Mary Poppins: A Soaring Success

Mary Poppins:

A SOARING SUCCESS

Judging from the laughter and the gasps and the clapping of hands and the stomping of feet, the audience was thrilled and astonished as they took in the spring, all-school production of Mary Poppins.

The Banks family live on Cherry Tree Lane, and there we meet the children, Jane (Payton Bond ’27) and Michael (William Ridout ’28). Having churned their way through countless nannies already, their parents (Nathan Ly and Katie Bardwell, both Class of ’22) are desperate for someone who can tame their rambunctious kids.

Enter the mysterious Mary Poppins — brought to life by Riley Thornton ’22.

Mary takes the Banks children on some exciting adventures: they go for a walk in the park and encounter a talking statue, they fly kites, and they visit Mrs. Corry’s Talking Shoppe, where they buy gingerbread as well as the letters to spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Each outing offers a lesson about polite behavior while filling the children with awe and wonder. But the children aren’t the only ones who learn a thing or two: Mr. and Mrs. Banks discover that no matter the circumstances, family is the only thing they need.

One of the most memorable moments was when Bert, the humble but charming chimney sweep (Will Mida ’23), sings upside down! And the crowd roared when in “Step in Time,” the entire cast tap-danced over the rooftops. They donned fanciful wigs inside Mrs. Corry’s Talking Shoppe, and sang and danced with an energy that enthralled the audience.

No one was sure how the kids were going to pull it off after Kyle Aiden, the choreographer — who flew in from Wisconsin — showcased the tap-dance for them. After much hard work, however, they got it down and absolutely outdid themselves. And who said our kids can’t fly? Mary, Bert, Jane, Michael, and George’s nasty former nanny, Miss Andrews (Cortlyn Plunk ’23) — by way of an elaborate harness system — actually took flight! ZFX flying company came from Kentucky to teach the tech students (Brayden Huber, JD Keck, and Noah Stillwell) how to operate the system. The guys had to perform a lot of physical labor, but they flew the kids effortlessly and wowed the crowd.

Legacy tech students, led by senior Jake Schroeder, were the crew for this production. They did everything from pulling curtains and changing sets to fixing hair and makeup.

Says Will Mida, who played Bert, “I have many great memories but the one that has a special place in my heart was walking upside down on the ceiling in front of a packed audience. The very talented effects crew who came in to help with all the flying harnesses made the upside-down scene a reality. The adrenaline of that moment as I hit the high note with the rest of the cast looking up at me was something indescribable. I’ll never forget the people who made it all possible.”

Ms. Smith says she loved working with students of all ages. Seeing the older students mentor the younger ones, she says, touched her. And the youngest cast members felt the same way:

“All of the older kids were so nice,” says Grace Myers, who’s now 10. “Having a show buddy was amazing. Katie Blackwood was mine. She was very sweet to me. . . she even painted me a magnificent picture of Mary and Bert in London.”

When the curtain went down, a thunderous standing ovation brought out the kids to take their bows. And a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious time was had by all!