Just poppin’ through

Mary Poppins, that magical English nanny with the mysterious ability to fly, first appeared as the title character in P.L. Travers’ children’s book in 1934. A series of sequels followed, and then came the iconic Disney movie starring Julie Andrews in 1964.

A half-century later Poppins is "flying" into Diamond Head Theatre, and DHT Artistic Director John Rampage assures us the story of the enchanting nanny and her friendship with the Banks children is as timely as ever.

"A lot of the appeal is that the movie has never aged," Rampage said. "If you watch it you don’t get an immediate sense of ‘Oh, we’re in the 1960s.’ ‘Mary Poppins’ has managed to overcome that. I remember distinctly going to the movie theater back in the days when you actually had to buy a reserved seat for a movie just like you do for the theater, and it was a big event.

"Generation after generation since then has learned to love the show just as much. And I think now, with the recent release of ‘Saving Mr. Banks,’ people are even more intrigued by the story," said Rampage, referring to the recent film about Walt Disney’s negotiations with the stubborn author for the film rights to "Mary Poppins."

The stage version of "Mary Poppins" was created when Cameron Mackintosh partnered with Disney to develop the story for Broadway. The musical opened on Broadway in 2006 and ran for more than six years. DHT is opening its centennial season with the Hawaii-premiere production of the hit.

"What a lot of people don’t realize is that this stage version is quite recent," Rampage said. "I think that has a lot of appeal to it."

DHT veteran Tricia Marciel stars as Mary Poppins. David Spangenthal is returning from New York to play the leading-man role of Bert the chimney sweep (Dick Van Dyke in the film). Spangenthal is also directing and choreographing the show. In 2005 he served as the director, choreographer and male lead in DHT’s "Beauty and the Beast."

Two sets of young actors share the roles of the Banks children. Camille Perry and Rylie Goto will be trading off in the role of Jane Banks. Luke Ellis and Matias Durkin will alternate as Michael Banks.

"There are differences (between the film and the musical), but I think the basic structure and the basic character is still there," Rampage said. "The play has quite a bit of additional music beyond the famous (songs) from the movie — things that were written specifically for the stage."

He added that this "children’s story" has serious content to it that kids appreciate.

"Mary Poppins — in the movie, especially in the books, and even more so in the play — isn’t just all sweetness and light. She’s very strict about rules, she’s very strict about etiquette, and I think that’s where the love comes for her. This is certainly not a unique idea of mine, but kids like structure and they do like having somebody looking after them, telling them right from wrong, and I think that comes across in the show."

And there’s also the flying.

"Kids are always fascinated by flying on stage, as are adults," Rampage said.

Flying by Foy, the company that made it possible for Poppins to fly on Broadway, will work its technical wizardry here as well.

"We’ve used them for both productions of ‘Peter Pan’ and for ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ and we’ve been very fortunate to have the same flying designer all four times," Rampage said. "He knows our facility, he knows what we’re capable of doing and likes creativity from the director and tries to push things if at all possible."

The show has some other forms of magic, Rampage added, "and the production numbers are incredible. There’s color, there’s movement and there’s the flying.

"It certainly is very kid-friendly and has huge appeal, but it is not a ‘kids’ show.’ It has tremendous appeal, I think, for all ages. When we were announcing the season, I would ask the adult audience if they knew what the longest word in the show was, and in unison they would all say it: ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!’"

Be warned, Hawaii: "Mary Poppins" doesn’t fly in to DHT until Friday, but the show is almost sold out. The run has been extended another week with five shows added, but tickets are going fast.

"They can’t print them fast enough," Rampage said cheerfully. "We added an extention almost two weeks ago, and we just added (another day) to that extention, and they are flying out the door."

John Berger, Star-Advertisr