Musical talent shines in Mary Poppins
Theatre Under the Stars delivers energetic, colourful production despite uninspiring story
A confession: I’ve never liked Mary Poppins. That may be heresy, but there you are. Even theatre critics have their prejudices.
Although Mary herself is a pretty cool character, I find much of the music cloying and the upperclass twits annoying. Mary’s flying umbrella, like other aerial theatrical effects — the chandelier in Phantom, Miss Saigon’s helicopter — leaves me unimpressed.
But when two of the critics I most admire rated the Theatre Under the Stars production their favourite show of the summer, I thought I’d give it a go.
The experience hasn’t moved the needle on my Play Quality Metre much past Overrated. But, Shel Piercy’s colourful, clever, energetic production reinforces my admiration for Theatre Under the Stars as a showcase for Vancouver’s impressive musical theatre talent.
With nods to A Christmas Carol, Peter Pan and The Wizard of Oz, this version of P.L. Travers’s mid-20th century children’s books tells the story of the Banks family’s redemption by the mysterious, magical nanny, Mary Poppins, played here with command by Ranae Miller.
Scrooge-like workaholic London banker George Banks (Russell Roberts) neglects his wife, Winifred (Lalainia Lindbjerg-Strelau), and bratty kids, Jane (Lola Marshall) and Michael (Nolen Dubuc), until Mary appears out of nowhere to tame the children, help Mr. Banks rediscover his own inner child and teach everyone life lessons (“Look past what you see.”).
The star of this show is Bert, Mary’s shape-shifting, chimney-sweep helper. A fine dancer with a strong voice and star-power presence, Victor Hunter’s Bert perfectly complements Miller’s Mary. There are even hints of a budding romance between them.
Brian Ball’s wonderful mobile set is a cartoon fantasy of painted flats, with bright-pink cherry blossoms and a Banks family home coloured with what look like yellow and pastel crayons. Chris Sinosich’s remarkable costumes are most impressive in the show’s very best number, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, where Mary, Bert, the kids and a large chorus perform that supremely clever song led by excellent Andrea Pizarro as word merchant Mrs. Corry.
The dancing is always a highlight at TUTS, and this cast shines along with Nicol Spinola’s choreography. Balletic statues come alive, and Bert arbitrarily, but delightfully, dances with penguins when Mary takes the children for a jolly holiday in the park. The big rooftop number Step in Time with a chorus of sweeps is tap heaven.
At home, there’s solid work from servants Mrs. Brill (Sheryl Anne Wheaton) and Robertson Ay (Joseph Spitale, with his funny shrieking falsetto) and the evil nanny Miss Andrew (Jaime Piercy), whose brimstone and treacle is defeated by Mary’s spoonful of sugar in a battle of good witch versus bad.
Impressively precocious child actors Marshall and Dubuc hold their own with the adult cast, anchored by experienced pros Roberts and Lindbjerg-Strelau. But, the family story still doesn’t do much for me. For all Mary’s magic, the proto-feminism of Mrs. Banks wanting to be more than just a rich helpmate really goes nowhere. Mr. Banks’s transformation from greedy capitalist to ethical investment banker is hardly inspiring.
As for the kids, Michael gets a telescope and his wish to fly a kite with dad. Jane gets jewelry.