Hello again, how was your Christmas? Did you see any seasonal shows? As you may remember, I was planning to start the year with a look at the worst recent shows, but in the spirit of the season (Twelfth Night may have been and gone but there’s still Quality Street left) I thought I’d be a little more positive and talk of the marvel that is Mary Poppins. I saw it for the third time last month, and although it’s not a Christmas show it has an undeniably festive feel to it.
The stage version is based on the 1964 film, which was itself based on the books by P.L. Travers. Film adaptations are tricky things, if they differ too much from the original the target audience will be alienated, and slavish reproductions will be doomed to failure, with most people staying home and watching the DVD instead. This one avoids both pitfalls by remaining faithful to the film but also adding new songs and tweaking old favourites (for example, A Spoonful of Sugar now takes place after a slapstick kitchen scene).
No discussion of Mary Poppins would be complete without some dullard sneering at Dick Van Dyke. Let’s be absolutely clear here, he is phenomenal as Bert. His accent is perfectly fine, and his marvelously effervescent performance should have earned him an Oscar. Criticism of him comes exclusively from boring people incapable of forming their own opinions. See also “the sets wobbled on Doctor Who” and “the shark looks rubbish in Jaws”. His brief duet with the excellent David Tomlinson is one of the loveliest scenes ever filmed.
I’m not going to spoil the many magical moments in the stage show, but will mention the outstanding performances of Zizi Strallen and the magnificent Charlie Stemp, both of whom are destined to become legendary names. Two final things, I’m not being sponsored to write this (I don’t get free tickets to anything), and the show closed early in January. But don’t despair, whether it goes on tour or reopens in the West End, like Mary herself, the show will return.