Review: (Vancouver) Mary Poppins

Scott Walters and Sara-Jeanne Hosie (photo by David Cooper)

Practically Adequate
by Jay Catterson

Mary Poppins floats onto the Stanley Industrial Alliance stage as Arts Club Vancouver tries to tackle the hit Broadway musical about the whimsical flying nanny. But is Poppins "Practically Perfect" in every way? Not quite. As with many Arts Club productions, this show is predictably passable.

Technical aspect-wise, this show works. The set design by Alison Green was effective, despite the hissing of the hydraulics being noticeable whenever the main house set moved in and out. The high flying wire work was impressive for such a small theatre. Combined with Valerie Easton's thrilling choreography, the production numbers sizzle, in particular the Act Two chimney-sweep number "Step in Time" and its proscenium-strolling tap dance act. And the costumes by Sheila White were ravishingly gorgeous. However, the Stanley is in need of a better sound system, for the orchestra sounded hollow and tinny at times. Heck, if you are going to pump in the orchestra from a room in the back of the theatre, you need to give the music some oomph to evoke the feeling of live orchestration!

Review: (Vancouver) Mary Poppins

The Disney Way
Mary Poppins scores with a stopover at the Queen E
by Jay Catterson


Okay, so the Disney juggernaut Mary Poppins rolled into Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Theatre for a week-long stint. Verdict? Definitely full of sugar, spice and everything nice. The stage show, conceived by mega-musical producer Cameron Mackintosh in collaboration with Disney, is a glorious expansion of the beloved movie starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. What makes this show succeed is how the creative team has carefully expanded on the movie by introducing themes and events included in the original P.L. Travers books. So instead of presenting a facsimile of the film Mary Poppins (like Disney did with Broadway's Beauty and the Beast), they present a fresh take on the Mary Poppins tale that works on stage. That being said, not all works. The show is very long, the book feels a bit clunky at times, and the new songs written for the show aren't that memorable. But the show does charm and regale you with big budget sets, high-flying antics and bombast production numbers, with Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and Step In Time being the standout showstoppers. 

News: (Toronto) Mary Poppins Pokes her Umbrella into her own Canuck Record

For the second time in two weeks the London-born musical Mary Poppins has broken a Canadian box office record. This means that the touring show left Toronto's Mirvish Organization in style. Poppins, a more adult adaptation of the Disney movie (which won Julie Andrews an Oscar) still held on to many of the movie's songs while adding big dashes of theatrical magic (including a final moment that has wowed audiences around the world). It is produced by Cameron Macintosh, perhaps the most successful theatre producer in history.

The show now moves on to Mexico.

Read the Mirvish release: