How St. Luke’s puts the magic in ‘Mary Poppins’
Mirrors. Harnesses. Pulleys. Magnets. Bubbles. Those are a few of the mundane ingredients that make magic in the musical “Mary Poppins,” onstage at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in southwest Orlando. A backstage tour revealed the production’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious secrets — so if you don’t want to break the illusion, stop reading now.
Mary’s seemingly bottomless carpetbag purse is one of the first tricks on display. Mirrors play a big part in helping the practically perfect nanny pull a mirror, a hat rack, a shrub and more from her bag — but the stage crew also has an important role to play. When Shannon Starkey, Mary’s portrayer, reaches into the bag, she has to blindly trust a crew member will slip her the correct item ready to be revealed.
“I am at the mercy of everybody backstage,” Starkey says. “Thank goodness they’re such an incredible team.”
The stage musical is adapted from the Disney movie, with favorite songs such as “Feed the Birds” and “A Spoonful of Sugar,” as well as other P.L. Travers writings. In the story, set in the early 20th century, no-nonsense nanny Mary and her easygoing pal Bert bring new life to the troubled Banks household.
In the St. Luke’s production, some performers pull double duty by making magic behind the scenes. For a scene in which shelves of dishes collapse, multiple actors kept out of the audience’s view pull cords to create the crashing crockery. PVC pipe and a carefully built china cabinet keep the cords hidden.
Other times, machines do the work — a kitchen sink goes haywire thanks to a bubble-spewing device hidden within the set piece.
Of course, the grandest effect is when Mary Poppins flies through the air. The flight doesn’t call for trickery as much as it involves precision and care. The effect
requires a harness that keeps Starkey safe as wires lift her aloft.
“We’ve had to work very hard to learn how to get into the harness quickly,” Starkey says. “We’ve definitely had to practice that.”
Spencer Morrow, who plays chimneysweep Bert, also uses a harness to amp up his frolics on the rooftops of London. He has a unique challenge because of the flow of the show.
“I have to get into the harness a couple of scenes early,” Morrow says. In fact, he performs the danceheavy “Step in Time” while already harnessed.
The rigging and training is by Flying by Foy, a Las Vegas company that specializes in theatrical flight for Broadway, cruise lines, TV and film production and other presentations. St. Luke’s was fortunate to get to work with the internationally known company, director Steve MacKinnon said; Flying by Foy representatives were in town working with one of their theme-park clients.
Starkey spent hours in specialty training for the flying — which is also achieved by costume modifications. Strategically placed holes, invisible to the audience, allow the harness to be hooked to the performer. Lights also help maintain the flying illusion.
“Finding the right lighting to mask the wires is part of the magic,” MacKinnon says.
The hard work to achieve flight is worth it, Starkey says, not only for the audience but for her immersion in the role.
“It just adds to the incredible magic,” she says. “I get up there with that umbrella and, just like that, I feel like Julie Andrews.”