Why Petula’s Poppin back to West End at age of 86
Petula clark, a singing sensation for eight decades, is heading uptown to perform eight times a week in Mary Poppins — her first time in a West end show for 22 years. the 86-year-old star joked that she was ‘ a bit surprised’ to receive the offer from cameron Mackintosh to play the Bird Woman in the awardwinning musical, which returns to the Prince edward theatre in october. Initially, she thought: ‘It’s kind of odd because I’ll be going into the theatre and singing only one song.’ She consulted with her children — ‘the yoga professor in Paris, who said: “that sounds fun,”; my daughter in New york who said: “Do it,”; and my son in Miami, who agreed with his siblings.’ She met with Mackintosh in london and, in addition to her singing Feed the Birds, he asked her to do a little extra. the impresario told me he and George Stiles (who, with anthony Drewe, wrote new material in addition to the famous songs created by brothers richard M. and robert B. Sherman for the 1964 Mary Poppins film) met Petula and decided to do ‘something to the end of the anything can Happen number’. Mackintosh said: ‘She’s a oneoff, and when you have a chance to write something for a one-off, you take it! We’re going to exploit her strengths. It’s a lovely coup for us to have her.’ His desire to cast Petula reminded me of how Walt Disney pursued Jane Darwell, a legendary screen actress in her day (she was in Grapes of Wrath with Henry Fonda and Gone With the Wind), to play the Bird Woman and persuaded her to come out of retirement to make the film, which starred Julie andrews as the magical nanny. th the difference being that Petu Petula is far from retiring. la last year she did extensive con concert tours of the u.S. and can canada, and released a Fre French-canadian album. thi this year, she has engagements me in australia, Mo Montreal and toronto. ‘M ‘ Maybe a bit of a rest bef before rehearsals for Mary Po Poppins in September,’ sai said Petula, who entered sh showbusiness aged nine wh when she sang from an ai air raid shelter for a BB BBC broadcast. S She said she will never st stop working. ‘I’ve been do doing this all my life. I gu guess I don’t know what el else to do.’ When I asked th the secret of her youthful energy, she was stumped. ‘No, I don’t do yoga, though my daughter’s always going on at me to,’ she told me.
‘My other daughter does Pilates, and she’s the same. I do ten minutes of vague exercises in the morning because I think I should.
‘and I walk a lot — that could be the secret. I enjoy it. I think you see an awful lot more when you’re walking.
‘I enjoy nature. I have fun. I’m not a goody-two shoes by any means, though I’ve never got into drugs or any of that stuff — I get high on music.’
Petula’s songwriting is epic. Her recent album, living For today, included several of her own compositions.
Her biggest hits, Downtown and Don’t Sleep In the Subway, were written by tony Hatch (with Jackie trent on the latter).
She also sang and danced opposite Fred astaire in Finian’s rainbow and Peter o’toole in the 1969 version of Goodbye, Mr chips.
Her stage credits include the Sound of Music at london’s apollo Victoria in the early eighties and long runs in Sunset Boulevard at the adelphi and on the road in the u.S.
Petula is a fan of Madonna, Beyonce and lady Gaga. ‘I’m not sure people are interested in longevity any more,’ she said, but cited the aforementioned women as exceptions to the rule.
She’s not offended by modern lyrics. ‘you can always turn it off,’ she suggested sharply. No prude, she enjoys rap, too. ‘ Some rap music is very interesting. they are the new poets.’
on the wide range of choice in today’s music scene, she said: ‘Some of it is very good; some of it’s not. It’s no use saying: “oh, it’s not like the old days.” there was a lot of rubbish in the old days, too . . .’
Back to Mary Poppins, Petula will be joining Zizi Strallen in the title role and charlie Stemp as Bert.
Joseph Millson has also just been contracted to play Mr Banks — who doesn’t want his children to give the Bird Woman money to feed the birds.