A magical 'Mary Poppins' stage adaptation opens in Chicago

P.L. Travers' magical English nanny takes up residence this week at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago, where the North American tour of Disney and producer Cameron Mackintosh's "Mary Poppins" launches following runs in London, on Broadway and on tour in the United Kingdom.

The timing couldn't be better for a tale that - think about it - revolves around an overworked dad who loses his job, a family's struggle with child care and a pair of misbehaving kids.

Chances are you remember the story from Walt Disney's 1964 movie version of Travers' books. The five-time Academy Award-winning film "Mary Poppins" launched Julie Andrews into superstardom and is regarded by many film critics to be one of the crowning artistic and technological achievements of Disney's lifetime.

Generations of children and adults alike have fallen in love with the film, which shows how a magical nanny helps heal the dysfunctional Banks family. A large part of that is because of the catchy score by the composer/lyricist brothers Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman. Songs like "A Spoonful of Sugar," "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" continue to spin off the tongues of millions of kids of all ages around the world.

Travers trauma

Yet there was one crucial person who never (or at least reluctantly) bought into the Disney "Mary Poppins" love-fest: the books' original author P.L. Travers.

Even though Disney's film provided Travers with renewable fame (and a considerable fortune since she received 5 percent of the movie's gross), she publicly and privately derided the film on numerous occasions.

At the film's premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Travers confronted Walt Disney afterward with a list of criticisms. She disliked the "Jolly Holiday" animated sequence and found Dick Van Dyke's cockney accent as Bert to be unacceptable.

In one last parting shot before her death in 1996, Travers did not award Disney the stage rights to "Mary Poppins." Instead, in 1994, she granted the rights to British producing impresario Cameron Mackintosh, famed for backing such mega-musicals as "Cats," "Les Miserables" and "The Phantom of the Opera."

This caused some legal problems.

Since 1994, Disney has gone on to score considerable stage successes with "Beauty and the Beast," "The Lion King" and "Aida." Not having stage access to "Mary Poppins" was a thorn in the side of Disney Theatrical Productions.

Mackintosh could have gone ahead with his own stage musical version of "Mary Poppins," but would audiences really have wanted to see it without the Sherman Brothers' classic score?

A marriage made in ...?

Many gossip and industry wags were predicting a bitter showdown when both parties started talks to collaborate and bring "Mary Poppins" to the stage earlier this decade.

"If you were a wag, you would be gigantically disappointed because we didn't end up pulling out each other's hair and screaming," said Thomas Schumacher, head of Disney Theatrical Productions. "It didn't end in tears - it ended in great laughter and continues to this day."

Actually, the marriage of what are probably the largest two theatrical producers in the world would be one that should excite most theatergoers. Both Disney and Mackintosh have consistently provided astonishing stage spectacles suitable for the entire family. And both are known for not stinting on impeccable stage artists.

In the case of "Mary Poppins," Disney and Mackintosh brought on board the former head of the Royal National Theatre in London, Sir Richard Eyre, to direct. Tony Award-winning choreographer Matthew Bourne (famed for his male "Swan Lake") choreographed and co-directed the show.

To adapt the material, Academy Award-winning author Julian Fellowes ("Gosford Park") provided the new stage treatment, which brings in more characters from Travers' books and wisely avoids just plunking the original film on stage (one improvement is that the kids misbehave much more on stage than they do on film).

A new composing team of George Stiles and Anthony Drew (best known for "Honk!") was brought on board to provide new songs and to add new lyrics to the classic Sherman Brothers "Mary Poppins" score (Songs like "Stay Awake" and "Sister Suffragette" were dropped, while new ones like "Practically Perfect" and "Temper, Temper" were added).

"Mary Poppins" opened in London in 2005 to considerable acclaim and ran for three years. The show is proving to be a bigger hit on Broadway, where it has been running since November 2006.

'Poppins' goes on the road

One of the most memorable aspects of "Mary Poppins" on stage is Bob Crowley's award-winning set of the Banks' family home, which seamlessly rises to show the top-floor nursery and roof while sliding down to show the basement kitchen. But Crowley's massive set was clearly impractical for the rigors of touring. To solve that problem, Crowley redesigned the Banks home to rotate and open up like an enormous doll's house.

"It's a great thing that people from around the country will see the same high-quality performance and production values that were on the West End and on Broadway," said Gavin Lee, the British actor who originated the man-of-all-trades role of Bert in London, reprising it for New York and now on the North American tour. "I got to see the U.K. tour in Manchester, and I was really happy to see that it hadn't lost any of its magical sets and costumes - and the effects are all there."

Indeed, for the past four years, Lee has famously been tap-dancing upside down all around the proscenium during the "Step in Time" number, (a much-talked-about stunt replicated for the tour). Then there's the flying for Mary Poppins herself in the show - both on stage and above the audience, too.

"That's what so great about our producers," said Ashley Brown, the actress who originated the role of Mary Poppins on Broadway and now on tour. "They are not willing to sacrifice anything about the show on Broadway to tour it. I'm doing all the special effects I did in New York."

'Poppins' in Chicago

By launching the North American tour of "Mary Poppins" in Chicago, Disney continues an ongoing relationship with the Windy City that includes the pre-Broadway run of "Aida," the official touring launch of "High School Musical" and the second North American tour of "The Lion King."

"The real logic (behind Chicago) is it's a great town, it's got great theaters and you obviously have a real theater audience," Schumacher said. "There's no other city in America, other than New York, that has this much theater."

There's also another local connection with 11-year-old Chicago actress Abigail Droeger ("Bedtime Stories") alternating in the double-cast role of Jane Banks and Libertyville resident Michael Gerhart being part of the show's ensemble.

Though some people may write off "Mary Poppins" as a nostalgia trip for fans of Travers' books or the Disney film, Schumacher counters by pointing out just how relevant and current the story is for American audiences today.

"It's a musical about a father who works too much, ignoring his wife and kids - and it's a story where he's going to be laid off because of a crisis at a bank," Schumacher said, adding the other issues of child care and a dysfunctional family with unruly kids.

"And it's the story of a magical character who teaches the children, and the mother and the father to all be part of a family. So by the end of it, the crisis of the job and the bank and the family is all put together - not by magic, but by their discovery of doing the right thing."

Indeed, Brown is one person who can see how "Mary Poppins" visibly moves people when she flies over the audience.

"It's really interesting to see grown men who I'm sure were dragged in by the wife to take the kids and they end up leaving the most touched," Brown said. "I think they relate to being a child and to being a husband. And I think they are shocked at how touched they are by 'Mary Poppins.' I mean, I've seen grown men cry as I'm flying out by the end."

<p class="factboxheadblack">"Mary Poppins" </p> <p class="News">Cadillac Palace Theatre</p> <p class="News">151 W. Randolph St., Chicago</p> <p class="News"><b>Times:</b> 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday through July 12</p> <p class="News"><b>Tickets:</b> $30-$90</p> <p class="News"><b>Contact:</b> (312) 902-1400 or broadwayinchicago.com</p> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=278062">Libertyville's Michael Gerhart goes on the road with 'Poppins'</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>