It will come as no surprise to learn that banker George Banks’ salary is about to be quadrupled -he’s a banker, after all-but it’s a new and different thrill because the taxpayers will not be stuck for the bill – at least not yet.That news, however, is strictly beside the point in "Mary Poppins," the flashy, gorgeous and highly entertaining Disneyfied version of the P. L. Travers stories. It opened last night at the Fox Theatre to run through Aug. 30.
With Cameron Mackintosh as the man behind the musical, and the talented Richard Eyre as director, we know there will be flash and dash and a visual extravaganza, extending to Mary’s flight to the farthest reaches of the Fox balcony in her final exit, traveling much farther than through the Heavyside Layer. And Gavin Lee, as Burt, walks the full 360 degrees of the proscenium arch as a glittering, rat-a-tat-tat climax to the tap-dancing spectacle of "Step in Time."
Lee and Ashley Brown, in the title role, are over the top from start to finish, but that’s where they are supposed to be in a musical whose nearly three-hour running time will test the endurance and the sitting power of some young audience members.
But it’s a feast for the eyes, with Bob Crowley’s sets and costumes and Howard Harrison’s lighting design a massive test for the capabilities of the Fox and its stagehands, both of whom passed with flying colors. Kites and actors flew in all directions, translucent scrims rose and fell, the Banks’ home opened and closed like a Christmas doll house, then spread to almost the fulll width of the Fox stage.
Brown was just right as Mary Poppins, who is "practically perfect" from beginning to end, reminding her young charges to "look past what you see," always good advice. Lee adds charm and grace as the chimney sweep, a devil-may-care kind of guy who probably will grow up to be Alfred P. Doolittle in "My Fair Lady."
Matthew Bourne’s choreography is splendid, and the large group of talented dancers excels, led by Troy Edward Bowles, replacing Brian Letendre as the statue of Neleus, son of Poseidon, Greek god of the sea (Neptune was his Roman counterpart).
Singing and dancing, the main reasons for a theatrical piece like "Mary Poppins," are outstanding from top to bottom. Most of the score, part splendid, part sappy, is by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, primarily from the movie, with a couple of new songs by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.
Karl Kenzler and Megan Osterhaus are the elder Bankses, with Christopher Flaim and Aida Neitenbach as the children on the preview night I attended. Opening night Flaim and Abigail Droeger played the roles.
The story is unchanged, with the Banks children, ignored by their father and so unruly as to drive nannies to Distraction, which I believe is just south of Laramie, Wyo. But good ol’ Mary shows up, and in her hands, discipline becomes fun and, as the song goes, "A Spoonful of Sugar Makes the Medicine Go Down." Everyone learns to spell "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," and Mary disappears just as George Banks goes against everything in the rules of Amrican sports and business by deciding he will not retire "to spend more time with my family," but will stay at work to bring the same result. Don’t understand it? Well, it’s originally an English show, so not to worry. The production visiting us is exciting entertainment.
At the Fox Theatre through
Aug. 30
-Joe