MARY POPPINS

I remember seeing the Disney movie, “Mary Poppins”, as a little girl, and loving it.  Everything about it, Julie Andrews as Mary; Dick Van Dyke as Bert; all the songs, dancing, everything.  It truly seemed like magic to me back then.  And of course as a child, just trying to say “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” was fun. 

When the Broadway touring production of “Mary Poppins” came to Portland, I was excited.  A friend of mine, (who’s a big Disney fan), and I decided we had to see the musical on stage.  We got tickets for the second night of the run, and waited for the magic to begin.

And was there magic?  All I can say is, WOW!!!  The story grabs your attention from the start, and things just take off from there.  Not only were the actors excellent, all the props, music and special effects were fantastic as well.  You really felt like you’d been transported to England, and were right there with Mary and the Banks family; going through everything they were going through.

Usually I’m pretty up on where things originate from.  For instance, I knew the play had been adapted from the movie, “Mary Poppins”.  For some reason though, I never realized that there are books where the movie actually came from.  I found this out when reading the booklet for the play.  It’s adapted from the movie, and the first three “Mary Poppins” books.  In some ways I wish I’d known that before seeing the play.  On the other hand, not knowing made the experience new for me, all over again.

As a rule, movies and plays of things, like “Grease”, “The Lion King”, “Mary Poppins”, etc., usually differ in a lot of ways.  Scenes are rearranged, songs added or deleted, any number of things are changed.  A lot of times this has to do with what can and can’t be done on a stage, as opposed to a movie set.  Other times, it has to do with what’s portrayed in the movie, to give that movie a certain appeal, or whatever. 

“Mary Poppins” is like that.  As I said, I remember it as a little girl, all magic and fun.  The play, having been adapted from the movie and the books, took on a bit of a darker tone.  A perfect example of this is the character, “Miss Andrew”, who was George Banks’ nanny when he was a child.  The other name Miss Andrew was known by was, “The Holy Terror”, because of how strict and cruel she could be.

There was a scene when Mary explains to the children, Jane and Michael, why they should take better care of their toys. The toys come to life, full grown, and taunt Jane and Michael.  As my friend said, it was kind of creepy to watch.  I remember thinking at the time, if I was a little kid, I’d be afraid to go home to my toys.  

The scene that features the song, “A Spoonful of Sugar”, is also different from the movie.  I don’t know if it’s because I’m an adult now, or what, but I found myself watching the play, hearing the song, and watching Mary give the children and Mrs. Banks medicine, and I suddenly had the thought, “that’s Mary’s secret, she just drugs the family!”

The scene featuring the song "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" made me feel like I was watching a 1900’s version of “YMCA”, crossed with the Macarena; at least that’s what *I* was seeing.  It made me giggle. I couldn't find a clip of the cast with the current "Mary Poppins", Steffanie Leigh, so I've put a clip from the Broadway production here.

On a side note, Steffanie Leigh is a native Oregonian, having grown up in Talent, in the southern part of the state. Steffanie joined the touring cast earlier this year, and makes a "practically perfect”, Mary Poppins.  (I say that, because in the play Mary is “practically perfect” in every way.)  

Over all, despite the darker tones of the play, it was well worth seeing.  It made me want to read the books to see what was left out of the play. 

If you’re interested in seeing the show during its Portland run, it’s playing at the Keller Auditorium through July 10, 2011.