Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins
National Touring Company
Buell Theater
Denver, CO
May 1-5, 2013

This was the second time in town for Mary Poppins and I had seen it the first time through. But it had been three years, so it was nice to see again.

After seeing the movie, you think you know the story. However, this Mary Poppins has a few changes in it, ones I hadn't really remembered from the last time I saw it. When Mr. Banks had an issue with Mary Poppins, his wife brings his former nanny (whom he is always talking about) back to care for the children. Miss Andrew is clearly the stuff nightmares are made of and Mary Poppins shows a bit of a dark side getting rid of her.

The new songs are mostly forgettable but the old favorites are there, even if they are in completely different contexts. "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" is a big production number and it is more fun than the movie. "A Spoonful of Sugar" is sung, but in this production it has more to do with actually taking medicine than doing chores.


I was disappointed that in the finale Mary Poppins did not fly over the audience as she had the last time she came into town. But there is still much to enjoy in this show.