who’s this terrifying villain — the worst nanny around.”

One of Wirtz’s favorite songs in the show is “Let’s Go Fly a Kite,” “only because it’s really hard for me to hear the chorus singing it without crying.”

She also favors a new one, “Brimstone and Treacle,” during which Poppins engages in song battle against Miss Andrew. Sounding a little like a practically perfect nanny, Wirtz gushed about the quick-studying children in the cast.

“The kids for one are incredibly talented. Not just the Janes and the Michaels — the entire cast,” she said. “It was only a month of rehearsals for the kids, and they picked this all up so fast.”

As for her playing her dream role, Wirtz said, “It’s a very different take on Mary. There are a lot of nods (to) and things that I adopt from the original, but it’s a little different.”