By snoadmin
The actors in “Mary Poppins” dance and sing an excellent Ahmanson Theatre performance, laden with spectacular special effects.
Almost everyone who has seen the 1964 Disney movie knows the story of this musical. The plot is set in England at 17 Cherry Tree Lane, where Mr. and Mrs. Banks cannot find a nanny to care for their children, Jane and Michael. The kids drove their previous nannies away with their bad manners.
Thus, Jane and Michael show their parents a flyer asking for a perfect nanny who sings, tells them stories and treats them properly. Right when Mrs. Banks sets out to post the flyer, Mary Poppins arrives in their house.
Poppins is more than just perfect. She pulls out a potted plant and a bed from her small purse. She goes out on dates with her chimney sweeper boyfriend. She takes the kids on a wild adventure through the park, and she sings about spoonfuls of sugar.
This production is much more bizarre and realistic than the original film. Most of the play takes place in a huge dollhouse-like mansion, but the characters speak in a rustic British accent.
The main conflict also centers around difficult, everyday problems with the family during a financial crisis. Mr. Banks gets suspended without pay for refusing a loan from a wealthy client. He leaves his wife to take care of the kids, who prefer to stick around their weird nanny.
Despite these problems, the story reaches an uplifting resolution at the end. The musical expresses a simple tale about a dysfunctional family that learns to care for itself with the help of the perfect nanny.
However, the audience will more likely pay attention to the grand visuals and special effects. One of the flashiest numbers involves one of the new characters Poppins and the children visit. They meet the owner of a “talking shop,” Mrs. Corry, who gets Poppins to sing the energetic number “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”
In this number, the stage bursts with a vivacious dancers moving around together, singing “Hum-diddle-diddle-diddle, hum-diddle-I.” The elaborate stage design includes a tent moving around the stage on cables, rotatable glass cases containing alphabet letters and a humongous unfolding curtain with the word “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” written in large cursive letters.
Cameron Makintosh’s production will keep people glued to their seats, waiting for the next series of magical visuals. The musical throws out a whole range of dancers and singers, including a gang of 20 or more chimney sweeps tap dancing to “Step in Time.”
Mary Poppins, played by Ashley Brown, pulls off the biggest umbrella stunt at the end. Without spoiling how spectacular this flying sequence turns out, I’ll just say that Poppins can fly very, very high.
Although the visuals impress everyone, the dazzling props of “Mary Poppins” tend to be too dazzling. For example, the 20-foot floating umbrella with a sparkling peacock head as a handle in “Anything Can Happen” looked really strange.
In all seriousness, however, the musical remains a timely, storybook-style performance in this economic recession. Disney put all their resources in “Mary Poppins” to good use, producing a magnificent ethical story about treating people as they would like to be treated.
If you see it, be prepared to watch plenty of frenetic dance numbers and special effects. Consider it a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.
