By Cindy Whitehair
When you talk about live action Disney with magical characters that transform lives, the conversation needs to start with Mary Poppins. The Draper Historic Theatre has brought this show’s transformation to the stage with energy and inspiration.
Mary Poppins the musical is NOT Mary Poppins the movie. There are nods to parts of the movie (not going to give any hints), but there is more plot and character development in the musical than there is in the movie – something that director Jake Anderson ably navigated. Jake managed to take some of the darker aspects of the story and tone them down so that they wouldn’t scare the younger members of the audience.
Costuming (Amy Martinez) was one of the highlights for us. The costumes were “Practically Perfect in every way.”
Choreography (Jake Anderson, Emily Preston and Sasha Nutger) was another highlight. It was fast, often frenetic and a lot of fun. You could tell that the dancers had put a lot of work into perfecting their steps and that work paid off.
I was disappointed in the scenic design (Lily Ito). The underlying story in Mary Poppins is teaching Jane and Michael about the fact that there is a world outside of their upper middle class home and their first world problems in the seedier world of the sweeps and the scullery maids. You simply did not get that differentiation between the Banks’ drawing room and the rooftops. The majority of the drawing room were black curtains at the back of the stage and a seemingly out of place brick wall. There seemed to be more thought put into the rooftop world of the sweeps than there was into the upper middle class Banks’ drawing room – where the majority of the action takes place.
Speaking of the action, having seen Jeff Erickson was absolute perfection as Bert. His quirky, carefree portrayal was at once similar and completely different to character in the movie. Every time he was on the stage, your eyes were drawn to him because you knew that something was going to happen.
The Banks family – George (Brian Douros), Winifred (Chandler McArthur), Jane (AnnDee Belliston) and Michael (Gabriel Thomas) were spectular. The kids were especially amazing – this is a story that revolves around them and they carried it off, which is especially stunning when you consider that this is Gabriel’s very first show. Winifred’s “Being Mrs. Banks” was fantastic and for as little as he had to sing, the power that Mr. Duros brought to George Banks made him the lynch-pin of the show. If we do not see George Banks transform, the play falls flat.
Andrea Byron had the difficult job of portraying Mary Poppins. The easy route to this role would be to try to be a Julie Andrews knock off, but instead she was her own Mart. You got more of feel that she honestly cared about what happened to the family in her care and how determined she was to make a positive change in these peoples lives.
A couple of standouts in the ensemble were Robbie O’Kelly (who played the “holy terror” nanny Miss Andrew), Lisa Clayton (Katie Nana and Frau von Hussler) and Chareese Carter (Mrs. Cory). Ms. O’Kelly and Ms. Clayton have fun playing the two “villians” in this show and Ms. Carter just lit up the stage in the lead up to “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”
We experienced some of the usual opening night issues – a couple of quirky mics, uneven sound, music sometimes drowned out their actors, inconsistent British accents, the kind of things always seem to be worked out over opening weekend, but overall this is a wonderful show for the whole family. There is a lot of heart for the family in this show and there is a lot of heart IN the show from the production staff on down to the stage and you felt it in the far back of the theater.
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Mary Poppins at the Draper Historic Theater is a must see for familys of all ages.
A side note for parents of small children – this is a three hour long show. Younger children may not be able to last through the second act. We saw a few sleepy heads resting on parental shoulders leaving the theater last night.
Draper Historic Theatre Presents
Mary Poppins
Apr 10-17 (no performances Sunday the 12th or Thursday the 16th) 7:30 PM
Two performances April 18 – 2:00 and 7:30
Monday, Friday and Saturday Apr 20, 24 and 25 at 7:30PM
Tickets can be purchased online at tickets and are $12.00 for reserved seats and $9.00 for general admission
Draper Historic Theatre
12366 S 900 E, Draper, Utah 84020
(801) 572-4144
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