Theatre Review: Mary Poppins The Broadway Musical

Mary flies into Canberra with less silliness but just as much magic. There’s no jumping into chalk drawings, and no floating to the ceiling when laughing but you won’t miss it. In this version we see novels meet film and it’s ‘Practically Perfect’.

Last Thursday at the Canberra Theatre, I had the pleasure of attending the opening night of Mary Poppins The Broadway Musical.  Directed by Stephen Colyer, the production attracted all ages to a high-energy performance with clever stage trickery, classic and original songs, and a beautiful Edwardian-style set and wardrobe.

Originally a series of novels by P.J. Travers, Walt Disney took Travers’ more pragmatic and solemn novels and made a musical masterpiece packed with frivolity.

While Colyer’s direction does stick very close to Disney’s, they have done a fantastic job of working in parts from the novels as well as leaving some parts of the film out.  This to me helped to communicate the morals and themes of the story better without missing any fun. There is no dancing penguins, sorry.

Stand out character performances was Mr. Banks (Colin Milner). By giving the audience insight to his upbringing and giving him moments of self-reflection, we see a father and husband who has always loved his family but has simply forgotten how to show it.

The children, Jane (Victoria Hunt) and Michael (Jack Keen) did a fantastic job in their musical numbers and had great comic timing delivering their cheeky one-liners.

The highlight of the show was the tap performance of ‘Step In Time’ led by Bert (Shaun Rennie). Rennie’s portrayal of the charming chimney sweep was a fantastic and enduring physical performance. However, when acting on his crush for Mary, he appears insincere at times and a bit thirsty rather than sweet.

The set is elegant and incorporates special effects, which go well with Mary Poppins’ (Alinta Chidzey) magic tricks.  Sometimes the choreography in the big numbers felt a bit flat in the literal sense and some elevated platforms would have given another dimension to the dazzling footwork.

A very well executed version of a family classic. Check out the link here for more info.