A spoonful of brimstone and treacle

 Does anyone else miss shows and live theatre? If you are missing these things, I can certainly empathise and relate. In fact, this post, which explores the next programme in my collection, also discusses my first experience of watching a professional musical, which was Mary Poppins at the Edinburgh Playhouse in October 2008, when I was eight and a half. Not that whether a show is amateur or professional necessarily makes a big difference to a child; many non-professional shows are great and feature extremely talented casts and can have more of a personal touch if you know members of the cast or get a ‘shout out’ at pantomimes at Christmas, which some kids might enjoy.

  Mary Poppins is arguably one of the most iconic and beloved films of all time. The first Mary Poppins book, which was written by Australian author, PL Travers, was published in 1934, and was followed up with seven sequels. The classic musical film starring Julie Andrews came out in 1964 and while some events may have been changed, the 2013 film Saving Mr Banks shows how different the original vision that PL Travers had for her most beloved character, the titular, Mary Poppins, was to how Disney wanted to present her. For instance, whilst in both the original 1964 film and the 2018 sequel Mary Poppins Returns (more on that later…), Mary is a strict, old-fashioned type of nanny who believes in discipline, she is still notably sweeter, cheerier and friendlier than she is in the novels, which are much darker with some unsettling, slightly frightening moments. 

 

  It was interesting, then, that the 2008 production of Mary Poppins in Edinburgh, a show which opened in London in 2004, took on some of these darker elements from the novels, as although many of the same songs appear in both the film and the musical, there are some new songs in the stage musical, which create a very different tone and evoke some new messages or interpretations. For example, some of the new songs give more of an insight into the motivations and feelings of the parents, Mr and Mrs Banks (Winifred and George), and are more emotional and try to capture how they feel about their marriage and what they wanted from life. Also, in the musical, Mrs Banks is no longer a comedic character. A song that appears in the film but was removed for the stage show was ‘I love to laugh’, sung by Uncle Albert during the memorable, mostly light-hearted scene when they all laugh to float up to the ceiling. It is possible that when adapting the story to be a stage musical, more of an emphasis was put on presenting the vision that PL Travers had for her Mary Poppins and doing her vision justice, as she had been quite unhappy with some changes that appeared in the Disney film. The stage musical focuses instead more on the emotional core and familial relationships and the harsh, dark, ‘Brimstone and treacle/Cod Liver Oil’ aspects and creative punishments and learning lessons, rather than the ‘Spoonful of Sugar’,  rose-tinted glasses or sugar coating that is a feature of the movie.

 The stage musical is also a lot darker, for instance, and not particularly aimed at children at all, in my opinion. One of the most haunting and scary things that has slightly stayed with me, is a scene from the stage musical, when the toys belonging to the children, Jane and Michael, come to life, as a result of a spell that Mary Poppins put on them to reprimand the children for not looking after their toys.

  As a contrast, the 2018 sequel Mary Poppins Returns, starring the supremely talented Emily Blunt in that iconic, titular role, features a very different take to the stage musical, as the sequel is filled with homages and references to the 1964 film and puts the now grown up Jane and Michael in the position that their parents were in in the first film. However, although the 2018 film has a more feel-good and generally sweeter tone than the stage show, it still has emotional moments and songs, as Michael’s children learn about loss and grief from losing their mother. Despite the 2018 film being set many decades ago, it still feels so much more recent and modern because of the massive gap between the first film and the sequel and the appearance of so many talented people who are ‘so hot right now’ (Did I use that right?) For instance, the absolute sensation and legend that is Lin-Manuel Miranda stars in the film and even raps! (Did someone say Hamilton?) It’s interesting to wonder if, for young children and future generations, Emily Blunt will be their Mary Poppins or if the iconic performance from Julie Andrews will be what we all still think of whenever this particular, extra special, enigmatic, unusual, ‘practically perfect’ Mary is mentioned.

Caroline Sheen, cousin of actor Michael, was the Mary Poppins we saw in Edinburgh.