‘Mary Poppins the Musical’ @ WaterTower Theatre
Photos by Paris Marie Productions
—Martha Heimberg
What the world needs now is a flying nanny!
Mary Poppins always floats onto the scene (via her magic umbrella) when and where she’s most needed, right? Well, get your tickets this minute for WaterTower Theatre’s jubilant, high-flying production of Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins the Musical, based on the stories of P.L. Travers and the 1964 Disney film.
You and yours need to see this show.
The world’s most mysterious and beloved nanny (sparkling, full-throated Jocelyn Hansen) descends once more on the “mad house at 17 Cherry Lane” where London banker George Banks (glowering, disgruntled Tim Brawner) is too busy to notice that his household is falling apart. His wife Winifred (sweetly courageous Olivia Cartwright) feels neglected by her husband and inept at directing the staff. Their bored and unruly children, Jane and Michael (engaging, talented Alyssa Sabo and Noah Brown on opening night), have pushed all their previous nannies out the door, kicking and screaming.
What’s clearly needed in this wealthy, warring, divided family is order, optimism—and something to ignite their sense of wonder. One spoonful of sugar, perhaps, awakening the happy possibility of getting the job done just for the fun of it, and then following up with a joyful and imaginative walk in the park. Hope springs magically from Mary’s bottomless carpetbag, along with flowering plants, hat racks and a shiny telescope. Mary promises that “anything can happen if you let it,” just when everything’s at its most chaotic. Blimey!
That’s a lot—even for a ”practically perfect” nanny, as Mary describes herself to her new charges. But for a couple of rapt hours, I laughed and applauded along with a sold-out opening night house to the familiar, merry songs of the Sherman Brothers, an adapted book by Julian Fellowes (of Downton Abbey), and some new songs by Anthony Drewe and George Stiles.
The kids and parents and grandparents in the seats had their eyes riveted to the singers and dancers, and WaterTower’s intimate, steeply-raked theater space created a special vibe, for sure. The connectivity between spectators and performers is palpable and exciting as the actors make their entrancess and exits through the audience to the stage.
John De Los Santos’ swift, buoyant direction makes time fly along with Mary, and the richly resonant 12-person orchestra, directed by Cody Dry, sweeps us into the action with an inviting overture and deft accompaniment to the lively songs. Both solos and big dance numbers are choreographed with energy and style by De Los Santos and Vasthy Mompoint.
The company clicks marvelously, and the dance ensemble delivers everything from a stunning ballet solo by a leaping statue to “Step in Time,” a thunderous tap number that vibrates through the whole theater: the proscenium stage opens up to the rooftops of London, where the chimney sweeps play hand-clap games and tap dance in noisy unison.
Hansen’s Mary Poppins is as starched and proper as her perfect enunciation, but her playfulness and warmth come through in her finely modulated soprano voice, and the easy rapport she establishes with Jane and Michael as she shows them a whole new vision of the ordinary park they thought they knew. When she sings of the tonic effects of “A Spoonful of Sugar” her delight and certainty in the fun of working together rubs off on the kids, along with her impeccable posture.
Jon J. Peterson’s endearing Bert is all heart and twinkling eyes, a blissfully happy chimney sweep with an earthy Cockney accent and elegant dance moves. What’s not to love about a ‘sweep who performs with the exhilaration of a seasoned music hall song-and-dance man, and who can charm his way into the heart of a grumpy banker? His lively singing in “Chim Chim Cher-ee” and “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” makes you want to sing along. What’s more, he drolly shapes his lithe body into all the letters it takes to spell out “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”—and never misses a step, even when flying across the stage on a harness like magical Mary herself.
Always a compelling stage presence, Linda K. Leonard is the poignant, rapturous Bird Woman who sings the beautiful ballad “Feed the Birds.” She’s also the fiercely bossy household cook, who only gradually becomes a Mary believer.
Stan Graner is a grandiose Admiral Boom and a skeptical bank chairman. Kelly Schaaf is hilarious and scary as the mean-spirted Miss Andrew, poor George Banks’ old nanny, who has returned to serve up some more awful medicine to everybody in the house. But she meets her match in Mary, who sends the bearer of such nasty syrup flying.
Bob Lavallee’s elegant set design of handsomely painted scrims moves us in and out of a Victorian household, a stately park, and onto London’s gabled roofs, dramatically focused by Aaron Johansen’s lighting design. Christina Vargas designed the multi-textured, well-fitted period costumes, from tailored walking suits to laced-up boots, and bright costumes for the many roles of the ensemble dancers.
Director De Los Santos, a terrific dancer himself, joins the company onstage for the high-kicking finale and standing ovation for a truly supercalifragilisticexpialidocious performance. Take it away, sweeps!
WHEN: July 17-28, 2024
WHERE: 15650 Addison Road, Addison TX
WEB: watertowertheatre.org
