'Mary Poppins' a bit mechanical, but still magical

The last time “Mary Poppins” played Chicago in 2009, there was more of a sense of occasion and excitement. Not only did producers Disney and Cameron Mackintosh specially choose the Windy City to launch the show's North American tour, original Broadway stars Ashley Brown and Gavin Lee were on board to re-create their roles as Mary and Bert.

Some of that freshness has faded in the tour, now back at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre through Sunday, Nov. 6. Even though there is an inevitable sense of going through the motions in some of the performances this time around, all of the spectacle and stage effects are still as amazing and magical as before.

Rachel Wallace is wonderful as the sly nanny who reveals a sense of whimsy behind her prim and proper facade. Nicolas Dromard is also affable as the jack-of-all-trades narrator Bert (who risks life and limb doing an amazing tap routine literally around the stage's proscenium arch).

Geoffrey Garratt's adaptation of Mathew Bourne's original choreography is still lots of fun, ranging from the aerobic spelling of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” in Mrs. Corry's conversation shop to the tap-happy chimney sweeps on London's rooftops in “Step in Time.”

But on the downside, there is a noticeable speediness to all of the proceedings. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the performances of the double-cast children playing Jane and Michael Banks.

When this “Mary Poppins” stage adaptation originally launched in the U.K. in 2004, one of the major improvements was a decision by book writer Julian Fellows to make the troubled Banks family kids far more petulant and unruly. By contrast, the kids in Disney's classic 1964 film version (based upon P.L. Travers' popular children's books) are near angelic.

But at a recent performance, I wished for less cutesy showiness from the Jane of Camden Angelis and Michael of Reese Sebastian Diaz. Though the two child performers played up the required nastiness of their rethought roles, they often came across as if they were precision animatronic machines delivering lines on cue rather than organically reacting moment to moment. (Angelis and Diaz rotate in their roles with Annie Baltic and Dakota Ruiz.)

I don't know if that's the fault of the child performers or tour director Anthony Lyn (re-creating the original London and Broadway direction by Sir Richard Eyre), but the decision to keep things at such a speedy pace makes this current “Mary Poppins” tour feel a tad mechanical at times.

Those who saw “Mary Poppins” in London or early on Broadway might also miss the original number “Temper, Temper,” in which Jane and Michael's abused toys grow to life size to inflict revenge. For the tour, songwriters George Stiles and Anthony Drewe (who expanded and adapted the original film score by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman) replaced the number with the far tamer “Playing the Game.”

Other than these quibbles, there is still plenty to recommend in this touring “Mary Poppins” with its splashy production numbers and its important message of taking time for family togetherness.

If you caught “Mary Poppins” before, you'll notice how the show doesn't shine as brightly as it once did. But if you've never seen “Mary Poppins,” you're lucky to have another chance to experience all of its theatrical magic first hand.

“Mary Poppins”

★ ★ ★

<b>Location:</b> Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago; (800) 775-2000 or <a href="http://www.broadwayinchicago.com">broadwayinchicago.com</a>

<b>Showtimes:</b> 2 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday; through Nov. 6

<b>Running time: </b>Two hours and 45 minutes with one intermission

<b>Tickets: </b>$25-$90

<b>Parking:</b>Area pay lots

<b>Rating: </b>For general audiences