I’ll be honest, Mary Poppins was never one of my favorite childhood movies or musicals. What I remember most is the handbag that magically contained everything, including dancing penguins and toys that came to life. Ironically, all these parts weren’t prominently featured in this performance.
There was one scene with Mary Poppins’ bag, but it wasn’t carried out as smoothly as it could have been, as the dancing penguins were left out. I wish that they had taken out the scene in which the performers came out dressed as various toys altogether, due to the unappealing choreography. However, the musical made up for these minor omissions with fabulous singing, striking sets, and of course the flying apparatus.
The performances by Margaret Sweeney, as Mary Poppins, and Matt Miller, as Bert, both stood out due to their “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” voices. Their vocal performances made the show so memorable, that I will now probably be singing “a spoonful of sugar will help the medicine go down,” for the next week.
Anabel Moda, who played Jane Banks, also had a great voice. I was immediately struck in awe by her flawless performance right away in the first scene, and I couldn’t wait to hear more from her throughout the rest of the play. Anabel continued to sing beautiful melodies, that will surely give her a warm welcome by the RMHS Drama Club in the future. In general, I am not a huge fan of musicals, but the vocal performances in this musical made me like them just a bit more.
I also admired the artistically rendered sets used in this musical, especially the skyline of London that was often used as the backdrop. The added effect of the fog was intriguing, but I don’t think that it was all that necessary. I am guessing similar techniques were used to quickly “snap” up the fallen shelves and plates during the beloved scene where Mary Poppins cleans up the kitchen after Michael and Jane mess with the butler, played by Kyle Mungenast. This scene was one of my favorites.
Similarly, I enjoyed the scenes that occurred in the park due to the beautiful scenery and statues played by the Drama Club members. However, while the sets were nicely crafted, the transitions between each set change were not executed as flawlessly as they could have been: long pauses between scenes made the show drag on.
The last part of the musical that clearly needs mentioning is the flying apparatus that was utilized, so that Mary Poppins and Bert could successfully fly into several of their scenes. It is fascinating seeing a character fly across the stage, but I wish it had been used more often. The addition of more scenes with the flying apparatus would have heightened the level of drama to the musical.
Although the show was a bit too long, I still enjoyed it and highly recommend it. Throughout the majority of the show, a smile was on my face due to the contagious energy and excitement that all of the members of the Drama Club created. This joy, brought about by all the performers, was clearly reflected in the audience smiles.