What IS Mary Poppins? Discuss...

Its pretty obvious that I am a Poppaholic or whatever you want to call the few who happen to like this extremely likeable show...

Anywho, to those who have seen it/care... What do we think Mary is? Gavin Lee says on both Theatre.com and his Broadway.com interviews that they discussed this at the beginning or workshop or whatever for both the West End and the Broadway productions.

So what is she? Angel? Witch? Spirit? Some other spiritual being?

I have yet to read the books, but the opinion of anyone who has is gladly welcome.

And as a sidenote: do we think Bert has 'powers' or whatever too? Or does he just have some tricks up his sleeve?

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And you're rainbows, puppies and sunshine. Clearly.

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I vote Disneybitch too.

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Wow. I expected some possible backlash, but I also expected some actual conversation.

Way to prove that most of the bittered crew of BWW are nothing more than adults who sit at computers and act like middle-schoolers.

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Mary Poppins is just a loving woman, who teaches the Banks children about the world and more importantly, the people in it, and the supernatural events are seen through the children's eyes.

The park scene (Jolly Holiday) is about using your imagination
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is about language and using it to your best advantage (all words were made up at one point), and it's also whimsical, of course.
She's helping the children develop a moral center, which is why Temper, Temper is so important, the children are creating the magic there, but it's really their conscience that they are wrestling with in that scene, but it manifests itself in a Poppinsesque way (read: magical) because that's how the children see Mary as presenting these ideas.

Only the most important lesson is told without magic (feed the birds), the lesson about treating people fairly and not judging them, its a lesson that all the characters learn in the course of the piece.

Its a modern (relatively) fairy tale.

And if you don't buy that, it's just a story. She is neither a witch nor a ghost, speculating on that is missing the point and it doesn't matter one way or another.

I too think the musical is truly a special one, and Disney aside, were it made by anyone else (in this incarnation) more people would be flocking to its virtues, but many people equate Disney with fluff and the bucks, which I used to as well (I hate Lion King) but this one is based on a good story and has good music (even the new music).

I saw it planning on hating it, but I adore it. It has a good message and I applaud it.

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Again, i think you're trying to read too much into it.

And of course, out of context, those quotes are meaningless.

Even if those do point to those things, its easily explained as the story is being told for children, through the eyes of children even if the books do have a third person narrator and especially if it's an omniscient voice, and so these things act as metaphors.

What's more important is the message.

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Why don't you just read the books and come up with your own theory. I think she is different to everyone, so you should just form your own opinion about what she is, and stop relying on other people to answer the question for you.

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I KNOW how I feel about her, without the books. I just like the idea of discussing it, and hearing what others think. Simmer down.

P.S. Way to post something angry towards me and not post your opinion on what you feel she is. For being so opinionated towards what I should think, you certainly don't seem to care about the topic.

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thank you to pandajen, fenchurch, and zerodanny...

"Same here. Disney's bitch all the way. She was a ferocious creature raised in the wild, but discovered by Walt Disney, who blessed her with a sweet sing-song voice in return for a life of servitude."

And yes, that does sound bitter and sarcastic.

You are certainly allowed, but why mess with someones thread who is asking a thought-provoking question. If it were something fangirly and WICKED/RENT related, from someone who created their account just to try and find Idina on BWW, I might understand.

Untill BWW.com's message boards I hadn't met a truly unnapreciative 'theatre crew'. Thanks guys, thanks for taking something that is supposed to be a supportive, growing art form and doing your part to help make it less appreciated. While we are at it why dont we take a section of Broadways theatres and replace them with another football field/baseball diamond/tennis court. That way I would have a reason to be bitter and cynical towards everything too.

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Fenchurch - thank you. Someone else who hated "The Lion King." I thought I was the only one in the world!

I'm seeing Poppins on January 10.

Anything Can Happen: I would read the books. They are magical in their own way, all of them are great reads.

As for bashing Disney, success of that magnitude always breeds contempt. Especially when the product is as ersatz and blatantly commercial as what Disney churns out. And considering Disney's history of terrific creativity, the current crop of crap they produce (Mary Poppins notwithstanding - I haven't seen it yet so I'm not personally including it as part of this comment) is doubly disappointing.

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i would tend to agree that Mary Poppins is just meant to be an ordinary woman who sees things in an amazing way and teaches the children to do the same.

Wait, I always thought that Lindsay Lohan was Disney's bitch...

If you read the books, I think you will find that Mary Poppins is not a sweet person or an angel. She is a voice of common sense and conscience. Her magical powers are used to teach, not to fix problems or correct situations. And she can be quite harsh - not at all the "spoon full of sugar" from the mind of Disney.

An earlier post asked why people are so negative about Disney. Disney is the Wal-Mart of Broadway, dearie - pretty soon there will be no more Mom and Pop entertainment, just little parts of great big homogenized entertainment vendors. Not healthy for a future generation of creative artists...