Practically Perfect in Every Way

On Friday night, my family and I had the opportunity to take in Mary Poppins - The Musical at the historic Ohio Theatre in Columbus and what a fun evening it was!

For us, the story starts well before Friday night as the Disney movie version of the story has long been one of my favorites dating back to my childhood days. As I grew up and started a family of my own, it was one of the first DVDs that we purchased for our girls. At 9 and 6 years old, they have probably watched the movie close to a hundred times and love the story as much as I do. Their self-created dance routine to "Step in Time" is one that would have even Jillian Michaels gasping for air!

So, when I noticed that CAPA was bringing the show to Columbus as part of their Broadway Across America season, I was quick to purchase tickets and have looked forward for months to taking the girls to their first show. I knew this was the perfect opportunity since it was a story that they loved and everyone who had seen it had great things to say.

Well, the show certainly did not disappoint! As soon as the curtain went up and the main house on the set rolled out like a page from a pop-up storybook with people coming out of it, my daughters watched with eyes filled with awe and amazement for the next two hours and 45 minutes as the story unfolded. My oldest daughter, Ashley, would squeeze my arm tightly from time to time and offer whispered commentary about how cool this or that was, and my youngest daughter, Kylie, just sat still (which if you know her is no small feat) and with eyes as big as saucers soaked it all in.

Steffanie Leigh, who plays the title role of Mary Poppins, was outstanding. She nailed all the songs and played the character every bit as well as her movie predecessor, Julie Andrews. In fact, she might have even had a leg up on Andrews as she busted some moves in the dance routines previously unobserved from a prim and proper British nanny. :)

Nicolas Dromard, who plays Bert, the chimney sweep, also did a great job. I remember growing up wishing that I could do all the things that Dick Van Dyke did in the movie version and Nicolas took the role even farther by tap-dancing his way up the walls and across the ceiling of the Ohio Theatre during "Step in Time". I loved his comment midway through that "it's not as easy as it looks". The girls were on the edge of their seats during this part.

The entire cast did a great job with their roles, the sets and costumes were eye-popping, and the entire performance left the audience on their feet clapping along at the encore wanting more. When I asked Kylie what she thought of the show in one word, she said "Awesome!" And, Ashley summed it up best by saying that it was "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" The Parsons' family gives it eight thumbs up - a definite must-see for the entire family!



To purchase tickets for Mary Poppins - The Musical which is in Columbus through May 8 or to find out more information about upcoming shows in the Broadway Across America series coming to town, check out the CAPA website at www.capa.com.