[NEohioPAL] Review of "Mary Poppins" at the Beck Center for the Arts

[Bob Abelman via NEohioPAL]

There's just a spoonful of spectacle in Beck Center's 'Mary Poppins'

 

Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

Here's the thing:  Screen-to-stage musicals are a mixed blessing.  

 

On the one hand, there is the exhilaration of seeing familiar characters and their two-dimensional worlds fully fleshed and in person.  On the other hand, no amount of stagecraft can match the vivid and indelible visual images created by cinematic storytelling.

 

And therein lies the biggest problem with "Mary Poppins" at the Beck Center:   It pales in comparison to the 1964 film.  And it pales in comparison to the 2006 Broadway production and the 2009 tour of it.

  

This Mary (a silver throated but fierce and off-putting Rebecca Pitcher) does not fly and this Bert (an absolutely charming and effervescent Matthew Ryan Thompson) does not climb walls.  In "Let's Go Fly a Kite" and other numbers, the stage is not saturated with spectacular color or awe-inspiring activity.  And, with a budget built for just a spoonful of spectacle, the magic in this production is thoroughly underwhelming.  

 

It is, of course, unfair to compare this locally produced show to either the film or the Broadway production.  But audiences most assuredly will.

 

For more of this review, go to:  

 

http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/features/article_2b0d9108-7ef6-11e4-9e1a-87a5003285d9.html
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