It’s true, WestCoast Entertainment gave us great seats
Yup, as part of their tweet seat program, WestCoast Entertainment provided about 20 people with great seats for their Best of Broadway run of Mary Poppins. It was totally worth 2 1/2 hours of my life. I was thoroughly entertained both by the tweets and the show.
To the person who got their panties in a wad about a certain blog, let’s be clear here, WestCoast Entertainment provided seats to us tweeters in turn for our OPINION on what we thought about the show. They did NOT tell us to be all spoonful of sugar. Got it? Get over it. Just saying. Moving on.
Bring on the Spit-Spot
Mary Poppins made me reflect on what it is about theatre that really appeals to me. It’s weird, it’s not as if I didn’t like the show, and I walked out saying “great show” but not “holy he!!, that rocked my socks off”. The show itself was seriously supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (as if I could resist), the set was beyond amazing, and the signing was out of this world. I’m the issue. Not the show. Suffice it to say, had WestCoast not asked me to join the legion of tweeters for the night, I would not have run out to buy a ticket. That would have been a BIG mistake. A really BIG mistake. While I may not be all, “hey, I drank the koolaid and think Mary Poppins is all that and a bag of shiznit”, I really liked the production. Hands down.
So let’s break this thing on down:
High Points:
- The genius who created the set. Who is this person? I mean really? Need to research this. Tricks, tricks and more! It’s no wonder it won a Tony for set design (those of you who saw the show should watch this video on Mary Poppins Set Design). We are talking transitions from dull, grey, rain, and sooty smoke to amazing, technicolor, peyote induced hallucination COLOR.
- Codpieces. Starfish. Whatever you want to call them. Dare to look at the statues which come to life a little closer. Go ahead, look down. You know of where I speak. Although I believe these were meant to be leaves, they looked a little fishy.
- Valentine. Argh! A doll come to life, the stuff of nightmares. With half a yellow leotard encases tush exposed and long, red fingers (the better to stab you with), I LOVED Valentine!
- Nanny Ultimate Cage Fighting. Like brujas gone wild or something, seriously. Hands down, some of the best singing of the night: Brimstone and Treacle. That Miss Andrews sure can flex her golden pipes, just sayin’.
- The dude originally played by Dick Van Dyke “Dancing on the Ceiling” (terrible Lionel Ritchie reference for those of you too young to get it. Love, love, love.
- The bank. The perspective. The old, crippled, mean, mean, men of money.
Low Points (my opinion, peops):
- The second half of the second half. Don’t get me wrong, it so had its moments BUT…..how about one less song, please? I’m an audience watcher and this was absolutely the point where feet began shifting, and rustlers began rustling.
- Believe it or not, there were moments of where I could not understand what the heck the actors were saying. Now, that said, it is a documented fact that there are certain tones I am unable to hear. Perhaps the actors were hitting those points?
- In my most humble opinion, all musicals need that climax moment - you know, the only thing that saves Cats is Memory (3.49 mark is what you’re looking for), right? I needed my memory moment, but, well, alas, it never came.
Now, these are all the opinions of my most humble Queen Narcissa self. And this is what I know, if you have kids, love musicals, know that all dreams are possible and can quash the question of why every nanny appears to carry a bottle of some narcotic or otherwise potentially hallucinogenic drug around, you would do well to check out Mary Poppins. For me, it’s time to revisit the movie and perhaps a little Step in Time.
