A Spoonful of...Something

On Thursday night, my mom, sister, niece, and I all went to see the touring Broadway production of Mary Poppins. I have often thought they should make Mary Poppins into a stage musical, and then a couple of years ago I found out that they had. Mary Poppins is an amazing movie. Even though it's popular, I still think it's underappreciated.

Most movies are different from their stage counterparts. This play is very different from the movie. The basic premise is the same, but there are some significant changes. Mary Poppins is more conceited. Jane and Michael are brattier. George Banks is more domineering. Winifred Banks takes a more central role and is more subservient--there's no suffragette in her.

George's problems with the bank are not a result of Michael yelling "Give me back my money!" and causing a run on the bank, but they are a result of a seemingly foolish investment that turns out to be the right thing to do.

I thought there was a rather pointless plot element. Toward the end of the first act, Mary Poppins leaves--flying with her umbrella, of course. (I found this method of travel used strangely on stage. When she first arrived, they just showed a small, blue silhouette go across the set, and jumped right to her presence in the Banks' living room. I think this made it a lot less dramatic.) She tells Bert that the children will have to get through this period on their own. Then in the second act, Mrs. Banks finds George's nanny, one Miss Andrew, "the holy terror," and invites her to their home. The kids can't stand her because she is incredibly mean, so they run away. Then they fly a kite with Bert, and their kite catches on the returning Mary Poppins. So Mary takes them back to the house, and sets Miss Andrew's pet lark free. Then she and Miss Andrew get in a big fight--Miss Andrew prefers to discipline with "treacle and brimstone" while Mary Poppins prefers a "spoonful of sugar." Then, at the climax of this argument, a giant cage (like the one that housed the bird) comes out of the closet, and Miss Andrew ends up inside it. Then the closet door closes, and when it is opened again, there is no sign of the cage or Miss Andrew. There was all this fuss about Mary Poppins leaving, but she wasn't gone for very long, and the incident with Miss Andrew didn't do much for the plot.

I didn't think any of the new songs were spectacular. I thought much of the new material was rather gimmicky. For example, there was one song, "Playing the Game," that had all the toys come to life, complaining about being abused by the children. I can just imagine the writers sitting in a meeting--What's something ELSE we can add? How about living toys! And then they made it happen, for no good reason--the song was mediocre, and it contributed nothing to the plot.

I did like new settings of some of the original material. For example, "A Spoonful of Sugar" was set to clean up after a disaster in the kitchen. "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" was a word the children and Mary Poppins created while visiting an ancient woman who sold conversations, words, and gingerbread stars. And "Feed the Birds" was presented in a context that was actually meaningful.

I did NOT like the new setting for "Jolly Holiday." The whole scene seemed like a big mess to me. What was most offsetting and distracting was the nude statues come to life, in what might be the most diabolically hideous costumes ever to hit the stage. This was still early on in the play, so I was thinking at that point that the musical was a FAIL. But it redeemed itself, for the most part.

The songs they added weren't any better than the ones they took out. George sang a different song when he came home in the beginning--and this song was the same one the (not-so-)elderly bankers sang, instead of the one they sing in the movie. There was no "I Love to Laugh" scene (which honestly could be considered a little gimmicky itself). And one of the most upbeat songs from the movie, "Sister Suffragettes," is sadly missing.

My mom got the tickets for $44 a piece at a discount. They weren't even very good seats. Was the play worth that much? Definitely not. Maybe half that.

And it paled in comparison to the movie. If you haven't seen the movie, you need to see it. Like, right now. Go get in your car and rent it. Actually, you better buy it. You won't regret it.