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Post by Talissa on Oct 27, 2004 10:19:51 GMT 11
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Post by nadine on Oct 28, 2004 23:48:08 GMT 11
Ohh I second that choice - plus we know Cam Mac was impressed with her after Oliver!  I swear she's at an age now that she can play characters from early twenties to mid-thirties *sigh* Unlike when she was 21 having to get roles rewritten for her <g> (and that reminds me after seeing the Hey Mr Producer special on Ovation when the West End Oliver cast participated - the woman who played Nancy was in her mid-thirties - at least - and it made me say thank God we got our Aussie cast) |
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Post by Sally on Oct 29, 2004 10:44:23 GMT 11
I definitely third it, though I'm still trying to picture her as Mary Poppins...I keep thinking she's too young  But then she did Rosie in BBB so well and of course Tamsin is marvellous and can do anything By the way I remember reading this when Oliver was on here about how young Tamsin was, that the part of Nancy is played by "spunk and character and not by age", as there was a Nancy in the 1960s who was in her 40s  yet who was the most believable the writer had seen until Tamsin came along. The young and the old! (Apparently she was one of those people who could still pass for 25 though) |
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Post by nadine on Oct 29, 2004 11:42:40 GMT 11
This should so go on the TC forum but so what Lol regarding the lady in her 40's playing Nancy - I can see late 30's but then you have to remember in the book she is that age <g> When it came down to it Cam Mac auditioned her 3 times for the role of Nancy, so I think after all the praise he gave her at the premiere of it in Sydney, he would definitely have her on the short-list here if it came to Australia. I definitely third it, though I'm still trying to picture her as Mary Poppins...I keep thinking she's too young Yeah we have to remember we're talking about a performer here who at only 25, has already played characters who age up to 10-20 years in a production (Shout and Dusty), or are at least 10 years to start with and are lowered down to let her play the role (Oliver - Sally-Anne Upton was the one who stated it on ABC radio when it was on in Sydney or Melbourne). Even when Oliver! cast did Into the Woods she played someone who's older than her (Baker's Wife) Come to think of it I think the only roles that she's played where she's the same age (or around) was High Society and Harbour - Republic of Myopia she played a younger character <g> Let's hope Mary Poppins is a huge success in West End so it does come here |
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Post by Sally on Oct 29, 2004 12:08:33 GMT 11
I have an edition of Oliver Twist with the original line drawings...the original Nancy was really ugly! lol I was all, Tamsin's so much prettier Hooray And of course all the other accolades she got! I can see Tamsin more in older roles than younger ones though so I'm being weaned onto Mary Poppins. I could def. see her as Eliza in My Fair Lady...there was talk of that coming here about a year ago remember? Who shall we pre-cast as Bert? I think I had an idea a few weeks ago but have now totally forgotten. |
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Post by Sally on Dec 17, 2004 9:33:35 GMT 11
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Otto
Backyard Balladeer
Posts: 25 
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Post by Otto on Dec 17, 2004 10:32:07 GMT 11
From The Guardian/U.K.
Mary Poppins
by Michael Billington
Does it fly? Like its heroine, eventually. But it is surprising how long it
takes this musical, based on the PL Travers stories and the Disney film, to
get airborne. For much of the evening it is characterised by a mechanical
professional efficiency rather than the quality of ecstasy we all look for
in musicals.
Ecstasy, or a moment of pure transcendence, is the ultimate justification of
the musical. It is there in The Rain in Spain number in My Fair Lady. Or in
America in West Side Story. Or in Blow Gabriel Blow in Anything Goes. Or, to
be more topical, in Springtime for Hitler in The Producers. But it is a long
time coming in Mary Poppins.
At first we get a perfectly decent dramatisation, by Julian Fellowes, of the
story of the seemingly starch-knickered nanny who humanises a pair of
snotty, middle-class kids. All the familiar movie numbers by the Sherman
Brothers are unrolled so that we can hum along pleasantly to Chim Chim
Cher-ee, A Spoonful of Sugar, and the famous polysyllabic one here rather
dashingly staged.
George Stiles and Anthony Drewe have also added new songs with decidedly
mixed results. Practically Perfect is an excellent number with which to
introduce the nanny-heroine, who, for all the brisk charm of Laura Michelle
Kelly, radiates a certain smug belief in her own rightness. But a number
called Temper, Temper, in which the toys in the nursery claim their
territorial rights, adds little to the show except to make it slightly scary
for very young kids.
For much of the evening the show is mildly pleasurable, but there is little
in it to persuade me it is a better bet than renting the video. And then two
things happen. One is that the character of Mary's employer, Mr Banks, takes
on unexpected depth. There is a moment when David Haig, who plays him
superbly, returns home after being suspended from his investment bank and
barks ferociously at his clamorous children. It is as if real life has
suddenly intruded.
No praise is too high for Haig. In a later scene he sits on a park bench
and, in a new Stiles-Drewe number, sings about being the "good-for-nothing
of Cherry Tree Lane". It is a song about dashed hopes and dreams and is
unexpectedly touching. And happily we get to see Haig restored to fortune,
flying a kite and agreeing to spend more time with his children.
If the evening works dramatically it is because Haig makes the reclamation
of the father so moving.
But for the one moment of genuine ecstasy you have to wait until about 9.32.
At that moment, Mary Poppins and her bit of rough, Bert, lead a chorus of
chimney-sweeps in an astonishing dance, Step in Time. Presumably this is the
handiwork of choreographer, Matthew Bourne, who fills the stage with a riot
of movement as brooms and brushes fill the air in sooty splendour.
The best moment of all comes when the spider-legged Gavin Lee as Bert
continues his tap-movements as he climbs the stage-left side of the
proscenium-arch, then is suspended upside down from the ceiling and finally
descends by the stage-right arch. One is finally vouchsafed that moment of
pure excitement one has been waiting for all evening.
After this Mary Poppins's climactic flight over the auditorium is small
beer: indeed, it reminded me of Dame Edna Everage achieving similar leverage
in one of her shows. And, although Laura Michelle Kelly throughout mixes
Thatcherite sternness with fairy-godmother benignity as Mary, her
performance lacks that orphaned oddity by which one recognises star quality.
Richard Eyre masterminds the enterprise with great efficiency. And Bob
Crowley's designs are always inventive and sometimes witty. Among the
actors, Jenny Galloway brings a Dickensian quality to the cook, Mrs Brill,
and seems to exist in a permanent state of mountainous fury.
It is a thoroughly professional show. But I go to musicals to be despatched
into seventh heaven. And for me that only belatedly happened in Step In
Time, which not only raises the roof but takes place on it and is a hymn to
the dionysiac joy of dance.
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Otto
Backyard Balladeer
Posts: 25
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Post by Otto on Dec 17, 2004 10:33:51 GMT 11
Charles Spencer reviews Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward Theatre
One of the more embarrassing secrets of my early teenage years was an abiding fondness for the soundtrack album of Mary Poppins.
Laura Kelly as Mary Poppins and Gavin Lee as Bert
There I was, the youngest hippie in Surbiton, with records that included fabulously cool discs by Pink Floyd, Cream and the Rolling Stones, and there, lurking beside them, was the recording of the 1964 Disney movie musical that I had always affected to despise. Did I ever admit to owning it? No of course I didn't, but every so often I would listen to it with solitary, guilty pleasure.
I rediscovered my passion for Mary Poppins when watching the video with my son, Edward. He loved it, I loved it, and we both took our seats in the Prince Edward Theatre for last night's premiere of the stage version with a sense of eager anticipation, though if truth be told, I was probably more excited than Ed who, at 11, is becoming worryingly cool himself.
We both had an absolute ball, and families who have grown out of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang now have a vastly superior show to look forward to.
Let's not mince words - the stage version of Mary Poppins is heaps better than the movie - funnier, sharper, more inventive and with a far greater variety of mood. There are a host of terrific new songs to join the beloved originals by the Sherman Brothers, written with great melodic panache and lyrical invention by the long promising George Stiles and Anthony Drewe who, with this show, finally move into the major league.
Julian Fellowes, meanwhile, best known for the movie Gosford Park, has worked wonders with the script. He has gone back to P L Travers's original stories, novels, as well as the film, and has come up with something that is richer and more powerfully affecting than either.
In his version, Mary Poppins becomes the story of one unhappy family's redemption, as they learn the values of love, fun, and human kindness from their strict and magical nanny. I defy anyone to watch the closing scenes, as the Banks family discover just what family means, and Mary, realising her job is done, flies out of the theatre over the audience's heads, without experiencing a misting of the eyes. The film sometimes seemed saccharine. Here the emotion is strong, true, and heart-catching.
Richard Eyre directs one of the greatest productions of his career, offering an evening constantly filled with enchantment and delight. Though the show lasts almost three hours, it doesn't feel a moment too long and the great theatrical coups just keep on coming.
The choreography by Stephen Mear and Matthew Bourne is sensational. I didn't think anything could top the scene where the statues come alive in the park, but the climactic Step In Time, a brilliant tap number does just that. It builds and builds and features the chimney sweep Burt (delightful Gavin Lee, unafflicted with that Dick Van Dyke apology for a cockney accent) dancing upside down at the top of the proscenium arch.
Bob Crowley's designs are equally special, solid, detailed, and ingenious, with the Banks family home resembling a gigantic Edwardian doll's house that is constantly springing the most magical surprises.
Laura Michelle Kelly's Poppins has exactly the right combination of tart discipline and sudden glimpses of affection and mischief, while David Haig gives a beautiful performance as Mr Banks, so traumatised by his own fearsome nanny and undemonstrative parents that he is unable to show love to his own wife and children. There is something almost Lear-like in his discovery of human feeling. And on first night, Charlotte Spencer (no relation) and Harry Stott were simply adorable as the children.
There really is only one word for this show - it's supercalifragilisticex... but damn it, I've run out of space.
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Otto
Backyard Balladeer
Posts: 25
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Post by Otto on Dec 17, 2004 10:35:05 GMT 11
Joyous spectacular goes down ... in the most delightful way
16 December 2004
With the premiere of Mary Poppins and the fall of the Home Secretary, what a night it was for nanny-power, onstage and off, and what a double cause for celebration... Remember the wonderful scene in the movie where the grim battle-axe nannies, gathered to apply for the job, are rudely borne aloft and blasted down Cherry Tree Lane by the wind that heralds the arrival of the heroine?
This eagerly awaited stage version - the first co-production by Cameron Mackintosh and Disney - doesn't include that episode but it pulls off a comparable feat. With its magic and chutzpah, it simply blows away the opposition from rival West End musicals, emerging as the year's most joyous, spectacular and heart-tugging show in that genre.
Don't turn up expecting a dutiful transfer from screen to stage. True, many of the much-loved Sherman Brothers' songs are here, but there's no merry-go-round horse race, no dancing penguins, no tea-party on the ceiling.
Instead, the show, directed with huge flair, by Richard Eyre, has been reworked to incorporate more of the original P L Travers stories and it often finds exhilarating new contexts for the old numbers. For example, "Supercalifragilistic..." now erupts during a visit to a market where the visitors run out of conversation and have to buy an ounce of it from a raucous West Indian trader. There's a knockout sequence, choreographed by Matthew Bourne, where the cast literally dances out each letter of the word in an ever-giddier rush.
Instead of merging live performers and animation, "Jolly Holiday" is a delightful tease where all the antique statues in the park come alive and cavort to the consternation of the keeper drenched in rich blues, reds, and greens by Howard Harrison's lighting.
There's a batch of strong new songs by the English team of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe and a wonderfully fresh take on the book by Julian Fellowes.
Jane and Michael, beautifully played, are ruder and snobbier than their screen counterparts and thus more in need of reclaiming. Mrs Banks, played by Linzi Hately, is no longer the daffiest Suffragette on record but a woman confused and isolated by her workaholic husband's ambitions. David Haig's endearing Mr Banks emerges as the little boy who was frightened into a false, unfeeling persona by his own monstrous nanny.
As for Laura Michelle Kelly in the title role, she's superbly tantalizing and enigmatic, far more unknowable than the pert Julie Andrews. She sings and dances with sublime assurance and is, in the character's own self-assessment, "practically perfect in every way".
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Otto
Backyard Balladeer
Posts: 25
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Post by Otto on Dec 17, 2004 10:35:48 GMT 11
Benedict Nightingale at the Prince Edward
HAS Mary Poppins the shamanic nanny dealt with the high wires or faulty umbrella propulsion that spoilt her flight plans in some previews? More importantly, does Mary Poppins the musical fly? Yes, and again, yes.
Long before Laura Michelle Kelly's demure Mary has zoomed over the stalls into the theatre's star-splattered eaves, this marvellously fresh adaptation of P. L. Travers's stories had clearly won the hearts, minds, eyes and ears of last night's audience. I don't think it was just theatre chauvinism that left me thinking the show better in every way than the Disney film, delightful though that seemed 40 years ago.
Thanks to Matthew Bourne's choreography and Bob Crowley's designs, those ways extend to the visual, and, thanks to Richard Eyre's direction and Julian Fellowes' book, certainly embrace the content.
Poppins comes to earth with a purpose, and that isn't to look pert, sing pretty songs and share side-trips with a chimney sweep with a bad Cockney accent. It's to re-educate a family in trouble. Sounds didactic? No more, I think, than Travers would have wanted.
George Banks, the banker, isn't merely pompous, like David Tomlinson in the film. As brilliantly played by David Haig, he's emotionally cut-off and frustrated: an angry, wistful, very English man-child who has been brainwashed by his own nanny, here a "Holy Terror" who monstrously materialises with a witches' brew of cod-liver oil, brimstone and treacle. No wonder Linzi Hateley, playing his wife, is so flustered and lost. No wonder his children (last night, Charlotte Spencer and Harry Stott) are so much more brattish than their Disney precursors.
Having taught everyone to appreciate everyone else, Kelly's Poppins can soar heavenwards; but not before she's left us plenty to remember. Silvery statues, including two Pans and even Queen Victoria, dance in the park. In a rather scarey sequence, rag-dolls, hussars and other nursery toys come accusingly to life and shoot naughty Jane and Michael. OK, there are no cartoon penguins or pearly kings - but who cares when, say, the the sweeps swivel and tap so perfectly on the roofs of a night-time London?
A few cavils. Why reduce Travers's Admiral Boom to a walk-on? Doesn't the ending smack a bit too much of the sentimentality the show mostly eschews? Could Kelly's Poppins be more starchy and severe, as she is in the stories?
Maybe, but I enjoyed her brisk, slightly smug confidence, her singing voice and much, much else. You want magic? Even a bed materialises from her trademark bag. You want music? The original Sherman Brothers' songs are there, plus some pleasing new ditties from George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.
You want spectacle? Some is literal, such as a Banks house that shifts to reveal roof, attic, hall, and a kitchen that hilariously falls apart and is inexplicably restored. Some is imaginative, such as a bank variously in debt to Dickens, Lowry and spidery Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - or so I'd say.
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But then she did Rosie in BBB so well and of course Tamsin is marvellous and can do anything 
yet who was the most believable the writer had seen until Tamsin came along. The young and the old! 
