Mary Poppins Starts Previews Tonight! EDIT-Reviews! — Page 3

Having seen the show in London, I was disappointed to say the least in Ashley Brown's portrayal of Mary Poppins and the show on a whole. She didn't exude any sort of charm, wit or personality and did this 'thing' walking up the stairs that was more comical and inappropriate than anything. At the end, the children express "we love you, you know". To be quiet honest, I wondered why. The show itself is good, with necessary changes made to Temper Temper (significally shortened) and Jolly Holiday (much brighter and happier) but as was expected, it is dumbed down for Broadway/American audiences and that saddens me it a way. What made it so special in London is sorta lost. Although Gavin Lee is brillant in every scene along with the rest of the cast.

Great stuff- choreography in this show has always been a stand out, music of course, sets as in london and finally the hard working emsemble!!!

On another note, I sat in the $20 seats and people there have no theater etiquette at all! I had to summon the 'head' usher guy and express to him that 6 people in front of me were constantly talking, eating and being disruptive (swaying to the music ect...) I thankfully have never had an experience like this before and I hope I don't have some sort of bad luck now.

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In what ways was it dumbed down? Through portrayals of characters?

Thanks for the reviews.

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How much merchandise was there? Did they use the London souvenir progra or make a new one? Did they add a five story gift emporium to the theatre or just a larger than usuals souvenir counter? You can never tell what useless crap Mackintosh and Disney will sell at their shows.

How was "Being Mrs. Banks" (the best and most needed new edition) changed?

They're NOT selling Standing Room. I went yesterday and waited for an hour to find they weren't selling standing room at all, so I bought a $20 ticket in the balcony. But I guess that could change. The people standing in the back could have been ushers or people taking notes on the actors.

"Temper, Temper" was still there.

I snuck a quick peek at some of hte merchandise. I don't know about London, but they had some cute t-shirts. One was light blue and said "practically perfect" while another was a "supercali..." shirt and then they had the basic Mary Poppins tee.

I would have looked more, but there were lines out the door. Perhaps the choreography was not lacking, but rather the energy of the ensemble. I thought "Step in Time" and "Supercali" were fun to watch, but didn't really impress me.

Perhaps the fact that shows have so many tickets left is because the price is 110 dollars and from what I can see, there is no discount out there.

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For "Jolly Holiday" are they still dancing statues?

How did Ashley Brown fair with the British accent? I read she worked especially hard on it and spent three months in London prior to rehearsels beginning working with a dialect coach, so I'm interested to see if that work payed off..

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Updated On: 10/15/06 at 04:16 PM

26 days left until I'm there!

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What is the background now?

In London that whole scene was full of pastels of dark green and gray.

How long will we have to wait to see some pics or footage??...Would love to know what kind of merchandise they have!!!

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"Ashley spent three months in London learning the accent"
Boy that's how rumours spread, it was a week or two tops.
I read an interview where she said she grew up singing with the record, so she had a good start.

i'm seeing it next weekend :)

how were the balcony seats, btw? are you in the clouds?