Published in Domain Review magazine, April 5, 2023
In 2021, deep in the time of COVID restrictions, Stefanie Jones stood on a stage in London’s West End to audition for the lead in a show.
It was the last in a string of call-backs for the part, but this time she was in front of renowned theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh, and it was the start of something brewing, about to begin.
“I was certainly the most nervous I’ve ever been, especially when you’re that close to getting your dream role,” Jones says.
That role? Mary Poppins. Jones got the call that she would be Australia’s next practically perfect nanny on her return home to a locked-down Sydney.
Now, Jones is in Melbourne where Mary Poppins is full flight after its runs in Sydney and Brisbane.
The songs most would know and love from the classic movie are there, with new tunes propelling
the story (written by Downton Abbey’s Julian Fellowes), which does differ from the film.
There’s a magical garden rather than a cafe run by penguins during Jolly Holiday and new, quirky
characters in Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. There’s a new villain (more on that later), tap dancing (on the ceiling!) and, of course, flying seemingly with only an umbrella with which to soar.
Jones says she grew up watching the 1965 movie starring Julie Andrews, but when she saw the stage
show for the first time, she was awestruck.
“When Mary flies over the audience at the end, I just thought ‘this is the height of music theatre for me; this is as good as it gets’,” she says.
The 31-year-old, who grew up in Brisbane and studied music theatre at the Victorian College of the Arts, says her love of Andrews as the title character has influenced her performance – but not so much so that she is a “carbon-copy”.
“On one hand, you want to give the audiences what they want and what they expect because there is an element of nostalgia attached to this story for so many people,” Jones says.“[But] I have all these other opportunities to make a certain scene or a certain song my own, because they haven’t been featured in the film.”
And that’s one of the reasons adults (as well as children) will get a kick out of the show; it’s not just a duplicate of the movie. The other reason? It tugs – no pulls – at the heartstrings.
“Even though people think, ‘oh Mary Poppins, gosh that’s old’, it’s a story about family and relationships and communicating,” Jones says. “Those are the foundations of everyone’s happiness.”
The first book in the Mary Poppins series by Australian-turned-English writer P.L. Travers was written almost 90 years ago, but the themes of family, and parenting in particular, hold true today.
Australian theatre legend and mother of five, Marina Prior says this is the true heart of the story.
“It says it in the opening phrases of the show,” Prior says, then she sings: “‘A mother, a father, a
daughter, a son, their lives are unravelling … ’ That’s the essence of the story right there.
“It’s about them, and Mary Poppins being the agent of change to bring their unravelled-ness
back together.
“That is universal and timeless.”
Prior played Mrs Banks in the 2010 tour of the show, and plays two parts in this production: the kindly Bird Woman and the villain Miss Andrew.
“I walk out, and if people haven’t bought a program, they say, ‘I didn’t know it was you!’” Prior will finish her run of shows in June, when Patti Newton will take over as the Bird Woman and Chelsea Plumley will play Miss Andrew.
Jones says she has loved working with Prior.
“Feed the Birds is one of my favourite numbers,” she says. “To share that song with Marina is especially wonderful because she really challenges me as a singer and she’s a beautiful actor.”
Unlike the Bird Woman, Miss Andrew is meanspirited and, in stark contrast to Mary Poppins’ Spoonful of Sugar, insists Brimstone and Treacle is how to make the children behave. Many a parent will recognise this as a metaphor for the more gentle parenting of today versus the “children should be seen and not heard” attitudes
of previous generations.
Mr Banks (played by Tom Wren) is the product of brimstone and treacle – his own nanny being the villainous Miss Andrew. But he is transformed through the story, seeing the importance of childhood and the impact parents and carers can have on the adults children become.
“It’s about an absent father who wasn’t given the right sort of love and support when he was young, transferring that into the next generation. It’s about breaking the generational curse, if you like, of bad parenting,” Prior says.
As I sat in the theatre with my four-year-old daughter and my own mother, I welled up as Burt (played by Jack Chambers) sang to Mr Banks: “You’ve got to grind, grind, grind at that grindstone, though childhood slips like sand through a sieve … ”
That part gets Jones, too.
“I really think the hero, the protagonist of this story, is Mr Banks. It really is about him. It’s so evident in the books because P.L. Travers started creating this story in her mind as a little kid after her father died,” she says, referencing the movie Saving Mr Banks about Travers’ childhood and the adaptation of her books by Disney.
Once she packs away her umbrella later this year after shows in Adelaide and Perth, Jones will once again be up in the air – at least metaphorically.
“The tricky thing about this industry is that you can’t really plan too far ahead, and as someone who likes to be extremely organised – I guess I’m like Mary Poppins in that way – I have had to really try to relax that side of me and just sort of let it be.”
For now, she’ll stay until the wind changes.
Jemimah Clegg 