![]() Banks advocates “Precision and Order” while Mary preaches “Anything Can Happen If You Let It.” This is evident in two of the new numbers by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who also adapted the lyrics of the Sherman Bros. ![]() While the show’s twin pursuits of fantasy and family counseling are not entirely harmonious, Fellowes’ book installs a neat symmetry of opposites that the famously punctilious Travers might have admired. ![]() Umbrella and carpetbag in hand, Mary flies in on the east wind to set things right and then flies away to the west to wherever she’s needed next, forming no attachments. George Banks (Daniel Jenkins) is a slave to his career, determined to push his former actress wife, Winifred (Rebecca Luker), into a more elevated social circle while devoting little time and attention to his unruly children, Jane and Michael (Katherine Leigh Doherty and Matthew Gumley, respectively, alternating with two other actors in each role). But with Brown’s warm manner and crisp soprano, her benevolence is never in doubt.įellowes has focused on Mary as a healing spirit for a dysfunctional family, displayed like lab rats in Crowley’s enchanting three-story Edwardian doll’s house set. Her clipped diction, clasped hands and stiff poise make it clear this Mary is nobody’s servant. On Broadway, she’s no less self-governing and strong-willed and, in the form of Ashley Brown, she has the defiant chin of a cartoon astronaut. Laura Michelle Kelly was so severe in the role that one hoped money was being put aside for the Banks children’s therapy bills. When the show bowed in London in 2004, the character leaned decidedly in the author’s direction. Probably no one’s ideal employee, Mary Poppins was strictly no-nonsense - vain, discourteous and rarely compliant. While Julie Andrews forever painted the nanny in the kindly “Spoonful of Sugar” mode, Travers’ creation was altogether more tart. With such distinctive personalities involved, this clearly was not going to be a straight-up translation of the 1963 Disney movie, often accused of putting a saccharine gloss on Travers’ stories - starting with the title character. ![]() Mackintosh and Disney have assembled an impressive creative pool that includes Richard Eyre, a director versed in classics and new works choreographer and co-director Matthew Bourne, who has re-energized dance with his cinematically inspired ballets screenwriter Julian Fellowes, whose work on “Gosford Park” made him an experienced navigator of bustling English households and designer Bob Crowley, whose eye-popping sets eclectically reference Christopher Wren, Edward Gorey, Tim Burton and beyond. ![]()
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