Director:
Stephen Colyer.
 |
| Shaun Rennie (Bert) - Alinta Chidzey (Mary Poppins) |
Musical
Director:
Ian McLean,
Choreographer:
Jacquelyn Richards,
Set Design:
Gez Mansfield
Costume
Design:
Fiona Lynch
Free-Rain
Theatre Company
Canberra
Theatre until March 29
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
You won’t need
a spoonful of sugar to make this merry musical go down, it’s “practically
perfect in every way”. Director Stephen
Colyer has achieved a highly-polished, imaginative production which, with its
black and white story-book setting, and stylish, colourful costumes, has all
the bells and whistles, and keeps the magic coming until the very last notes.
Colyer has
drawn exceptional performances from his cast, so that the audience soon become
captivated by the familiar story of the mysterious super-nanny, and her
chimney-sweep friend, who insinuate themselves into the lives of the Banks
family with life-changing results.
Alinta
Chidzey gives a Broadway quality performance as Mary Poppins. Her character has
just the right level of astringency. She sings her songs superbly, and
confidently leads the company through the big complicated dance numbers, even
tossing off some neat conjuring tricks along the way. Just as impressive is Shaun Rennie as Bert.
Rennie matches Chidzey’s flair with excellent singing and dancing, while heightening
the air of magic and mystery which pervades the production.
 |
| Alinta Chidzey (Mary Poppins) and Shaun Rennie (Bert) lead the cast in Free Rain Theatre's production of "Mary Poppins" |
Chidzey and
Rennie are excellently supported by the strong local cast who rise to the
occasion with well-judged character performances. Among them, Colin Milner, who
finds an unexpected complexity in his curmudgeonly banker, George Banks, which
makes his eventual redemption quite moving. Christine Wallace is also excellent
as his ditzy wife, Winnifred, while Callum Doherty and Georgia Forster as their
wayward children, Jane and Michael, perform their large roles with
extraordinary aplomb.
Unrecognisable
in two scene-stealing cameo roles, Bronwyn Sullivan uses her remarkable stage
presence and lustrous voice to great effect as the bird woman and the fearsome
Miss Andrew. Anita Davenport contributes
fine comic performance as the housekeeper, Miss Brill, matched beautifully by
Lachlan Agett as the remarkably flexible butler, Robertson Ay.
The
tightly-drilled production numbers, choreographed by Jacquelyn Richards, are sensational,
especially the brilliantly performed “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious “, the
wonderful park scene with its dancing statues, and the marvellous “Step in
Time” with its stage full of tap-dancing
chimney sweeps, all performed with admirable style and panache, and buoyed on
by Ian McLean’s classy orchestra.
Not even
some missed sound cues and occasional clunky set changes on opening night could
dent the professional gloss of this brilliantly conceived and executed
production, with which Anne Somes and
Free Rain Theatre have again raised the bar for local theatre.
 |
| Free Rain Theatre's production of "Mary Poppins" |
This review first published in the digital edition of "City News" on 15th March 2015.
An edited version appears in the print edition published 18th March 2015.