The chimney sweep dance in “Mary Poppins,” led by Dick van Dyk’s likeable all-rounder Burt, is reminiscent of typical blackface motifs, claims a scientist.

Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a professor of English and gender studies at Linfield College in Oregon, explained in a New York Times article that the sequence in PL Travers' book meant “race panic.”

Pollack-Pelzner simply refers to the scene as “blacking up,” and while this may seem harmless, it has other, more disturbing connotations.

“This might seem like a harmless comic scene if Travers' novels did not associate the chimney sweeps' blackened faces with racist caricatures,” he writes.

“'Don't touch me, you black heathen,' cries a maid in Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943), as a house broom extends its dark hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to stop: 'If that Hottentot goes into the fireplace, I'm going out the door,' she says, using an archaic insult for black South Africans that recurs in book and screen.

“The 1964 film re-enacts this racial panic in absurd fashion. As the dark figures of the chimney sweeps step onto a roof in time, a naval buffoon, Admiral Boom, shouts 'We are being attacked by Hottentots!' and orders his cannon to be fired at the 'insolent devils.'”

“We're in on the joke for what it is: these aren't real black Africans, but grinning white dancers with blackened faces. It's a parody of the black threat; it was even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film's racial hierarchy. And it's not just fools like the Admiral who use this language. In the 1952 novel Mary Poppins in the Park, the nanny herself says to an exasperated young Michael, 'I understand you're acting like a Hottentot.'”

Pollack-Pelzner also pointed to other examples of archaic, racially charged language in Travers' Poppins books, which in one case even led to her books being banned from the San Francisco Public Library in the early 1980s.

Travers later rewrote the chapters in a revised edition of the book, in which Poppins, Jane and Michael Banks are abducted to a South Sea island, where the nanny uses the offensive phrase “pickaninny” and speaks in a racially charged South American dialect.

However, she later said that this was “not an apology for anything I have written, the reason is much simpler: I don't want to see Mary Poppins hidden in a closet.”

Disney has not yet commented on the matter.

But in an online post after the Times article was published, Pollack-Pelzner explained: “The main reason I wrote this article was in the hope that a Disney executive would read it, take another look at the upcoming Dumbo remake and ask if there was anything in it that was even the slightest bit racist that he should perhaps reconsider before it goes on the screen.”

“After writing this article and receiving tons of hate mail in response, I learned one thing about the alt-right: Mary Poppins definitely suits them very well!”

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To kick off the holiday season, the Peninsula's 75-year-old Hillbarn Theater stages its biggest production of the season, suitable for audiences of all ages.

The stage version of Mary Poppins is based on the 1964 Disney film, which in turn was based on a series of episodic children's books by PL Travers. Hillbarn artistic director Dan Demers leads a cast that includes Caitlin McGinty as the nanny who is “practically perfect in every way” – always managing to be prim and sassy at the same time – and Jim Ambler as the crazy one Chimney sweep Burt.

“Mary Poppins”: Friday, November 25, 8 p.m.; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, November 26; 2:00 p.m. Sunday, November 27th. Wednesday-Sunday until December 18th. $45-48. Hillbarn Theater, 1285 E. Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City. (650) 349-6411. www.hillbarntheater.org

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Mary Poppins (Source: Disney)

The chimney sweep dance in Mary Poppins, led by Dick van Dyk's affable jack-of-all-trades Burt, is reminiscent of blackface themes, one academic has claimed.

In an article in the New York Times, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a professor of English and gender studies at Linfield College in Oregon, said that the sequence in PL Travers' book means “racial panic.”

Pollack-Pelzner simply calls the scene “blackout,” and while it may seem harmless, it has other, more disturbing connotations.

“This might seem like a harmless comic scene if Travers' novels did not associate the blackened faces of chimney sweeps with racist caricatures,” he writes.

“'Don't touch me, you black heathen,' screams a maid in Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943) as a sweep extends his dark hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to stop: “If that Hottentot goes down the chimney, I'm going out the door,” she says, using an archaic slur for black South Africans that appears repeatedly on page and screen occurs.

“The 1964 film recreates this racial panic in a bizarre tone. When the dark figures of the chimney sweeps appear in time on a roof, Admiral Boom, a naval fool, shouts: “We are being attacked by Hottentots!” and orders his cannon to be fired at the “insolent devils”.

“We’re in on the joke such as it is: These aren’t really black Africans; They are grinning white dancers in blackface. It's a parody of The Black Menace; It is even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film's racial hierarchy. And it's not just fools like the Admiral who invoke this language. In the 1952 novel “Mary Poppins in the Park,” the nanny herself says to the upset young Michael, “I understand that you are behaving like a Hottentot.”

Pollack-Pelzner has also pointed out other examples of archaic, racially charged language in Travers' Poppins books, in one case her books were actually banned from the San Francisco Public Library in the early 1980s.

Travers later rewrote the chapters in a revised edition of the book, in which Poppins, Jane, and Michael Banks are transported to a South Seas island, where the nanny uses the offensive phrase “pickaninny” and speaks in a racially charged South American dialect.

The story goes on

However, she later said she “didn't do this as an apology for anything I've written, the reason is much simpler: I don't want to see Mary Poppins hidden in a closet.”

Disney has not yet commented on the matter.

However, after the Times article was published, Pollack-Pelzner posted online: “The main reason I wrote this article was in the hope that a Disney executive would read it, take another look at the upcoming Dumbo remake and ask “If it was there.” If it was all a bit racist, maybe they should think again before it hits the big screen.

“One thing I learned about the alt-right after writing this article and receiving countless hate messages in response: They really like Mary Poppins!”

Read more
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Russell Crowe turns into Roger Ailes
First poster for Zombieland 2

The post ‘Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep ‘blackface’ dance is racist, claims tutorial appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

The chimney sweep dance in Mary Poppins, led by Dick van Dyk's affable jack-of-all-trades Burt, is reminiscent of blackface themes, one academic has claimed.

In an article in the New York Times, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a professor of English and gender studies at Linfield College in Oregon, said that the sequence in PL Travers' book means “racial panic.”

Pollack-Pelzner simply calls the scene “blackout,” and while it may seem harmless, it has other, more disturbing connotations.

“This might seem like a harmless comic scene if Travers' novels did not associate the blackened faces of chimney sweeps with racist caricatures,” he writes.

“'Don't touch me, you black heathen,' screams a maid in Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943) as a sweep extends his dark hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to stop: “If that Hottentot goes down the chimney, I'm going out the door,” she says, using an archaic insult to black South Africans that appears repeatedly on page and screen occurs.

“The 1964 film recreates this racial panic in an absurd tone. As the dark figures of the chimney sweeps step onto a roof in rhythm, a naval idiot, Admiral Boom, shouts: “We are being attacked by Hottentots!” and orders his cannon to be fired at the “insolent devils”.

“We’re in on the joke such as it is: These aren’t really black Africans; They are grinning white dancers in blackface. It's a parody of The Black Menace; It is even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film's racial hierarchy. And it's not just fools like the Admiral who invoke this language. In the 1952 novel “Mary Poppins in the Park,” the nanny herself says to the upset young Michael, “I understand that you are behaving like a Hottentot.”

Pollack-Pelzner has also pointed out other examples of archaic, racially charged language in Travers' Poppins books, in one case her books were actually banned from the San Francisco Public Library in the early 1980s.

Travers later rewrote the chapters in a revised edition of the book, in which Poppins, Jane, and Michael Banks are transported to a South Seas island, where the nanny uses the offensive phrase “pickaninny” and speaks in a racially charged South American dialect.

However, she later said she “didn't do this as an apology for anything I've written, the reason is much simpler: I don't want to see Mary Poppins hidden in a closet.”

Disney has not yet commented on the matter.

However, after the Times article was published, Pollack-Pelzner posted online: “The main reason I wrote this article was in the hope that a Disney executive would read it, take another look at the upcoming Dumbo remake and ask “If it was there.” If it was all a bit racist, maybe they should think again before it hits the big screen.

“One thing I learned about the alt-right after writing this article and receiving countless hate messages in response: They really like Mary Poppins!”

Read more
Duncan Jones hits David Bowie film
Russell Crowe turns into Roger Ailes
First poster for Zombieland 2

The post ‘Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep ‘blackface’ dance is racist, claims tutorial appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Dick Van Dyke was one of the 2021 Kennedy Center Awards honorees. The film and television legend's career was showcased as he accepted the award alongside fellow honorees Debbie Allen, Joan Baez, Garth Brooks and Midori.

At age 95, Van Dyke has a long resume in the entertainment industry dating back to the late 1950s, according to IMDB. One of his most popular roles was in the 1964 film “Mary Poppins,” in which he played both the role of jack-of-all-trades Bert the chimney sweep and the role of bank boss Mr. Dawes.

In an interview with CNN, Van Dyke once said “Mary Poppins” was his favorite role in his six-decade career. “I probably enjoyed the role in Mary Poppins the most,” he said. “It was so much fun. That's my favorite movie too.”

The Oscar-winning classic film was a great example of Van Dyke's singing and dancing skills.

Here's a look back at some of Van Dyke's most famous appearances in Mary Poppins.

“Pavement Artist/Chim Chim Cher-ee”

One of the most famous songs from “Mary Poppins” is “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” the famous duet by Van Dyke and Julie Andrews. But Van Dyke also performed a solo version of the song while his character did his chalk drawings on the streets of London.

The character Bert didn't exist until composers Robert and Richard Sherman wrote the song. They were inspired by a sketch of a whistling chimney sweep and initially thought Mary Poppins would sing the song to the children, but Walt Disney intervened and suggested that it would be better to create a new character.

“Walt said, 'You know, we've got this guy who paints pictures on the sidewalk, and we've got a one-man band, and we've got a guy who flies kites – why don't we make them all one guy and call him Bert? and he will also be the chimney sweep?” Robert Sherman once said, according to SongFacts.

“Step in Time” with the chimney sweep cast

Who can forget “Step in Time,” Van Dyke’s famous number featuring Bert and the other chimney sweeps dancing and singing on London rooftops? It was one of the liveliest routines in the film.

More than 55 years later, Van Dyke's legendary “Mary Poppins” performance was also remembered when professional dancer Derek Hough performed a version of “Step in Time” in his honor.

“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” with Julie Andrews

One of the hardest song titles to pronounce – let alone spell – “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” made its debut in the Mary Poppins story when the Sherman brothers adapted PL Travers' book into a feature film, according to BBC News. The magical nanny Mary and her chimney sweep buddy recited the tongue twister word several times in one of the film's most famous sequences.

Richard Sherman once said the word came about the same way he and his brother invented words as children.

“We used to come up with the big double-speak words, we could think of a big offensive word for the kids and that's where it started,” he said. “We started with 'hideous,' and then you can sound smart and be precocious at the same time. We had “precocious” and “hideous” and we wanted something super colossal and that's cheesy, so we took “super” and doubled over to go “califragilistic,” which means nothing, it just came out that way. That’s what we did for two weeks in a nutshell.”

“I Love to Laugh” with Ed Wynn and Julie Andrews

Van Dyke showed off his Cockney accent more than his singing skills in the “I Love to Laugh” sequence. He told CNN that he focused primarily on dancing for the film, and the filmmakers gave him a vocal coach, who turned out to be Irish.

“And his Cockney wasn’t much better than mine,” Van Dyke said.

“While I was taking the picture, no one was making fun of me about the accent, but I definitely took it in afterwards,” he added.

Of the flights he took in the film – and particularly during this song – Van Dyke told the New York Times: “We had to fly all the time. Once [on the original movie] We were all up there playing “I Love to Laugh” and they were on their lunch break and everyone left and forgot we were DJing there. It must have taken 15 minutes for someone to notice and come and abandon us.”

CONTINUE READING: Kennedy Center Honors 2021 Artists and Presenters

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Nicolas Dromard is having high-flying fun as Bert, the chimney sweep in the musical “Mary Poppins,” on stage at the Detroit Opera House through January 2nd. Photo by Joan Marcus

TV's “Supernanny” may correct bad behavior, but only a nanny adds magical powers and flying with an umbrella to her repertoire.

The musical “Mary Poppins” opened yesterday at the Detroit Opera House and promises to delight children and adults alike through January 2nd.

Directed by producer Cameron Mackintosh, the Disney musical is based on the fantasy book series by PL Travers and the 1964 film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke.

The popular childhood story follows a magical nanny who works for the hapless family of a cold banker and features popular songs such as “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” “Step in Time” and “Supercalifraglisticexpialidocious.”

New songs by Olivier Award winners George Stiles and Anthony Drewe also grace the stage production.

The show premiered in London's West End in 2004, with a Broadway counterpart premiering two years later.

It received seven Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical and Best Scenic Design.

A national tour began in Chicago in March 2009.

Nicolas Dromard takes on the role of chimney sweep Bert after spending the last 1 1/2 years as Fiyero in the San Francisco production of “Wicked.”

His enthusiasm for the plum part was evident during a recent telephone interview at a tour stop in Des Moines, Iowa.

“It’s such an incredible show,” Dromard said. “Of all the shows I have done, this is my favorite. I love performing it every night.”

He believes the timeless message speaks to everyone and still resonates today.

“Kids connect with the Disney magic and adults connect because they remember the movie,” he said.

“The story about the father trying to reconnect with his children and the mother feeling like she's lost her purpose – that's very timely, even though it's set in the early 20th century.”

The national tour is not Dromard's first foray into the role.

He was part of the original Broadway cast and understudy Bert before taking over the role of Gavin Lee.

While he realizes his performance will inevitably draw comparisons to Van Dyke's iconic performance, he's not worried about whether he can keep up.

“How great to have such a role model,” he said of the star. “I don’t try to copy anything he does, but rather put my own spin on it while staying true to the character.”

Born in Ottawa, Dromard began dancing at the age of six after being inspired by a film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

He studied music at De La Salle High School, a performing arts school in Ottawa, and participated in community theater and dance competitions in Canada and the United States.

After high school, he planned to study music in college, but while in New York City to compete in a dance competition finals, he auditioned for and booked “The Radio City Christmas Spectacular” in Branson, Missouri.

From there, his theater opportunities grew – “West Side Story” at the Stratford Festival in Canada, the North American premiere of “Mamma Mia,” “Oklahoma!” and “The Boy From Oz” on Broadway, “Hairspray” in Toronto, the first national Tour of “Wicked” and “Mary Poppins” on Broadway.

Dromard puts his talents to work in the role of the lovable Cockney Bert, taking the lead role in several songs, acting as narrator and dancing up a storm in the peppy number “Step in Time.”

“That’s my favorite number,” he said. “I get to knock upside down – how could you not like that?”

According to Dromard, new melodies, including Mary's introductory piece “Practically Perfect”, fit perfectly with the original numbers and flesh out the stories of the main characters.

“It's a perfect mix of favorite songs from the film and Travers' book and new songs that fit together so perfectly you'd think the entire score was written at the same time,” he said.

Bob Crowley's bizarre stage design provides a much-vaunted backdrop for the stage action.

“The tour set is incredible,” Dromard said. “We have a house that is more like a dollhouse or a pop-up book.

“It starts closed, then at the end of the show I come out and do a little intro and it comes to life.

“It is visually beautiful and amazes the mind.”

The magical world of “Mary Poppins” unfolds at the Detroit Opera House through January 2nd.

Tickets, starting at $25, are available at the Fisher Box Office, Ticketmaster locations, www.broadwayindetroit.com and by calling 1-800-982-2787.

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For those pursuing a career in musical theater, life on tour can be a blessing and a curse. Casting a touring production of a Broadway musical means steady work—eight performances a week, a sizable paycheck, and a per diem that covers food, lodging, and other related expenses.

But traveling to a different city every week can take its toll on any artist, regardless of age. Being on the road also means living out of a suitcase for months. Additionally, an actor might be in San Francisco when an important audition takes place in New York.

For the two leads on the Disney/Cameron Mackintosh tour of “Mary Poppins,” which opens in Oklahoma City on Election Day, this show is a major credit on their resumes and an opportunity they are eager to take advantage of. The hardships of the road obviously didn't dampen their spirits.

Con O'Shea-Creal, a 2008 graduate of the University of Oklahoma, plays the cheerful chimney sweep Bert. University of Michigan graduate Madeline Trumble plays the title character in the musical that made young Julie Andrews famous.

Although both contracts run until January, the young actors approached their roles very differently. As a student at Michigan, Trumble had limited performance opportunities because the musical theater program was so competitive.

“I never thought I could do this,” Trumble said recently. “In college I did a few plays and a few ensemble roles, but this role seemed so out of reach. Because of my performance, I got the audition (“Mary Poppins”) and then got about three callbacks before I was hired as an understudy for the tour. That’s why I appreciate getting this role even more.”

In contrast, O'Shea-Creal worked steadily as a student at OU, landing roles in “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” “Anything Goes,” “Company” and “Urinetown.” He has also been cast in Lyric Theater productions of “Swing!” and “42nd Street” and appeared in four consecutive productions of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic’s “A Very Merry Pops.”

After graduating, O'Shea-Creal went to New York, where he quickly landed roles in the Broadway musical White Christmas (limited holiday runs in 2008 and 2009), Annie Get Your Gun at the Goodspeed Opera House, and Singin' in the Rain in Westchester, NY

Resilience pays off

All along, this versatile performer had his eye on the role of the chimney sweep in Mary Poppins.

“For a song and dance man, Bert was a role that was always on my radar,” O'Shea-Creal said recently. “I didn’t know if it would happen, but I was determined to do whatever it took to get there.

“I first auditioned for Mary Poppins in 2008 when I was in White Christmas. From that point on I probably went there about ten times every year. I showed up so many times that they knew what song I was going to sing. I also got to the point where I didn't think I could audition for the show anymore.

“But I criticized every aspect of my audition and stuck with it. Last year I think I was called back 14 times. A great gift of this experience is resilience. You audition no matter how many times you are asked. It finally worked for me. I was understudy to Bert for about five months and while I was on a break from the show, I got the call that I would be taking on the role.”

Based on the Mary Poppins novels by PL Travers and the 1964 Disney film, the stage musical premiered in London in December 2004. Laura Michelle Kelly won an Olivier Award for her role as Mary Poppins; The production also won an award for choreography.

The Broadway production premiered at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York in November 2006 and won a Tony Award for Best Scenic Design the following June. The production is still playing to sold-out crowds and celebrates its six-year anniversary on November 16th.

Nine of the film's 17 musical numbers – written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman – were adapted for the stage production, which was subsequently supplemented by seven new songs by British songwriters George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.

O'Shea-Creal said that after hearing one of Stiles and Drewe's new numbers, one of the Sherman brothers reportedly called it “the best song he had never written.”

The opportunity to perform in the city where you were born or where you went to school is a highlight for actors in any touring production. This will be O'Shea-Creal's first opportunity to return to Oklahoma City. There are also plans to conduct master classes for OU musical theater students.

“My whole family is from Nebraska and the OU musical theater school purchased a block of tickets for the show,” O'Shea-Creal said. “Performing in Oklahoma will allow me to give back and thank everyone at OU, the Lyric Theater and the Philharmonic for giving me such great opportunities.”

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LOS ANGELES (CBS SF/AP) — Dick Van Dyke will star in Disney's upcoming sequel to “Mary Poppins.”

Van Dyke played the chimney sweep Bert and the elderly banker Mr. Dawes in the 1964 original. He tells Entertainment Tonight that he will play Mr. Dawes' son in Mary Poppins Returns.

The 91-year-old comedy legend says he will travel to London in the spring to film his role, which he calls “a little song-and-dance number.”

He tells The Hollywood Reporter that the film will take place 20 years after the original.

Emily Blunt is set to play Mary Poppins. Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Angela Lansbury and “Hamilton's” Lin-Manuel Miranda will also star.

TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast or rewritten. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Mary Poppins (Source: Disney)

The chimney sweep dance in Mary Poppins, led by Dick van Dyk's affable jack-of-all-trades Burt, is reminiscent of blackface themes, one academic has claimed.

In an article in the New York Times, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a professor of English and gender studies at Linfield College in Oregon, said that the sequence in PL Travers' book means “racial panic.”

Pollack-Pelzner simply calls the scene “blackout,” and while it may seem harmless, it has other, more disturbing connotations.

“This might seem like a harmless comic scene if Travers' novels did not associate the blackened faces of chimney sweeps with racist caricatures,” he writes.

“'Don't touch me, you black heathen,' screams a maid in Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943) as a sweep extends his dark hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to stop: “If that Hottentot goes down the chimney, I'm going out the door,” she says, using an archaic slur for black South Africans that appears repeatedly on page and screen occurs.

“The 1964 film recreates this racial panic in a bizarre tone. When the dark figures of the chimney sweeps appear in time on a roof, Admiral Boom, a naval fool, shouts: “We are being attacked by Hottentots!” and orders his cannon to be fired at the “insolent devils”.

“We’re in on the joke such as it is: These aren’t really black Africans; They are grinning white dancers in blackface. It's a parody of The Black Menace; It is even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film's racial hierarchy. And it's not just fools like the Admiral who invoke this language. In the 1952 novel “Mary Poppins in the Park,” the nanny herself says to the upset young Michael, “I understand that you are behaving like a Hottentot.”

Pollack-Pelzner has also pointed out other examples of archaic, racially charged language in Travers' Poppins books, in one case her books were actually banned from the San Francisco Public Library in the early 1980s.

Travers later rewrote the chapters in a revised edition of the book, in which Poppins, Jane, and Michael Banks are transported to a South Seas island, where the nanny uses the offensive term “pickaninny” and speaks in a racially charged South American dialect.

The story goes on

However, she later said she “didn't do this as an apology for anything I've written, the reason is much simpler: I don't want to see Mary Poppins hidden in a closet.”

Disney has not yet commented on the matter.

However, after the Times article was published, Pollack-Pelzner posted online: “The main reason I wrote this article was in the hope that a Disney executive would read it, take another look at the upcoming Dumbo remake and ask “If it was there.” If it was all a bit racist, maybe they should think again before it hits the big screen.

“One thing I learned about the alt-right after writing this article and receiving countless hate messages in response: They really like Mary Poppins!”

Read more
Duncan Jones hits David Bowie film
Russell Crowe turns into Roger Ailes
First poster for Zombieland 2

The post ‘Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep ‘blackface’ dance is racist, claims educational appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

El Beh is a confident and charismatic title character in “Mary Poppins” at the SF Playhouse.

Everyone knows it's a fun holiday with Mary Poppins. However, the stage version at the San Francisco Playhouse over the holidays may be a little less cheerful than most people remember.

Featuring a book by “Downton Abbey” creator Julian Fellowes, the 2004 musical, which has been making the rounds among Bay Area theater companies in recent years, is a strange combination of the popular 1964 Disney film and the books by PL Travers. Some of the adventures from the film were cut and replaced with incidents and dialogue from the first three Mary Poppins books.

These new additions include the immortal candy store owner Mrs. Corry (the cheerful Sophia LaPaglia), a dancing statue (Dominic Dagdagan), the incompetent servant Robertson Ay (Rod Voltaire Edora, reprising his role from the Woodminster Summer Musicals production) and the fearsome Father George Banks' childhood nanny, played with joyous villainy by Katrina Lauren McGraw.

The film's focus on George's transformation is not only retained in the musical, but even expanded upon, although all of the parental songs have been replaced by new, significantly less catchy songs.

Ryan Drummond is a stern and ponderous Mr. Banks who really makes you feel sorry for his neglected, sweet but wayward children, Jane (sixth grader Ruth Keith, alternating with 13 year old Grace Hutton) and Michael (eighth grader David Rukin). shares the role with 11-year-old Billy Hutton). Abby Haug plays the children's disappointed mother, Winifred Banks, stoically and reserved. (Haug and Drummond played a similar couple in SF Playhouse's “Sunday in the Park with George” this summer.)

The stage musical cuts about a third of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman's wonderful songs from the film, retaining arguably the most memorable pieces, although the others are certainly missing. They're replaced by generally duller songs by composer George Stiles and lyricist Anthony Drewe (the team behind nearly a dozen musicals like “Honk!” and “Betty Blue Eyes”).

The previously unknown orchestra, led by Katie Coleman, does excellent work with new and old numbers, and even the new ditties have some highlights, such as Mary's “Practically Perfect” and “Brimstone and Treacle,” Miss Andrew's sadistic response to “A Spoonful of”. Sugar.”

Chimney sweep and jack-of-all-trades Bert acts as an ever-present observer and provides the musical narration to the tune of a strangely dark version of “Chim Chim Cher-ee.” Wiley Naman Strasser in the SF Playhouse production is the first Bert I've seen who really makes this melancholic version of Bert work, playing the role with empathetic intensity, like someone who sees the pain of the world and himself longs to make things better.

The great cast of the main roles is what really makes the production by company co-founder and production manager Susi Damilano shine. El Beh plays Mary Poppins with a confident and unwavering certainty and a slightly sardonic manner that is terribly charismatic.

The role is deliberately less conventionally feminine than usual in this production, so Behs Mary sings in a slightly lower vocal range and lifts Bert in dances as often as Bert lifts her. Most of it works perfectly, although the strange outfit of pants, bow tie and fancy jacket that costume designer Abra Berman gives the normally immaculate Mary in the second act makes it seem like she's going to a prom.

Supported by cloudy sky projections by Theodore JH Hulsker, Nina Ball's imaginative rotating set of a forest of rooftop chimneys unfolds to reveal various locations around the home and neighborhood. It also leaves little room for Kimberly Richards' choreography, which ends up being rather lackluster, although at times amusingly modern.

Set just as Disney is about to release its own film sequel (“Mary Poppins Returns” in late December), the musical offers a strangely dark but ultimately heartwarming return to Cherry Tree Lane.

Contact Sam Hurwitt at shurwitt@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter.com/shurwitt.

'MARY POPPINS'

By Julian Fellowes, George Stiles, Anthony Drewe, Richard B. Sherman and Roger B. Sherman, based on the novels by PL Travers and the Disney film, presented by the San Francisco Playhouse

Through: January 12th

Where: San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post St., San Francisco

Duration: Two hours and 50 minutes, one break

Tickets: $35-$125; 415-677-9596, www.sfplayhouse.org

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