Ashley Brown as Mary Poppins performs the musical number "Step In Time" from the original national tour company of "Mary Poppins" which will be presented at the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre November 13, 2009, through February 7, 2010. The opening performance is November 15. For tickets and information, call (213) 972-4400 or visit online at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org. (c) 2006, Disney/CML. Photo by Joan Marcus. Media Contact: CTG Press (213) 972-7376
SWEET
Eyre’s direction is spot-on and he has managed to hold onto some of the stories grit. The dances by Bourne are brilliant. The magical set and set pieces (statues that come to life and dance), a kitchen disaster that is all put back together in a flash, are just two of the many wonderful touches. The cast is also super with the beauteous Ashley Brown as Mary. I have seen her recently perform another Disney heroine, Snow White, at Disney Hall and she doesn’t disappoint. The Bert, Gavin Lee, is from the British production and captures that Music Hall feeling. Together their acting is seamless and you can tell they are at ease with their parts and each other. The rest of the cast is very good too with standouts include Karl Kenner as Mr. Banks, Megan Oesterhaus as his wife, Valerie Boyle as Mrs. Brill, and the exquisite Ellen Harvey as Miss Andrew. This is a wonderful show for the holiday season and timely too as it explores the corruption in the financial world.
Robert Machray – Stagehappenings
SWEET
The new production, which can get a little sermonizing about such things as the rights of household staff and toys, doesn’t quite have the courage of Travers’ curt conviction, particularly where it concerns Mary’s implacable nature. But it’s still a lovely animation of the world of a miraculous character, who continues to endure despite her assurance that nothing lasts forever.
Charles McNulty – LA Times
SWEET
The riveting theatricality of Bob Crowley’s production design, climaxing in chimney sweep Bert (Gavin Lee) soft-shoeing straight up, then upside down across the proscenium arch, and culminating in a showstopping umbrella flight over the audience by the famous titular nanny, produces an excitement that far outshines the limited value intrinsic in much of the musical’s written material.
Tom Provenzano – LA Weekly
SWEET
The musical’s charming book, by Julian Fellowes, puts front and center the children’s sad relationship with their father and Mary’s efforts to instill a better sense of values in the dysfunctional family, taught in a brisk series of lessons in Act 1 that come to fruition in Act 2. But along with a darker book comes the best part of the film: the songs, by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, seamlessly augmented in style and spirit with others by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.
Dany Margolies – Backstage
SWEET
An explosion of song, color and dance that overflows from the Ahmanson’s considerable stage, “Mary Poppins” is the rare touring production that over-delivers at every level. Broadway leads Ashley Brown and Gavin Lee deliver pert, perfectly tuned perfs, and every element that surrounds them — the ensemble, Bob Crowley’s tone-shifting sets and costumes, the powerhouse orchestra — makes this one of the most satisfying road shows to hit an L.A. stage.
Phil Gallo – Variety
SWEET
Travers would be twirling in her grave at the Disneyesque version of her Mary now at the Ahmanson. However, Julian Fellowes who wrote the stage book, can be commended for shrewdly choosing the best of the three novels and adding a family story to give it enough consistency and depth for this version’s legs that have kept it running on Broadway and also traveling to other stages like this.
Laura Hitchcock – CurtainUp
BITTERSWEET
All in all it’s a mixed bag of a show. It’s certainly not a waste of time, and has some great and ingenious moments. (The statues coming to life are quite fun.) If only the choreography by the amazing Matthew Bourne didn’t seem like crowd control, and the book was a little more streamlined, we would have had a classic piece of musical theatre. Instead, it seems like another visual jar of eye-candy put together quickly by the Disney machine to reap a profit. In that, they certainly have succeeded.
Kevin Taft – EdgeLosAngeles
