Mercury Theatre Company’s ‘Mary Poppins’ is practically perfect Bob Abelman Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal Member, International Association of Theatre Critics Here’s the thing: Screen-to-stage Disney musicals are a mixed blessing. When endearing fictitious characters and their extraordinary celluloid worlds become fully fleshed and three-dimensional, the experience is exhilarating. But this emotion too often dissipates when stagecraft ultimately fails to match the memory of indelible cinematic images created by Disney Studio’s top storytellers. Take “Mary Poppins.” Based on the books by P.L. Travers, the 1964 film tells the tale of the Banks family and how the lives of its members change when a magical nanny arrives at 17 Cherry Tree Lane. The score boasts of Academy Award-winning music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, the story is bolstered by Academy Award-winning Disney animation and film editing, and its cast members have cement footprints embedded for eternity in the walkway of Hollywood Blvd. In order to bring the film to life on stage and attempt to capture some of its magic, Walt Disney Theatrical spent $18 million on elaborate special effects developed by Las Vegas illusionists and Disney theme park specialists. And, for the most part, it worked. The Banks’ home was a two-story tall structure that opened like a children’s dollhouse. A dreary city park mutated into a color-saturated fantasy land. Bert the chimney sweep tap danced around the proscenium arch and, in the final scene, Mary flew over the heads of the audience and out the back of the balcony. The stage production, which opened on Broadway in 2006 and came to Playhouse Square on tour in 2009, also incorporated elements from the books that had been side-stepped in the film, such as Mr. and Mrs. Banks’ back stories, and added some new songs by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. A few popular scenes, like the tea party on the ceiling, have been removed while others have been rearranged. Local theaters attempting to stage “Mary Poppins” acquire the score and script but, with their limited budgets and no balcony, are left to fend for themselves when it comes to finding their own form of magic. Which the Mercury Theatre Company does in its current production. For the rest of this review, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/