Theater Review: Mary Poppins -- The Bushnell

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Photo: Deen Van Meer

A Jolly, and Not-So-Jolly Holiday with MaryByLauren Yarger
Oldfamiliar tunes like “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” “Jolly Holiday”and “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” harmonize with new tunes penned to bulk out a Broadwaymusical. The result is the Disney and Cameron Mackintosh version of Mary Poppins making a tour stop at TheBushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford through Sept. 23. 

MadelineTrumble flies into the title role here (literally) as the mysterious nanny whoworks her magic on the unruly Banks household in London at the turn of the 20thcentury. Michael and Jane (Eli Tokash and Julianna Rigoglioso the night Iattended) are incorrigible – too much for their insecure mother, Winifred (full-voicedElizabeth Broadhurst) or busy banker father, George (Michael Dean Morgan) tohandle. Mary arrives on the scene with her never-empty bag of magical surprisesand when she teams up with chimney-sweep friend Bert (Con O’Shea-Creal), funensues. 
Thekids fly kites in the park, visit London’s rooftops and the stars, dance withstatues that come to life, indulge at a candy shop owned by Mrs. Corry (TonyaThompson) and soon everything is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (thisnumber, along with full tapping “Step in Time,” is a show stopper, performedwith gusto -- and spelling prompts -- to choreography by Matthew Bourne, whoalso serves as co-director with Director Richard Eyre). 
Buteverything isn’t super, really. George doesn’t have time for his kids He talksnegatively about his wife who isn’t schooled in how to take her place insociety and makes a couple of questionable lending decisions that could costhim his career at the bank (depicted in sharp angles on a quick-change set byBob Crowley that gives surprising depth and height).  When Mary leaves, opening the door forGeorge’s former nanny, the strict and brutal Miss Andrew (Karen Murphy) to takeover, things go downhill fast further upsetting the Banks and their housekeeperMrs. Brill (a humorous Tregoney Shepherd). 
CanMary’s magic and a lucky handshake from Bert make everything OK again?  Giventhat this is a Disney musical, the answer to that should be easy, but in thisrendition of the P.L. Travers story (on which the 1964 Disney musical starringJulie Andrew and Dick Van Dyke was based), some of the telling in Julian Fellowes book is more “British” – darker-- than we might expect. George is downright unpleasant. In an angry physicalencounter with his father, Michael is left holding his arm as though injured.The scene is realistic, but perhaps a tad harsh for the very young kids in theaudience.  
Costumeand lighting effects (Crowley and Natasha Katz, design) that create therealistic-looking park statues deserve kudos, but the choreography that hasNeleus (Leeds Hill) and his sculpture friends doing ballet borders on theabsurd.  The scenes where the statues anddolls come to life have a creepy feel to them in a sharp contrast to theotherwise typical, over-the-top cutsey direction that gives a too-largespoonful of sugar. You can almost imagine a finger inserted in the dimples ofthe two youngsters as they pose and smile to evoke “awwws” but the dolls areseeking vengeance for the cruel treatment they have received…. 
Fellowes’script, which adds some elements from the children’s books and eliminates somefrom the movie,  is rather choppy andspeeds along in places at whiplash pace (despite a fairly long 2:40 run time),so if you aren’t up on the story of Mary Poppins, you might not follow easily,particularly in the first several scenes. The night I attended, a fire alarm, triggeredby haze effects in the show, forced an evacuation of the building right in themiddle of the most moving number, “Feed the Birds,”  and resulted in an even longer evening.(Note, start times for this run are different: 7:30 Tuesday through Saturdayand 6:30 on Sunday). 
Themusical, which originated in 2004 in London’s West end, still is running onBroadway (where Crowley’s scenic design won a 2006 Tony Award). The sets forthe tour are a scaled-back version retaining detail, but made simpler fortravel. Mary Poppins runs through Sept. 23; (note different times for this run) Tuesday through Saturday 7:30 pm , Saturday at 2 pm; Sunday at 1:30 and 6:30 pm; Tickets $20-$90, (860) 987-5900 or www.bushnell.org.