“Per Sylvam ad Astra” blog on katieriegel.com

My Fresh Face with the delightful Gavin Lee, who is playing Bert in Mary Poppins is now up on Broadway.com! (Click his kissy face.)

Gavin was engaging, friendly, welcoming and humble, as I hope you'll get from the piece. (He voice sounds eerily like Simon Cowell on my tape, though.) He made this one easy to write. It doesn't hurt that he's phenomenal in the show; truly the best thing about a musical that I love for its rousing full-cast production numbers ("Step in Time," "Jolly Holiday," "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"), spectacular set and palpably magical tone. 

I originally saw on my I-made-it-through-NYU-in-3 1/2-years-and-now-I-already-need-a-break-from-work European vacation two years ago. He has been with the show since the beginning and his energy really grounds it, while still giving the whole piece a jolt of mischief and magic. Gavin's performance is like a wink: it makes everyone in the audience feel like he's there just for them. And coo, what a dancer!  

I really love the stage version of Mary Poppins for the same reasons that I liked the adaptation of Rent to film: they enliven so many of the things we love about the movie, but they've added new pieces and molded it into a piece of theater. It's not the movie, which essentially became a star vehicle for Julie Andrews (albeit a joyful one), and that will disappoint some people. But for those of us open to something new, it's now a musical with a moral about a broken family and how a spoonful of sugar helps to fix them. Yes, it might give you a toothache, but what's pleasure without a little pain?

It leaves me thinking about how I used to join my dad (hi Q!) down in the basement to warble "Chim Chim Cher-ee" on the microphone while he plucked out the tune for me on the piano. One of my fondest memories. Cheers.

October 28th, 2006
Categories: Theater, Broadway, New York, Musicals, Broadway.com, Mary Poppins . Author: Katie

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