Review: 'Mary Poppins' works magic at Phoenix Theatre

Mary Poppins, the magical nanny who floats down from the sky to take charge of the (not very) naughty Banks children and heal their broken family, is a far more enigmatic figure than we're used to thinking. Not merely prim but downright egotistical, she briskly instructs the children on proper upper-class comportment, then leads them on a series of supernatural adventures that subvert the suffocating order of Edwardian English society.

Much of the darkness and mystery in P.L. Travers series of children's books were ironed away in Disney's 1964 movie musical "Mary Poppins," and even more so in the theatrical adaptation that premiered in London in 2004 and opened on Broadway in 2006. Doubly Disneyfied, the stage musical becomes a feel-good romp that extols the power of childlike imagination and positively oozes with nostalgia for the beloved film version.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The production at Phoenix Theatre is a polished spectacle featuring energetic renditions of the familiar Sherman Brothers tunes including "A Spoonful of Sugar," "Chim Chim Cher-ee," "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "Let's Go Fly a Kite."

Starring in the title role is Trisha Hart Ditsworth, a talented soprano who sounds, well, "Practically Perfect," as her first number has it. Her portrayal is a crisply mannered homage to the movie's Julie Andrews, crowd-pleasingly familiar even if somewhat lacking a personal stamp.

The most original performance is that of Toby Yatso as Bert, the Cockney jack-of-all-trades who first joins Mary and the children on a "Jolly Holiday" in the park complete with dancing statuary and fuzzy cartoon animals. A limber beanpole with a kid-friendly countenance, Yatso brings a heartwarming gentleness to the role made famous by Dick Van Dyke, and even a touch of pathos as he seems to pine for Mary.

We also are treated to fine comic turns by Sally Jo Bannow as the Bankses' servant Mrs. Brill and Johanna Carlisle in a trio of roles, most notably Miss Andrew, the replacement nanny dubbed "the Holy Terror."

Indeed, it's a solid cast all around, and director Michael Barnard does a fine job engineering a complicated staging without the luxury of self-propelled scenery. And if the workings of some of the stage magic aren't particularly well disguised, that takes nothing away from the wow factor of watching Bert walking on the ceiling during the tap-dance extravaganza of "Step in Time."

Speaking of which, choreographer Sam Hay earns kudos for a passel of lively production numbers, especially "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," which takes the old "Y.M.C.A." routine and amplifies it by an order of magnitude.

The dancing isn't quite Broadway-caliber, but it's a critic's quibble that, like the other caveats in this review, won't mean a whit to the families who are the show's target audience. Indeed, the most incisive review of the performance was entirely wordless: the beaming smile plastered on the face of a 4-year-old girl clapping along to the farewell reprise of "A Spoonful of Sugar" — even after the cast had left the stage.

For her, "Mary Poppins" went down in the most delightful way.

Phoenix Theatre: 'Mary Poppins'

Reviewed Saturday, Nov. 22. Continues through Sunday, Dec. 28. 100 E. McDowell Road. $30-$75 (subject to demand pricing). 602-254-2151, phoenixtheatre.com.

Reach the reviewer at kerry.lengel@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4896.