MARY POPPINS.
London
MARY POPPINS
by Julian Fellowes Music and lyrics by Richard M Sherman & Robert B Sherman, new music and lyrics by George Stiles & Anthony Drewe. Based on stories by P L Travers and the Walt Disney film Mary Poppins, screenplay by Bill Walsh & Don Da Gradi
Prince Edward Theatre To 12 January 2008
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Thu & Sat 2.30pm
Runs 3hr One interval
TICKETS: 0870 850 9191 (Booking fee)
www.marypoppinsthemusical.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 20 December
A Mary Poppins that's for life, not just for Christmas.This production will, of course, have a life long after this Christmas, the next, and doubtless more after that. But that's not the only reason it is for more than the time of midwinter festivities and goodwill. It's rightly advertised as for 7+ audiences - though the +' has no upper limit, as evidenced by the sober father of a family group joining in the standing ovation curtain-call reprise of Supercalifrag etc' behind me.
And there are darker scenes, notably the nursery nightmare where Mary's controlling presence takes its night off and, as the Banks children, Jane and Michael, struggle towards a sense of conscience, toys creep out of the woodwork to give them a bad time.
In one sense, though, Mary's spoonful of sugar remains ladles of the sweet stuff with precious little medicine. Bank employee George Banks, in whose chaotic but idyllically-situated Cherry Tree Lane residence the action is focused, is suspended without pay from his job, for a loan decision that cost the Bank dear. Eventually, he talks of bankruptcy and wanders disconsolately through the nearby park. But he's still hiring nannies and calamity is fudged. He ends up promoted, not because the morality underlying his decisions has been endorsed but because they've turned out to add to banking profits.
Still, people facing repossession of their homes aren't likely to be buying West End theatre tickets so that can all be ignored, as (despite our long-hours work culture) can the improbability of a major promotion accommodating George's declared determination to have a family-friendly worklife balance.
Of course, such things weren't worrying the audience; concern was more on the lines one young person expressed coming out that it wasn't like the real, actual film. It's just that one beacon of the sort of theatre that doesn't ignore (indeed, focuses upon) economic realities was the progressive Nottingham Playhouse of the 1970s, under the artistic leadership of this production's director, Richard Eyre.
Who here proves himself, again, one of his generation's great directors, among a team each of whom is outstanding. Take Matthew Bourne's alphabet-choreography for Supercalif etc', the dazzling sky-display that's the culmination of Howard Harrison's lighting (a scene Frank Capra could hardly have outdone in Hollywood), or Bob Crowley's tremendous settings.
These present the Banks home as a huge, colourful doll's house, its various levels from roof to basement moving around during the basement kitchen scene (where, doubtless for one night only, a cuckoo-clock delightfully resisted Mary's magic and received a stern look for so doing) the ground-floor is reproduced as a 2D painting. Other locations come in lightly-etched grey. St Paul's is made monumental by having only a couple of pillar sections shown in large scale, while the bank is a splendid, tilted vault with pillars showing clerks scratching away for a living a forbidding cathedral of capitalism.
Laura Michelle Kelly's Mary keeps the right side of sinister in her mix of distance and warmth, bringing to family life something of Lord Mountbatten's naval nostrum that a disciplined ship is a happy ship, and a happy ship is a disciplined ship. David Haig's intensity shows the character's vulnerability, his sudden late leap into the expialidocious song' a delightful moment. Sadness at not seeing the excellent Linzi Hastely was overcome by Sarah Keeton's accomplished performance, while Jenny Galloway's voice, like an underground train rumbling past in threatening mode, is a delight. If all the young people playing the Banks children are as fine as the two I saw, casting director Trevor Jackson should have his own award.
Add in Jim Steinmeyer's attic illusions and this show is, in all senses, a fantastic joy.
Bert: Gavin Lee
George Banks: David Haig
Winifred Banks: Linzi Hately
Jane Banks: Nicola Bowman/Carrie Fletcher/Poppy Lee Friar/Charlotte Spencer/Faye Spittlehouse
Michael Banks: Jake Catterall/Perry Millward/Jack Montgomery/Harry Stott/Ben Watton
Katie Nanna: Louisa Shaw
Policeman: Tim Morgan
Miss Lark: Claire Machin
Admiral Boom/Bank Chairman: Ian Burford
Mrs Brill: Jenny Galloway
Robertson Ay: Gerard Carey
Mary Poppins: Laura Michelle Kelly
Park Keeper/Mr Punch: Kevin Williams
Neleus: Stuart Neal
Von Hussler: Alan Vicary
Northbrook/Valentine: Nathan Taylor
Miss Smythe/Miss Andrew: Rosemary Ashe
Birdwoman: Julia Sutton
Mrs Corry: Melanie La Barrie
Fannie: Savannah Stevenson
Annie/Doll: Poppy Tierney
William: Terel Nugent
With: Jye Frasca, Lewis Greenslade, Howard Jones, Sarah Keeton, Matthew Malthouse, Stephen McGlynn, Tamara McKoy Patterson, Zak Nemorin, Agnes Vandrepote
Swings: Sarah Bayliss, Ashley Day, Philip Michael Thomas, Pippa Raine, Emma Woods, Andrew Wright
Director: Richard Eyre
Co-director/Choreographer: Matthew Bourne
Designer/Costume: Bob Crowley
Lighting: Howard Harrison
Sound: Andrew Bruce
Dance/Vocal arrangements: George Stiles
Orchestrations: William David Brohn
Musical Supervisor: David Caddick
Musical Director: Nick Davies
Co-choreographer: Stephen Mear
Illusions Designer: Jim Steinmeyer
Make-up: Naomi Donne
Associate director: James Powell
Associate designer: Rosalind Coombes
Associate lighting: James Whiting
Associate sound: Simon Baker
Assistant musical director: Andy Massey
Associate choreographer: Geoffrey Garratt
2004-12-22 12:09:47