Mary Poppins Floats Into Adelaide for SA Premiere
Adelaide missed out on the professional tour of the musical Mary Poppins when it was staged in Australia a while back, but Matt Byrne Media will rectify that in July, ensuring SA families can now enjoy a fine production of this endearing family show. Lesley Reed reports.
Mary Poppins will certainly need her umbrella when she floats into Adelaide on July 2, and not just to protect her from wintry rains. She is remaining for five weeks, but during that time she’s moving ‘house’ and so will need a strong southerly to lift her north with all involved in Matt Byrne Media’s musical production, heading from her first port of call at Adelaide’s Arts Theatre to the Shedley at Elizabeth.
It is a magical miracle worthy of Mary Poppins herself that the world was ever able to enjoy either the movie or stage versions of Australian author P. L. Travers’ classic literature about a mysterious nanny who arrives by flying umbrella to help out the Banks family in 1910 London.
As portrayed in the 2013 movie Saving Mr. Banks, children’s author Travers was a rather cantankerous lady and more than a match for Walt Disney himself. After refusing movie rights for many years, Travers challenged Disney’s decisions throughout the eventual making of the movie and also abhorred the end result, despite its box office success.
As a consequence of her dislike of the American movie version, Travers resisted selling the stage rights for Mary Poppins. Only by agreeing to employ exclusively English-born writers and absolutely no Americans was London theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh able to buy the rights. The musical premiered in the UK in 2004 to rave reviews and a long-term Broadway run and other international productions followed.
I’m certain Producer/Director Matt Byrne had nowhere near such problems gaining the rights to present the SA Premiere of Mary Poppins, but he said securing the show was “an incredible honour and opportunity to showcase the wonderful talent we have in Adelaide.”
Matt Byrne is very excited about his cast. “We are delighted to have Lauren Potter playing the title role of Mary Poppins,” he said. “It is a role she was born to play, and Brendan Cooney will make a marvellous Bert.”
Byrne said, “The cast also features James McCluskey-Garcia and Ellonye Keniry as George and Winifred Banks and young performers Shalani Wood and Sebastien Skubala as their children Jane and Michael.”
He went on to say, “Megan Humphries will play the nasty nanny Miss Andrew, Penni Hamilton-Smith is the Banks’ long-suffering cook Mrs. Brill, Callum Byrne is the nervous manservant Robertson Ay and the much-loved Chris Bussey will play The Bird Woman.”
The cast will also feature Neville Phillis, Maggie Wood, Russell Ford, Margaret Davis, Sean Hilton, Rikki DeJesus, Nikki Yiannoullou, Anthony Butler and an experienced ensemble of fine Adelaide performers.
The show’s fabulous score from Richard and Robert Sherman is a delight and Adelaide’s audiences are sure to be thrilled by classics such as Spoonful Of Sugar, Chim Chim Cher-ee, Let’s Go Fly A Kite, Jolly Holiday, Feed The Birds and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Gordon Combes is Musical Director, with Sue Pole as Choreographer.
There’s something special about the story, Mary Poppins and this includes not only its magical element but also a poignant thread which makes it very real for audiences. The Banks family at the heart of the story is not perfect, but one with underlying issues, just like real-life families. Indeed, it is thought that between the lines there are echoes of author P.L. Travers’ own dysfunctional Australian childhood with a rarely-present or otherwise occupied father.
All of which makes Mary Poppins an absolute must-see. Indeed, if Matt Byrne Media’s past musical hits are any guide it won’t take a spoonful of sugar for Mary Poppins to go down a treat with SA families, so book now or you could miss out on memorable musical theatre.
Images: (top from left) James McCluskey-Garcia as George Banks, Sebastien Skubala as Michael Banks, Shalani Wood as Jane Banks and Ellonye Keniry as Winifred Banks, (middle) Brendan Cooney as Bert with Lauren Potter as Mary Poppins and (lower) Lauren Potter as Mary Poppins
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