An upside-down family gets right-sided with the help of a practically perfect nanny in P.L. Travers’ classic Mary Poppins. In between the 1964 Disney film adaption and its belated 2018 sequel, Cameron Mackintosh put together a Broadway musical that featured elements of the Disney film along with new material. Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse has a production running through March 7.
It’s not a carbon copy of the film, though it features many of the original Sherman Brothers songs and recreates some of the film’s magical moments in its telling the tale of the Banks family: uptight father George (Robert Nelson), overwhelmed mother Winifred (Andrea Thorpe), and unruly children Michael (Joe Schulze) and Jane (Violet Spears).
The departure of the children’s umpteenth nanny is soon followed by the arrival of their latest, Mary Poppins (Caroline Flett), who, with the help of her jack-of-all-trades friend Bert (Andrew Cedeño), teaches them all a lesson or two before flying off.
It’s a big show with a big cast (director Emily Lynn Cornelius has double cast the principal roles) and a lot of moving parts. The large cast and deck crew has responsibility for sliding Peter Crompton and Aissa Simbulan-designed scenery and set pieces on and off the stage throughout the show and do a pretty good job of it.
When they’re not moving chairs or sliding frames into view, the cast is acting, singing and dancing their hearts out. Almost all the musical numbers are large ensemble pieces (“Jolly Holiday,” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”), and the cast delivers them with gusto. Jonathen Blue’s choreography honors the original while making it work in the 6th Street space.
Flett is the perfect Poppins, in both physicality and attitude, and possesses a fine singing voice. Ditto for Cedeño. Nelson is a staid George, and Thorpe brings the heart as Winifred. I found young Schulze a bit unfocused as Michael, particularly when compared to Spears’ dynamo of a Jane.
Veteran Jill Wagoner delivers two crackerjack performances, first as the Bird Woman (“Feed the Birds”) and then as Miss Andrew, the holy terror of a nanny whose approach to child rearing explains George’s personality.
Musical director Les Pfützenreuter leads an eight-piece orchestra that robustly delivers the beloved songs (“A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Step in Time”) and new additions (“Practically Perfect,” “Brimstone and Treacle”).
Mary Poppins is the type of show that better deliver what an audience expects.
It does.
‘Mary Poppins’ runs through March 7 in the GK Hardt Theater at 6th Street Playhouse, 52 W. 6th Street, Santa Rosa. Thurs–Sat, 7:30pm; Sat & Sun, 2pm. $32–$56. 707.523.4185. 6thstreetplayhouse.com.
