Saturday, 18 February 2017

Musical Review - Mary Poppins


About the show:

Mary Poppins is a musical with music and lyrics by the Sherman Brothers, with additional music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, and a script by Julian Fellowes. The musical is based on the similarly titled Mary Poppins children's books by P. L. Travers and the 1964 Disney film, and is a fusion of various elements from the two.
Produced by Walt Disney Theatrical and directed by Richard Eyre with co-direction from Matthew Bourne who also acted as co-choreographer with Stephen Mear, the original West End production opened in December 2004, after a fall 2003 workshop at the Old Vic, and won two Olivier Awards, one for Best Actress in a Musical and the other for Best Theatre Choreography. A Broadway production with a near-identical creative team opened on November 16, 2006, with only minor changes from the West End version. It has received seven Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical, and winning for Best Scenic Design.
The original Broadway production closed on March 3, 2013 after 2,619 performances. Since then the amateur rights have become available for the musical through Musical Theatre International, and has been a popular choice for schools and community theatres to produce due to the popularity of the film and books.

More information about the show: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Poppins_(musical)

My opinion:

When I heard that Mary Poppins was coming to Switzerland, I was over the moon! Having seen the movie and knowing some of the songs, the musical was on top of my „To See Musical Bucket List“.

Everyone knows the story of course, so I won’t go into depth about it.

A touring company came to Switzerland, so it was all in English (thank god), in the original version. It was absolutely amazing, I’m still so mesmerized by everything!!!

I think what impressed me most, was the scenery and all the special effects. There were so many elements like the park, the house, the rooftops, an umbrella etc. The working with different light effects, which were awesome and of course Mary Poppins had to be able to fly. There were some kites on strings as well and Bert, the chimney sweeper, walked up the walls and did some some step dancing upside down. Of course he was secured. That was fabulous, together with all the other little effects and tricks. Little, but very effective.

The scenes are so colourful, full of live and very vivid, I just loved it. In the park everything comes alive: statues and they play an important role in the story. Mrs Correy store, where they sing Supercalifragilistic…, is adorable and my favourite scene when it come to dancing, singing and just performance in total, were all the chimney sweepers on the rooftops. Great choreography, step dancing and more, just brilliant! This was the case for several scenes. Oh and the costumes were just fantastic!

The story is adorable and it’s great to see the characters go through the journey. The kids were really cute, I loved the girl. The boy was a bit hard to understand, but his acting was great.

We had an understudy for Mary Poppins, as well as Mrs Banks. They were both great, I actually liked Mrs Banks better than Mary Poppins. My fave by far was Bert, played by Matt Lee. He had everything! A fab stage presence, a great voice, he is a wonderful dancer and his acting was on point.
Wendy Ferguson, who played Mrs Brill was the best when it came to acting. I got really excited, when I saw her, because I have seen her on the West End before twice. As Widow Corney in Oliver! and as Madam Thénardier in Les Misérables.

I am so happy, I finally got to see this wonderful show. JUST BRILLIANT!!!

More information about the Mary Poppins tour: http://www.marypoppins.co.uk

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