|
|
|
|
|
Mary Poppins
Birmingham Hippodrome
***** PRACTICALLY perfect. This is a show that
lives up to its billing and more from fabulous sets to wonderful
choreography to an orchestra large enough to make a difference – and
what a cast. Zizi Strallen is a very prim and proper Mary
Poppins, who never gives explanations incidentally, in the role played
by older sister Scarlett in the West End, twice, on Broadway and, for
good measure, Sydney. It’s almost a family business. She has a clear,
distinctive voice and an endearing permanent half smile which
promises
magic, or mischief, at any moment. And her partner in grime, in this case, is
chimney sweep Bert, played by Matt Lee who, incidentally, won the
prestigious Helpmann Award for Best Actor in a Musical in his native
Australia for his portrayal of the role when the show opened down under
in 2010. Lee keeps up the Dick Van Dyke tradition of
giving Bert a cockney accent which is, shall we say, unconventional,
more Sydney than Stepney in this case, but he has so much natural charm
who cares, and the boy can sing and dance. The dance sequence for
Step in time
among the chimney
pots on the roofs of London was just a magical highlight with Mary,
Bert, the Banks’ children Michael and Jane and twenty chimney sweeps in
a whirl of tap. Bert even manages to dance up and down the walls
and along the ceiling with the help of a little mechanical magic. It was a tribute to not only co-chorographers Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear but also the stage crew who created a ballet of their own with moving trucks of tiles and pots.
Twelve youngsters rotate the big roles of Michael
and Jane with Georgie Hill as Jane on Press night. It was her first
professional role apparently, not that you would guess from such an
assured performance. Equally confident was
Jabez Cheeseman as Michael, an old stager already at 10 who was last
seen in these parts in the tour of The
boy in the striped pyjamas. Milo Twomey is a rather aloof father George Banks
who sees his work as much more important than his family, a man who saw
his own mother and father about once a week as he grew up thanks to the
nanny from Hell, Miss Andrew, played with suitable evil intent by
Penelope Woodman. Little does he know how much his life is going to
change! Fussing around him, and the children, is their
mother Winifred played by Rebecca Lock who has a quite lovely voice. And when it comes to
voices Grainne Renihan as the bird woman produces a delightful
Feed the birds. Below stairs we have Mrs Brill, wonderfully
played by Wendy Ferguson, who is the cook with a wide range of instant
emotions, and the bane of her life, odd-job man Robertson Ay, played
with suitable gormlessness by Blair Anderson. The musical is not a straight adaptation of the
1964 film - you try having a tea party on the ceiling on stage, sunshine
– but there is enough there to keep fans happy as well as incorporating
material from P L Travers’ original books. Which brings in Wreh-asha Walton as Mrs Corry and a long, lively, ever faster sequence of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. All the well known
songs by Richard and Robert Sherman are there from
Chim Chim Cher-ee
to A spoonful of sugar
along with new songs from George Stile and Anthony Drew and Richard
Eyre’s direction along with co-director Matthew Bourne, keeps up a
cracking pace. That s helped of course by Bob Crowley’s fabulous
design with huge sets which glide up and down from the heavens, or slide
silently in from the wings making major scene changes efficient, fast
and seamless. The stage crew, technical team and flymen also
deserve a mention for the smooth operation. It is a big cast, almost 40
and all superb,
with a lot of changes and they played their part in making it such an
enjoyable evening as much as anyone. The show has some stunning special effects
including the cleverest of the lot the wrecked kitchen, an effect
originally devised by legendary illusion designer Jim Steinmeyer. The children and Robertson Ay, in a moment of
mayhem icing a cake, manage to bring down shelves, smash a table in two
and create pandemonium - all made good again by the appearance of Mary –
who even throws in an iced cake for good measure. Keeping everything moving along is a splendid 12
piece orchestra under Ian Townsend, large by today’s touring standards.
No matter what technical wizardry touring shows employ instead of
musicians there is nothing quite like the magic of a big, full sound of
decent sized band in the pit. As you would expect Mary Poppins has a flight or
two but the final scene is another spectacular as Mary complete with
umbrella flies off into . . . who knows where, high above the heads of
the audience in stalls and circle to the delight of the children in the
audience – and aren’t we all young at heart when a production is
practically perfect. To 23-04-16 Roger Clarke 15-03-16 The production will be returning to the West End after an international tour opening for an extended run at the Prince of Wales Theatre on 23 October 2019 Zizi Strallen talks about her role
|
|
|
Contents page Hippodrome Reviews A-Z Reviews by Theatre Tweet |
|
|
|
