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 Official Press Release (12 November 2009)
INTRODUCTION
Pamela Lyndon Travers (1899-1996), Australian journalist and novelist, wrote the six books of Mary Poppins' stories between 1934 and 1944. Travers used only her initials, P L, hiding her gender to avoid being dismissed as an archetypal female author of children's books. Partly autobiographical, the books told the story of the Banks family of Cherry Tree Lane, a household in disarray until an enigmatic nanny arrives. In 1964 Disney turned the books into a film musical starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke.
Years later, Disney Theatrical Group’s President Thomas Schumacher partnered with Producer Cameron Mackintosh to create a stage version of Mary Poppins. Drawing from the classic movie for inspiration, they assembled a dynamic creative team to combine the original film score with new songs as well as additional stories from Travers’ other Poppins tales. British composers George Stiles and Anthony Drewe were brought in to work with the Sherman Brothers to merge new tunes with the existing movie score. The stage musical version, which premiered on London's West End in 2004 and on Broadway in 2006, has already been seen by 4.2 million theatregoers in Europe and North America.
The Australian production is going to be the fifth English-speaking production of the show (after the original London production, the Broadway production, the UK national tour and the US national tour) and the eighth worldwide (after the Swedish, Finnish and Dutch productions).
SYNOPSIS
The action takes place in and around the Banks' household somewhere in London at the turn of the last century. Mr and Mrs Banks are involved with other things and cannot give their children, Jane and Michael, the attention they need. Jane and Michael, in turn, are misbehaving to get attention. The "winds of change" are literally blowing, and Mary Poppins arrives on their doorstep. Using a combination of magic and common sense, she teaches this distressed family how to value each other again.
Detailed synopsis
SCENES AND MUSICAL NUMBERS
ACT ONE
A PARK IN LONDON: Chim Chim Cher-eeº - Bert
THE BANKS HOME: Cherry Tree Lane*, Part 1 - George & Winifred Banks, Jane & Michael, Mrs Brill & Robertson Ay
The Perfect Nanny - Jane & Michael
Cherry Tree Lane*, Part 2 - George & Winifred Banks, Jane & Michael, Mrs Brill & Robertson Ay
THE BANKS NURSERY: Practically Perfect* - Mary Poppins, Jane & Michael
THE PARK: Jolly Holidayº - Bert, Mary Poppins, Jane, Michael, Neleus & the Statues
THE BANKS HOME: Cherry Tree Lane (reprise) /
Being Mrs Banks* / Jolly Holiday* (reprise) - George, Winifred, Jane & Michael
THE BANKS KITCHEN: A Spoonful of Sugar - Mary Poppins, Jane, Michael, Robertson Ay & Winifred
BANK, INSIDE: Precision and Order* - The Chairman & the Bank Clerks
A Man Has Dreamsº - George Banks
BANK, OUTSIDE: Feed the Birds - Bird Woman & Mary Poppins
MRS CORRY'S SHOP: Supercalifragilisticexpialidociousº - Mary Poppins, Mrs Corry, Bert, Jane, Michael, Fannie, Annie & Customers
THE BANKS NURSERY: Temper, Temper* - Valentine, William, Mr Punch, the Doll & other Toys
THE BANKS ROOF: Chim, Chim, Cher-ee (reprise) - Bert & Mary Poppins
ACT TWO
THE BANKS HOME: Cherry Tree Lane (reprise) - Mrs Brill, Michael, Jane, Winifred, Robertson Ay & George
Brimstone and Treacle* Part 1 - Miss Andrew
THE PARK: Let's Go Fly a Kite - Bert, Park Keeper, Jane & Michael
Good For Nothing* - George
Being Mrs Banks (reprise) - Winifred
THE BANKS HOME: Brimstone and Treacle, Part 2 - Mary Poppins & Miss Andrew
THE BANKS NURSERY: Practically Perfect* (reprise) - Jane, Michael & Mary Poppins
THE ROOF: Chim Chim Cher-ee (reprise) - Bert
Step in Timeº - Bert, Mary Poppins, Jane Michael & the Sweeps
THE BANKS HOME: A Man Has Dreams / A Spoonful of Sugar (reprise) - George & Bert
THE BANKS NURSERY: Anything Can Happen* - Jane & Michael, Mary Poppins, & the entire Company
A Spoonful of Sugar (reprise) - Mary Poppins
A Shooting Starº - The Orchestra
* New Song
º Adapted Song |
 In 2005 the London Production of Mary Poppins received two Olivier Awards for "Best Theatre Choreography" (Matthew Bourne & Stephen Mear) and "Leading Actress in a Musical" (Laura Michelle Kelly), a Variety Club Award for Best Musical, an Evening Standard Award for Best Design (Bob Crowley) and a Whatsonstage.com Award for Best Set Design (Bob Crowley).
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We had to come up with a need for Mary Poppins to come to the Banks family. At first we thought of having the father be at war overseas, but then we had a better idea: he would be emotionally absent. We made it a story about a dysfunctional family. And in comes Mary Poppins to heal them.
Richard M Sherman |
[In the stage version] Mr Banks' character has been deepened and given 'a true crisis'. After Mr Banks has been made redundant, he learns he has been 'ambushed by work and absorption in the wrong things'. He rather fancies Mary Poppins, in a harmless sort of way, but is almost unaware of the effect she is having on the family life. By the time he might be ready to say thank you, he is so absorbed in newfound love for his family that she has disappeared to her other galaxy and is gone.
Georges Stiles & Anthony Drewe |
The Poppins story must revolve around the redemption of the children's
distant father, George Banks. Travers's father died young and the yearning for
her lost parent infuses everything she writes. Her mother, on the other hand, interested her little and, as a result, Mrs Banks makes no impact in the books.
[...]
What I arrived at in the end was a woman who is striving to be her husband's
perfect wife and her children's perfect mother, but who has lost herself in the
process. Add a husband with no sense of proportion who is the victim of a harsh
upbringing, and we have a dysfunctional family that needs rescuing.
Julian Fellowes |
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