As Mary Poppins herself says, “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.” This is exactly what the cast and crew of the middle school musical, “Mary Poppins,” embraced while preparing for their performances Friday, May 16, and Saturday, May 17. They began rehearsing in February and started their tech week May 12.
“Mary Poppins” follows the story of the Banks family, who are looking to hire a nanny for their two children, Jane and Michael. The children — initially opposed to the thought of a nanny — are pleasantly surprised to meet Mary Poppins. She is a magical caretaker who leads them on a series of adventures that change the Banks family forever.
Sophomore Charlotte Burnap was the head stage manager for the musical and worked alongside other upper school tech crew members like assistant director Mia Vosicher (’25) and stage manager Lena Sakhnini (’27). Burnap said this show had a particularly quick transformation.
“Honestly, this one was a little bit of a nerve-wracking turnaround,” Burnap said. “We hadn’t fully run through the show, but it really came together in these last couple of weeks.”
Lilly Swigert (’30) has been participating in musical theatre since she was in second grade. In this production, Swigert played the role of Bert. She said that even though the year is wrapping up, she was able to maintain her dedication to the musical.
“Time commitment is a very big thing just because it’s in the last few weeks of school,” Swigert said. “Everybody has a lot of projects, but it’s still a big priority in my life. So I like to practice as often as I can.”
Assuming the role of Mary Poppins was seventh grader Delainy Lloyd. She said the reason she wanted to do this musical was because of how much she enjoys singing, dancing and the joyful musical environment. What helped Lloyd fully immerse herself in her role was watching fellow cast members perform.
“I think the whole cast looked really good. I learned so much just watching the other scenes,” Lloyd said. “It’s really helpful because I see what they do, and try to incorporate and listen to the notes Ms. Kelly gives them, and try to use that for me in my scenes, too.”
Burnap also said, in this production, they incorporated some fun tricks that aimed to capture magic similar to the “Mary Poppins” movie.
“In the movie, she pulls out a coat rack from her bag. In the set, we have a trick table. It has a trap door in the top, and then there’s a mirror on the side,” Burnap said. “It looks like it’s just a regular table, but actually, we press it up to the wall, and Sienna Gray hides under there and pushes the coat rack through this trap door so that Delainy can grab it. So, we’ve got some amazing magic going on.”
Seventh grader Elle Brutocao played Jane and Michael’s mother, Mrs. Banks. Brutocao has been doing musical theatre since elementary school. Generally, she said she is very extroverted, which is what originally drew her to the art of theatre. It was difficult for Brutocao to step into her role since her character was somewhat different from her true self, she said.
“It’s been hard because [Mrs. Banks] is a mom, an adult woman, everything I’m not,” Brutacao said. “I feel like wearing character shoes has helped me, because it helps my posture, and also doing a British accent makes me feel like it’s less of me, and I’m really stepping into a character. It’s a whole different voice, a whole different attitude, posture — everything.”
Brutocao said she has mostly done more upbeat shows in the past. “Mary Poppins” was a more complex show, she said, with a wide range of emotions.
“This is a really complicated show. If you oversimplify, it doesn’t make as much sense,” Brutocao said. “I’ve only done shows that are very childish, fun, upbeat and happy, and this show obviously has all of that, but it also has really emotional moments that are really beautiful and really can showcase the actors. Since I’ve only done happy shows before, it’s been really nice to show different parts of what musical theater is.”
