Leave it to a flying nanny to topple an ogre.
“We thought ‘Shrek’ was going to be large. Well, we’ve topped that with ‘Mary Poppins,'” Producer Steve Olson said. “In ‘Shrek’ we had to build a forest and Lord Farquaad’s castle. In this case, we have to build a 2-story house for a set,” Olson said. “And you’ve got to light it, and you got to have music behind it. It’s a lot.”
The practically perfect “Mary Poppins” lands Sept. 11 at Elgin Community College’s Blizzard Theatre when Fox Valley Theatre Company presents the Disney and Cameron Mackintosh musical. The show runs through Sept. 20, with performances at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays.
This production, Olson said, is larger than the theater company’s take on “Shrek the Musical” last season.
“We knew going into it that it was going to be a big production, and now this far into it, it’s proving to be true,” Olson said. “It’s one of the bigger shows we’ve done.”
The cast of 57 students, ranging in age from 13 to 20, began rehearsing the show in early July, although work on the musical started in January, Olson said. The show was selected at the end of last year for this fall’s production, he said.
“It’s a current title that was recently released. Everything we do in children’s theater is for children, and it certainly fit that bill,” Olson said. “And it’s a good story. Anybody who’s seen the movie will know that it’s a fun story and something that families can come see.
“That said, the theater version is not the movie. It is different. It’s a little darker. The Mary Poppins of the stage version is not the Julie Andrews version,” Olson said. “It’s more reflective of the actual text by P.L. Travers, who wrote the books.”
While Olson said the stage version is a little darker, he doesn’t mean scary, he said. Rather, Mary Poppins is more strict and firm in the way she interacts with young Jane and Michael Banks.
“She’s more guiding, she’s helping the children learn,” Olson said.
The stage production, he said, is about how the family comes together.
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“They start out at the beginning of the production as four very distinct people,” Olson said. “They start out as not a very close family. Through Mary Poppins’ involvement of being with the family, at the end of the show, the Banks family has become family. The father learns what it is to be a husband and what it is to be a dad.
“So it’s really a story arc as much about the father as it is about Mary Poppins,” he said.
While the stage version is a bit different from the film, all of the familiar songs are there, including “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” “Spoonful of Sugar” and “Jolly Holiday.” In addition, a few songs written specifically for the stage are performed.
Rehearsals started July 6, with cast members rehearsing 12-18 hours a week. Much of the choreography requires a lot of precision, particularly in numbers such as “Step in Time,” in which the cast is tap dancing. Some of the cast already knew how to tap.
“Some of the kids, we had to teach them how to tap dance,” Olson said.
A 20-piece orchestra will perform the music.
“There’s a lot of moving parts. Sets have been under construction for the last two and half months,” Olson said.
Most of the costumes are being hand-made, with just a few of them being rented.
The biggest challenge for the production, Olson said, is “how do you bring the magic?”
“We’ve made an internal line for us, ‘Magic on a Budget,'” he said. “So we’re trying to be creative within the limitations that we have as a theater group.”
Fox Valley Theatre Company and its parent organization, Children’s Theatre of Elgin, are in residence at Elgin Community College.
“That gives us access to some assets and resources, but still we have to be pretty creative with this show,” Olson said.
Not wanting to give away the secrets of Mary’s magic, Olson did not reveal how the tricks would be accomplished.
“Clearly, Mary is going to fly. That’s a given, but there’s other things we’re trying to do … We’re trying to surprise people, too, and be creative,” Olson said. “Our director, Andy Bero has been a fountain of ideas. And then we have to figure out how to make it happen.”
Bero, who performed professionally in New York for 10 years, is an alum of the Elgin youth theater organization. Children’s Theatre of Elgin productions star kids ages 6 through 13. Once they are 14, they move to Fox Valley Theatre Company where they can participate until they are 20.
Interest in tickets to “Mary Poppins” has been strong, Olson said, with people asking about sales earlier than usual.
“We started to get questions about ticket sales the week after we started rehearsals,” Olson. “If people are interested in seeing it, they should definitely get tickets now.”
Kathy Cichon is a freelance writer.
“Mary Poppins”
When: Sept. 11-20
Where: Elgin Community College’s Blizzard Theatre, 1700 Spartan Drive, Building H, Elgin
Tickets: $10-$12
Information: 847-622-0300 or cteelgin.com