MARY POPPINS | FESTIVAL THEATRE, EDINBURGH
★★★★★
‘A production to melt the hardest of hearts’
Magical Mary Poppins has flown back into Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre and there’s only one word to describe award-winning Stefanie Jones in the title role, supercalifragilisticexpalidocious. Poised, precise and pointed, with the movements of a dancer and a stunning vocal range, Jones is not practically perfect, but perfection.
At No 17 Cherry Tree Lane all is not well. The unruly Banks’ children, Jane, a defiantly precocious Olay Martinez Cambon, and Michael, an old beyond his years Oscar McCulloch, have driven yet another nanny to leave the family’s employ, while their emotionally buttoned up father, George, lives only for his work as their mother, Winifred, attempts to keep the household, and family, together.
Into this dysfunction arrives the mysterious Mary Poppins who, with the help of her pal, Bert, quickly sets about putting things right. However, when George Banks faces losing his job and the prospect of his family becoming destitute, has Mary Poppins bitten off more than she can chew? Or will everything turn out spic and span?
Based on the books of PL Travers, which introduced the world to Mary Poppins in 1934, there’s a nice symbiosis in Jones casting, both she and Travers hail from Queensland, Australia, indeed Jones helms the current UK and Ireland Tour fresh from winning the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Performance in a Leading Role in a Musical for her performance as Poppins in the Australian Tour.
Not that Jones is the only star in this spectacular feast of music, dance, colour and adventure. A strong, supporting company ensures that despite the long-running time – the first act is one hour 18 minutes, the second, one hour eight minutes – times flies, not least due to the sparkling choreography of Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear, and dynamic direction of Bourne and Richard Eyre.
If Mary Poppins and Bert are ethereal creatures, the Banks and their household are all too human, typically of a more formal time when children were seen and not heard and everyone knew their place.
Upstairs, Michael D Xavier is in fine form as the troubled, over-worked and distant George Banks. It’s a sympathetic performance that is at times very funny, thanks in part to his gangly frame and Basil Fawlty-esque physicality that frequently has the youngest in the audience chuckling in delight. Xavier is an ideal match for Lucie-Mae Sumner’s warm, maternal Winifred Banks. Her rendition of Being Mrs Banks is especially touching and she shines throughout.
Below stairs, Rosemary Ashe, as housekeeper Mrs Brill, provides some comedy gold and finds the quintessential foil in Ruairidh McDonald’s animated Robertson Ay.
It is, however, in the magnificent set pieces where this production really excels. Cinematic in nature with rich harmonies and lush colours, the big numbers are simply spell-binding. With a rousing 12-piece orchestra in place, popular favourites such as Jolly Holiday, A Spoonful of Sugar and Chim Chim Cher-ee receive a rapturous response, while Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, delivered in a vibrant explosion of energy and life, has the entire audience clapping along.
Feed The Birds, a lovely turn by a sprightly Patti Boulaye, now 70 years young, is particularly poignant. Elsewhere, when a degree of menace is required, the surreal staging of Playing The Game, which sees a giant Mr Punch looming over proceedings, is likely to be a thing of nightmares for many. It’s Step In Time, however, that once again proves the show’s coup de theatre and gives Jack Chambers the high point of his performance as Bert.
All this is played out on Bob Crowley’s breath-taking set design, including 73 Cherry Tree Lane itself, an ingenuous fold away town house brought to life with the use of clever projections and the odd piece of unexpected wizardry. Indeed, from the nannies’ first fantastical appearance, Paul Kieve’s illusions are brilliantly executed.
In a world where anything can happen, Mary Poppins’ departure is a jaw-dropping moment of wonder that brings an astonished smile to every face and is rewarded with spontaneous applause that confirms without a doubt, this is a musical to melt even the hardest of hearts.
Mary Poppins runs at Edinburgh Festival Theatre until 15 February. Tickets here.
Mary Poppins tour dates and tickets here.
