52 children set to take on the classic Mary Poppins
Do It With Class’ new production of Mary Poppins has 52 kids in the cast
Less than two months after showcasing the elder members of the Do It With Class Young People’s Theatre during The Two Gentlemen of Verona, artistic director Robert Ursan and company are back with the theatre’s largest production of the year, Mary Poppins.
“This time it’s the entire company,” he said. “We have 52 kids performing from the ages of eight to 18 and when they are performing together and singing, they are spectacular.
“For this show, we’ve had the whole cast rehearsing together a fair amount because we have a few numbers that require it. We only have three numbers that require the whole cast onstage but that was partly to give as many kids as possible an opportunity to shine, if even for a few minutes.
“Having 52 kids on stage,” clarifies Ursan, “some of them could potentially get lost out there a little bit, so we have a few of the numbers that are normally done with a full chorus are only being done with a smaller group to give them an opportunity to be seen.”
Most adult companies rarely have more than a dozen cast members, let alone over 50, but Ursan chuckles when asked how he’s able wrangle such a large group and keep rehearsal productive.
“I’ve been doing this for quite a long time and I think I’m just kind of used to it. For the dances, Monica Ventura is helping. Other people are helping out as well, including a stage manager who’s always there and who is not afraid to play bad cop to my weird cop.”
Unlike the Walt Disney version starring Julie Andrews, the theatre version has a few darker twists, though it remains very family friendly.
“The play uses more of the sections from the P.L. Travers books than the movie does,” Ursan explains. “The one thing that Disney did with all of the material, is that all of the bad bits were taken out. Especially, between the 1930s and late 1950s, there were no bad bits in these shows. The original stories, from which many of these shows are taken, whether it’s Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, or whatever, were pretty dark.
“Travers wanted to write a story about two kids who didn’t behave very well, who needed to have the ultimate nanny come in and show them why they should behave. It would give kids who were mischievous a chance to still have wonderful imaginations but to also understand there is a time and a place for it. Because of that, some of the things from the stage version, taken from the books, are a little bit darker than the Julie Andrews version."
While the sheer volume of young people involved in this production of Mary Poppins would seemingly take five or six months to put together, Ursan says it came together quite quickly, thanks to the devotion of his young cast.
“The first month of rehearsal was just music and near the end of January we started working on the staging, which was then interrupted by another show. We really haven’t had as much time as a lot of people would think we’d need for a show like this but the one thing I love about working with these Do It With Class kids is that they adore being there and rehearsing together.
“Everything they’re doing is because their love of performing is storytelling is just enormous. They throw themselves heart and soul into these shows.”
Some of the things from the stage version, taken from the books, are a little bit darker than the Julie Andrews version.