Sunday Showtunes

Thursday the theme was “kids show” day.

That evening I saw “Mary Poppins,” the latest show to try to work the “Disney magic” on Broadway (after “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King,” “Aida,” and “Tarzan” (no, I haven’t forgotten about “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” but that is so far only in Germany).   And I have to tell you – not only is this show better than any of them (even the wonderful “Beauty and the Beast” and especially “Lion King” which I have always thought was way overrated), but it is so far the BEST SHOW OF THE TRIP!  It was just insanely wonderful.  Ridiculously great.  The money is all on the stage; the sets and special effects are literally awesome, the performances were wonderful, the choral harmonies were gorgeous, and the overall evening in the theatre was fantastic.  A truly magical and wonderful night at the theatre.  (And I had a seat for this one that was almost as bad as The Grinch – first row on the far end.  But the sight lines were somewhat better). As good a time as I’ve had at the other shows so far, I finally feel that I have gotten my money’s worth.  Wish I could see it again but there are no opportunities to do so unless I blow off another show I’ve already bought.

I don’t even know how to begin….technically, I don’t think I  have ever seen anything this amazing.  There is a lot of magic and special effects in the show, and of course flying, including one spectacular scene of Bert the chimneysweep dancing up and around the entire proscenium (upside down at the top), Fred Astaire style.  At the end of the show Poppins flies over the audience (in the grand, umbrella-forward pose you see on on the posters and Playbills), and up past the 2^nd balcony  and disappears, only to emerge a couple of minutes later onstage for the curtain calls.  Poppins does ride the stairway banister up, seemingly with nothing to support her, although the focus at the time is on another character so it kind of ruins the bit unless you happen to be watching her (or maybe it was just the perspective of my terrible seat).  The house is a gigantic set piece (cross-section cutout of a 3 room house, plus an attic and rooftop, sort of like the inside of a doll’s house, but covering the entire stage from wing to wing and floor to flies) - nearly as big, strong, and fully detailed as a real house.  The whole thing tracks upstage, but the attic (the children’s play room) can remain and lowers to the stage to become it’s own set piece.  In this, special effects happen (for example, Poppins puts her bag on a table and pulls out all these huge things as if by magic – a coat rack, a giant potted plant, etc.  She turns a plain blanket into a couch before our very eyes (the trap door situation is very sophisticated because when the thing rises back up, you don’t see any holes in it – it’s detailed like a regular set piece.  And believe me, with the seat I had, I could look right up the thing!).  The rooftop set ALSO lowers from the flies (I haven’t seen set support hydraulics like this since “Titanic”) and fits neatly over the playroom set – with still more special effects elevators coming up from below! Amazing.   The scene where Bert changes the park from gray to colors (via his paintings and Mary’s magic) is awesome too.  The “Step in Time” number stops the show.  An entire kitchen set falls apart and, during “Spoonful of Sugar,” magically re-assembles itself.  And on and on!

The story is affecting and surprisingly it seems to focus on Mr. Banks.  It really is his crisis that drives the story and he is the one who makes the big transformation during the show (just like the Grinch did – see there are TWO common themes tying together the shows today!   Take THAT, “Apple Tree”!).  The show is famously darker than the movie, but I didn’t think it was TOO much so.   There is one really creepy scene where the kids’ toys become life-size – and alive – and threaten them with harm to teach them a lesson about misbehaving.  Some adults around me had their mouths hanging open in astonishment, and I too thought this scene was pretty cool if a little intense.   There’s also a scene where the statues in the park come to life, and the statues are quite sexy because the impression is given that they are nude (save for fig leaves) – they are wearing skin-tight grey body suits painted with anatomical details, and some of the adults thought they were a bit – shall we say bold – for a kid’s show (this isn’t Vegas after all, though after seeing the “Hair/Superstar” takeoff in the Martin Short show nudity-as-bodysuits doesn’t surprise me!  Plus, I have one word for them: “Cats.”  Though I guess those costumes didn’t have human anatomical detail.  ANYway…..)

“Mary Poppins.”  An incredible show.  Do see it in New York – I don’t think this version can be duplicated other than here or in London.   When it tours it will have to be scaled down, just like “Ragtime” and “Titanic” and other technically amazing shows.

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Among the communities served are Albany, Corvallis, and Lebanon.