By Bridgette M. Redman
"Mary Poppins" is now playing at East Lansing's Wharton Center, but will open next month at the Detroit Opera House.
It may be Disney and it may be Cameron Mackintosh, but the stage musical "Mary Poppins" is so subtly political and deliciously mutinous, that one almost expects there to be Tea Party protesters waving signs outside.
Yes, it is still the P.L. Travers' Mary Poppins created in the 1930s, the magical nanny who comes to re-connect a dysfunctional family and set them aright. Yet the way to go aright is to grab Mary Poppins' iconic umbrella and fly in the face of convention, traditional values, and an overweening obsession with wealth and order.
What would Glen Beck have to say about the very pro-social responsibility nanny who finds more value and wisdom in the words of a homeless woman who spends her money on the birds than in the bankers who are pillars of society?
And surely James Dobson would disapprove of Miss Poppins' example of parenting with creativity, imagination and fun rather than tough love. Even when Mr. Banks' former nanny arrives on the scene, her insistence on discipline, order, physical punishment and absolute adherence to standards is put in the worse possible light and her treacle and brimstone preaching wins no one to her point of view.
Nor would those who push their students down the Ivy League trail be thrilled with the portrayal of Bert and the unavoidable message that an honest trade and a carefree life is of greater value than prosperity and the white collar shackles that chain people's morals to the corporate good rather than the human good.
Perhaps the ultra-conservatives miss the message, because one would have to be absolutely curmudgeonly to dislike "Mary Poppins" with its flashy choreography, adorable children, a yip-yappy dog, highly contrasting costumes and incredible vocal talent.
On opening night at the Wharton Center in East Lansing, Camille Mancuso, age 11, played Jane while Cade Canon Ball, age 9, was filling the role of her younger brother Michael. Both were incredibly talented in their demanding roles with a delightful physicality that was as expressive as their voices.
Ellen Harvey, the Holy Terror of a Nanny, Miss Andrew, had a voice that could shatter glass and she wielded it most effectively as a weapon. It was terrifying in its strength and her ability to pierce ear drums.
The true powerhouses of the show, unsurprisingly, are Caroline Sheen as Mary Poppins and Nicolas Dromard as Bert. They can almost make you forget Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke – for at least from curtain up to curtain down. They are phenomenal in movement, voice, dancing and singing. They overflow with charisma and treat the magical as if it were commonplace. Dromard has some amazing dance numbers, and it was his bow that first brought an enthusiastic audience to its feet.
Another blue ribbon deserves to be pinned on Garett Hawe as Neleus, the statue in the park who comes to life and dances with the children in a fantastical scene richly supported by the ensemble.
In nearly every way, the musical honors the movie and the original books, with several winks at fans of either. Most of the iconic scenes are present, though Mrs. Banks is far more sympathetic, and even the most modern woman can relate to the struggles she has with parenting and finding meaning in her life. "Mary Poppins" also has its own nuances thrown in amid big budget theatricality. The stage magic is impressive, and the moments of flight are just plain fun – especially when Dromard literally tap dances on the ceiling. The fact that the audience can see the wires hoisting him into the air detracts not at all from the skill he shows in dancing sideways and then upside down.
So perhaps it is the flashiness that distracts die-hard capitalists from the spoken sentiments of there being "more important things than making money," or allow them to accept the premise that unemployment and homelessness are preferable to supporting investment schemes where the only product is profit.
Whatever it is, "Mary Poppins" deserves its rendering as a family musical and not a children's musical, for it bucks conventions and challenges its audience to think about its views on economics, class, poverty, honest work and parenting.
REVIEW:
'Mary Poppins'
Wharton Center's Cobb Great Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing. Tuesday-Sunday through Nov. 21. Tickets start as low as $17.50. 1-800-942-7866. http://www.whartoncenter.com.
Then at the Detroit Opera House, 1526 Broadway St., Detroit. Tuesday-Sunday, Dec. 16-Jan. 2, 2011. Tickets start at $25. 313-872-1000. http://www.BroadwayinDetroit.com
