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Mary Poppins is Pure Muny Magic
Muny’s ‘Mary Poppins’
Transcends The Classic Disney Film
by Pat Lindsey
Mary Poppins is practically perfect in every way. It’s filled with the pure Muny magic that we’ve been longing for since the pandemic began.
The Muny stage version of Mary Poppins transcends the classic 1964 Walt Disney film. The enchantment begins when beautifully photographed scenes of Victorian London are quickly whipped up into a windy frenzy as super-nanny Mary Poppins (Jeanna De Waal) floats onto the stage to save the troubled Banks family.
The Banks children, Jane (Laila Fantroy) and Michael (Gabe Cytron), have gone through six nannies in four months. They crave attention from their father, George Banks (Nehal Joshi), but he is an unaffectionate workaholic. Their mother, Winifred Banks (Erin Davie), is a frustrated former actress who can’t seem to fit into her role as mother and social hostess for her husband. They need help and Mary Poppins is just the one to give it to them.
The Banks children wrote their own advertisement for the qualities they’d like in a nanny, and Mary Poppins found that ad blowing in the wind. She magically appears in their home on Cherry Tree Lane and pledges to stay until the winds change.
Mary is beautiful and self-confident and makes all the rules. Her first attempt at doing something fun with the children is to take them for a walk in the park. The children are disappointed with such a mundane activity until the park statues come alive and all the drab Londoners are suddenly dressed in brilliant colors. Jane and Michael soon realize that Mary has magical powers, but then Bert (Corbin Bleu) the chimney sweep knew that all along.
Bert has several jobs–street sweeper, artist, chimney sweep–but his main job is to help weave the story together. He and Mary are longtime friends and his deep understanding of her makes Mary seem almost normal. In Act II, Bert leads Mary, the children, and nearly three dozen tap-dancing chimney sweeps into the show-stopping number, “Step in Time.” The choreography by Patrick O’Neill is outstanding.
The Bird Woman (Darlesia Cearcy) is the standout character the children meet in the park. She is an instant hit with the audience when she sings, “Feed the Birds.” She teaches the Bank children and their father the value of money.
There are a dozens of songs by the Sherman brothers in this show, but the most memorable are “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” “Let’s Go Fly a Kite,” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”
The dream team of director John Tartaglia, choreographer Patrick O’Neill, music director Brad Haak, scenic designer Paige Hathaway, costume designer Robin McGee, and lighting designer Rob Denton have made Mary Poppins the big summer hit. The casting by Telsey + Co. is perfection. Jeanna De Waal as Mary Poppins is every bit as good as Julie Andrews. And Corbin Bleu, in his dream role of Bert, is an absolute dream. Every character, including the holy terror Miss Andrew (Debby Lennon), have phenomenal voices.
Mary Poppins says, “Anything can happen if you let it.” Ignore the weather forecasts and go to The Muny in Forest Park to enjoy all the wonders of “Mary Poppins.” Let the magic happen.
Mary Poppins is being performed nightly at The Muny at 8:15 p.m. now through July 13. For tickets, go to muny.org or call 314-534-1111.
