Ah, Mary Poppins… Who doesn’t have fond memories of that story?! Be it from the pages of the book you read curled up in bed as a child, or from the vivid images and peppy songs of the 1964 movie adaptation, Mary Poppins is no doubt a beloved name in most households. So imagine the excitement in my home when we got the chance to go see the practically perfect Ms. Poppins live on stage at last night’s CharacterWorks performance of Mary Poppins, the Broadway Musical.
My dates for the evening were my two daughters, ages 4 and 6. I’ll admit I was a little worried about the late evening for my youngest, but I had a suspicion that the relatable story and toe-tapping songs would carry her through. Fortunately, CharacterWorks did not disappoint with their adaptation, and both my kids & I were enthralled and swept up in Mary’s magic for the evening.
Speaking of Mary and her magic… Ally Dods - a senior at the Steward School where the show is being performed – was such a delightful surprise. She showed a poise and maturity I wouldn’t have expected from a high school senior, and hit each and every note of the score with ease. In fact, the quality of the entire production and the level of training these young performers exhibited were a big (and very pleasant) surprise. The story of Mary Poppins is, alone, a fantastic thing. But CharacterWorks didn’t just stage-the-play and call it a day; they made it a show.
CharacterWorks’ Mary Poppins flew (yes, flew! Just as Mary should!) into Jane and Michael Banks’s London lives not once but several times! Bert, the cheeky chimney sweep, took to the rooftops in a surprising acrobatic dance that had my kids’ jaws dropped. (And let’s be honest: the adults in the audience were equally as awed!) Statues came to life; large, imaginative set pieces cruised on-and-off stage; dozens of supporting characters came together in complex choreography; a messy kitchen was cleaned up in a – literal! – snap of the fingers… All of it pure magic - for young and old alike.
Being that it was opening night, there were a few hiccups. But all were minor and did nothing to detract from the show. The only thing I would consider a drawback was the length of the performance in combination with the lateness of the day. If you have younger children, it’s good to know that this show lasted a little over 3 hours (including intermission), which had us leaving after 10 pm. My girls were troopers, but the littlest conked out just as the show’s finale began.
Bottom line, I was so surprised at the quality of and effort put in to this show. I had no idea what to expect from a performance in a school theater and by a cast entirely made up of young people; I certainly wasn’t expecting the level of professionalism the kids brought to the show. I’m in awe of the obvious hard work and time they put in to making this a fun, very well-done show.
