"...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... 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..." The Independent
"...The magic nanny, with a flair for
flying by solo umbrella and gorgeously played by Laura Michaelle
Kelley, in a style of elegant, icy hauteur, has touched
down in the West End. What a high-class, reconstituted vehicle
has brought her here... such a sharp, thoughtful stage musical.
The show's appeal is not just to juveniles, who will be
captivated by Miss Kelly's pert way with magic and that
Spoonful of Sugar, but to adults at whom the stringent,
talking stuff is aimed... In Richard Eyre's magnificiently
organised production, Disney's cute winsomeness has been
drained away. A rueful, bracing satire that makes critical
fun of uptight Anglo-Saxon attitudes, now emerges..."
The London Evening Standard
"...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... 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... The choreography by Stephen Mear and Matthew
Bourne is sensational... Bob Crowley's designs are equally
special, solid, detailed, and ingenious..." The
Daily Telegraph
"...The show contains plenty
of the Sherman brothers' wonderful songs... but there are
also new songs, of equal quality, from newcomers George
Stiles and Anthony Drewe. The miracle of their work is that
it, too, feels like an old friend, while injecting much-welcome
modernity. One of their songs, Practically Perfect, is an
instant classic... This production is certainly no mere
kids' night out. It makes you cry, and there are moments
that will give fainthearts cause to shield their eyes. But
children from eight to 80 will feel boosted, liberated,
whimper and hide their eyes. With her brolly and her brio,
this bird has plenty of bone in it. She flies." The
Daily Mail
|
