Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins brings the magic of Disney to the stage. No wonder that it’s Mary that we love.
Courtesy of Disney.com
Disney’s Mary Poppins was a great show. The set pieces were very well made, using angled pieces that make the viewer feel like they are in the setting of the play. The dancing scenes fit their songs very well. The wild rooftop dancing of Chim Chim Cheree and the quick and haggard movements of the cruel nanny, Miss Andrew (Ellen Harvey, Mamma Mia on Broadway), in Brimstone and Treacle worked in tandem with the orchestra like clockwork.
Bringing a story from a book to the stage is often a challenge, and even more so to transition from a written story to a movie screenplay. The nanny Mary Poppins originated from a series of children’s books by P.L. Travers. If the viewers are very familiar with the series, they will find that Disney had chosen certain adventures from the children’s books instead of using all of them or a particular order of them in their film. The musical version has added some new songs, like Anything Can Happen (If You Let It), Temper, Temper and Brimstone and Treacle. Music isn’t the only thing that was written into the play. A welcome incorporation is the nanny that raised George Banks, the mean Miss Andrew. This woman insists on punishment and discipline to keep children in order, and shows how George Banks became so uptight. Many characters refer to Miss Andrew as “The Holy Terror,” which adds humor to a tense situation. When it comes to Mary Poppins, this stage adaptation shows the practically perfect nanny in a different light than the film did.
Mary Poppins is a little sterner, but is very proper. Jane and Michael Banks, the children, are portrayed as bratty, and uncontrollable. This play includes several characters that were not in the film that make the performance more meaningful and strengthens the characters. It is made clear that father George Banks is cold and concerned with maintaining a orderly house. George’s wife wants nothing more than to help him lighten up and be happy, but he is so uptight he won’t share his burden with her or try to change his ways. On a outing to the bank, Mary Poppins teaches Mr. Banks the value of believing in people, not money. Seemingly a silly choice to George Banks, he turns down a loan by a man concerned with making money from America and gives a loan to a man who wants to build a factory to employ people in his town. The money schemer goes to another bank, and his plan puts them in debt. But, fortunately, the factory is booming with business and raises profits for the bank, all thanks to George.
The set is something to marvel at. The home at 17 Cherry Tree Lane comes to life, with a split opening of the front of the home, much like a dollhouse. It’s very complete, with lights, a staircase, and windows. It spun around for a scene in the kitchen, which also opens up to show plates and cabinets leaning toward the back wall of the kitchen, a perspective that makes the audience feel like they’re inside the home. Another highlight of the set was the backdrop for the bank. Using large marble towers that lean upwards, a large dome seen from the inside, and imposing doors, the feeling of a massive company and the small people who work there is well established.
The story is more complete than Disney’s film. It gives the characters a more solid motive and background. The character Bert, a man who has several kinds of occupations ranging from a street painter to a chimney sweep, acts as a transition character and a main character. He helped spin the home around for the kitchen, drew a welcome sign in the sky when Mary Poppins returned, and speaks to, and dances with, people in the street and main characters. The audience was immersed in the world of early 20th century England. The tale of the family on Cherry Tree Lane has its problems: a father who is preoccupied with order and keeping a good home, a mother who dearly wants to help her husband, and two children who find mischief around every corner. Coming in from a change in the wind, the new nanny, Mary Poppins, seems to turn their world upside down. Magical walks in the park, dancing on rooftops, and statues that come to life are only a couple of things Mary brings to the Banks family.
The musical numbers were my favorite parts of the play. The actors would leap and run across the stage, singing and stomping to the beat of the songs. Every move was well choreographed and nobody missed a beat. The fast-paced rendition of Step In Time was excellent. The stage was filled with chimney sweeps moving in sync with their brooms held high dancing on the rooftops, and Bert danced “over the rooftops,” tap dancing up the side of the stage to the ceiling and down the other side. From skipping in the park to a beautiful and elaborate finale, each step was done in time.
Being able to hear songs I remember from growing up and watching the videotapes of Disney’s classic Mary Poppins performed live on stage was incredible. It made me feel like a little kid again. I can’t count the number of times I caught myself quietly singing along with the songs. They tugged at my heartstrings, and made me feel that anything can be possible. The ending dance was great. Seeing the lights of a starry night on a stage and watching Mary Poppins float away with her parrot umbrella was a great way to tie it all together. The last song was led into by George picking up his childhood hobby of astronomy, gazing into the stars as the stage became dotted with small lights. Anything Can Happen (If You Let It), had characters dance on stage, moving lights around and wearing shimmering outfits. As the song goes, “If you reach for the stars, all you get is the stars, but we’ve found a whole new spin. If you reach for the heavens, you get the stars thrown in. Anything can happen if you let it, life is out there waiting, so go and get it, grab it by the collar, seize it by the scruff, once you’ve started living life you just can’t get enough.”
