Mary Poppins

Last night, we went to see Mary Poppins at the Murat in Indianapolis. This is the touring production of the Disney/Cameron MacKintosh production. It opened last night and runs through October 3. We made a big night of our night out. This was a Girls' Night- me, Teagan, and Christy. We went out to dinner first at our favorite restaurant- Wild Ginger. It's an Asian and Sushi place and Christy and I go there often enough that they know us before we even walk in the door. Christy and I went overboard on sushi and Teagan ate every bite of her teriyaki chicken, shumai, spring roll, rice, and even mango ice cream for dessert! We headed downtown after our delicious dinner...

Before the show started (and I had to put my phone away) we had some goofy girl fun with the camera. Soon enough, it was time for the show to start... Any stage production is going to have some weaknesses, of course. And this show wasn't perfect. I could tell you my problems with some of the plot points or the script or the directing choices. But I don't want to be picky about the show. It wasn't the most incredible thing I've ever seen- but it had a few of the most amazing moments I've seen! The talent was solid and I enjoyed getting caught up in the magic of it all. The storyline of the stage show is a bit more complex than the movie and includes songs that weren't in the movie.

Some of the highlights included:

- End of Act 1 when Mary Poppins flies away via umbrella.

- Dancing statues- incredible costumes and choregraphy and very talented (and physically fit) dancers.

- The set piece for 17 Cherry Tree Lane was fantastic!

- Bert walking up the side of the stage and then dancing, upside down, across the top of the stage!

- When Mr. Geroge Banks busts out of his staid and precision and order driven self with a big old spastic outpouring of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious-ness.

- The big dance/show numbers for Step In Time and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious were fantastic and so much fun!

After the show, I asked Teagan what her favorite part was in the whole show. I expected her first answer- when Mary Poppins flew away on her umbrella. I didn't expect her second answer.

One of the storylines in the show that isn't in the movie focuses on Mr. Banks' nanny from his childhood. He expects his wife to find a nanny that can keep the children in order and be stern and raise them up right the way his nanny, Nanny Andrew, did. He makes some reference to Nanny Andrew beating frivolity out of him but the comments are almost more in passing. He speaks very highly of this woman and the role she played in his life. Mary Poppins leaves at the end of Act 1 and Act 2 opens with Mrs. Banks bringing a surprise for the family- she has found Nanny Andrew and brought her in to be their nanny. Turns out, Nanny Andrew is a mean and cruel woman and that the horrid way she treated Mr. Banks as a boy- killing the spirit of his childhood- is why he is so disconnected from his wife and kids as an adult. So there is a song where we meet Nanny Anderw and she sings about how horrible she is (Brimstone and Treacle). Later, after Michael and Jane run away from home because of her and find Mary Poppins and come back home, Marry Poppins takes care of Nanny Andrew- sending her off in a giant cage into what seems to almost be the bowels of hell. Later, in one of the closing numbers (Anything Can Happen), Nanny Andrew appears again but as part of the full cast and she is smiling and dancing and happy.

So Teagan's other favorite part of the show? "When the mean lady started making good choices and was happy." She spoke about Nanny Andrew several more times and was very curious as to how Nanny Andrew changed from mean to happy. I was fascinated with my little girl getting really caught up in this seemingly smaller part of the show.

We were very fortunate to have a tour of the backstage area after the show. All of it was exciting- learning about how some of the props and sets worked and that it takes 15 semi trucks to carry all of the set pieces and walking across the stage and seeing the perspective of the actors and peering up into the neverending fly space. But most exciting of all was that we happened to bump into Caroline Sheen as she was leaving- that's the actress who played Mary Poppins. She was sweet and pretty and stopped to chat with our group for a moment- which I thought was especially nice of her.

It was a magical night in many ways- Practically Perfect some might say!

If you are in Indianapolis, I recommend going to see the show while it is here. If the tour is heading your way, I'd say this is a great one to take your kids to see- or to take yourself to see if you love the movie or books.

Sidebar. Yes, Mary Poppins is a kid-friendly show. That doesn't mean that every kid is ready to sit through a live theatre production. When you go to see a Broadway touring show, you are going to a real theatre- the kind of theatre that some people still wear evening gowns and suits and furs for. It isn't a movie theatre and the seats are certainly more expensive than in a movie theatre. I was surprised at how rude some of the patrons were. Christy got her hair pulled at least 3 times by the child behind her- who also spilled a drink that ran down the floor and got Christy's skirt wet. See, there is a reason we didn't bring Zach. He's not yet 3 years old. He can sit through a movie in a theatre without issue. But I wasn't going to risk a 2 year old in a theatre late at night- him falling apart or getting restless would mean someone having to leave and miss the show. In addition, screaming, loud talking, whining and crying can be very rude distractions to the actors and crew who are working hard to give a great show to the entire audience. A child reacting to the magic of the show is endearing. A child continuously dropping their booster seat on the hard floor just to hear it make a loud noise is not. So before you decide to take your young children to see a show, please make sure they can handle it. Teagan is a "seasoned" theatre go-er and this was her first Broadway touring show. She's gone to community theatre productions and high school productions and a local semi-professional theatre production. Doing all of those things helped her learn how you are expected to behave in a live theatre setting.

Many thanks to Indianapolis MomsLikeMe for providing me with the tickets and backstage tour! Are you a member of MomsLikeMe?

Do you have memories of the books or movie Mary Poppins? Any favorite scenes? Have you seen the Broadway stage show? Any vent of your own to share about theatre patrons behavior?

A Bit of Magic

I am getting very excited. Thursday evening, I am taking Teagan to see Disney's "Mary Poppins" at The Murat Theatre. I've written before about my previous love of and involvement in theatre. I've been watching video clips of Mary Poppins and... I've already been in tears. I just know that when the lights go down and that curtain goes up for the first time, I will have tears in my eyes. I will cry tears of joy and excitement during dance numbers and tender moments. I have great hope that I will look over to see my daughter looking up as Mary Poppins flies away and see that magic in her eye and on her face- that theatre magic that can truly captivate. As I watch Mary Poppins in the video clips, I'm totally taken in by the complete escapism of all of it. This magical nanny who comes along and brings this broken family back together again by teaching and demonstrating hope, fun, playfulness, and loyalty... don't we all wish we'd had a Mary Poppins in our lives when we were little? While I didn't have an actual Mary Poppins, I did have some special people who passed through my childhood- staying for as long as they were needed. Growing up was hard for me. I'm open about my childhodd. My mom was a single parent, working her way through dental school in order to give us a better life. That choice and plan meant a lot of hard times and sacrifice for both of us. And my deep, dark secret was that I was being sexually abused by a cousin 8 years older than me. That went on for most of my elementary school years until we moved away from Kentucky to Cincinnati, OH- away from my abuser, away from hunger, away from the financial struggles I'd grown up with. We moved away and I had a Daddy, my mom, a home, and safety. But during those dark years, there were highlights. I have tons of very positive memories with my mom and with the man who became my dad and with friends from school and in our apartment complex and with my grandparents. There were some special people who were my Mary Poppins, though. First, there was a family from our church that stepped up and provided before and after school care for me. I assume it was at no cost to my mom. Being a mom and knowing many single moms, I look back and realize what an amazing blessing this family was. They truly lived their faith, at least through the eyes of my childhood memories. I got to witness a "normal" family. They had a comfortable home, married parents, a daughter close to my age, a little dog, a backyard to play in. Dad worked, mom stayed home. It was with this family that I had a lot of normal childhood memories- jumprope contests, learning to hula hoop, tasting dog kibble just to know why that dog liked it so much. I remember showing up at their house to wait for the bus and I'd come in while they were having breakfast and I always asked to have some, too. My mom would be embarassed- she'd fed me before we left. But I think I wanted to just be part of that family normalcy, you know? So that mom, that family, was definitely a taste of Mary Poppins for me. A window to what a normal family looked like, how they functioned and leaned on each other. It took Mary Poppins to bring that out in the Banks family, right? And Mary Poppins is, of course, about a little bit of magic. I was very fortunate to have a woman I sometimes consider an angel to pass through my childhood. She definitely brought a touch of magic to my life. She was single and I remember her being a business woman. She was fashionable and I was in awe of her. She lived next door to us for a brief period of time. She was always friendly with me. Sometimes, she would invite me over. I thought it was amazing that her apartment, which was identical to ours, could be so classy! One day, she invited me to go shopping with her. I'm sure my mom appreciated the break. I don't remember all of the details but I do remember her taking me into this little gift shop that I recall being part of a hotel or somewhere that she had to run an errand. She had taken me out to lunch and treated me like I was a grown up. We went into this gift shop and there was a display of stuffed animals. I was so taken with every single one of them- everything from tiny things that could fit into your pocket to a giraffe that looked life sized to my young eyes. She knelt beside me and said that I could pick out any animal I wanted and she would buy it for me. I still have the unicorn I picked. She moved away not long after- flying into the air, holding on to the black umbrella with parrot head handle. Have you had any Mary Poppins moments in your life?