Thursday, January 13, 2011
Mary Poppins - On Stage - Theater Reviews & Features
Pittsburgh City Paper: "It's hard not to take something like Mary Poppins personally. I mean, what are the chances that one show could contain every single thing I hate about theater?
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3 comments:
Wow, he is very angry. I had clicked on the link becasue I thought it could be good then I was about to change my mind when I read that "...contain every single thing I hate about theatre". I kept reading for the sheer force with wich he was writing. I do not know if I will end up seeing it, if I was it would be to witness the technical aspects which I hear are pretty cool. The critic apparenly doesnt find these sorts of things appealing but, it would be interesting to see how it in action. More or less though I was really taken aback by how upset Hoover was Disney pimping out old whores and Poppins is the opposite of theatre. I dont think that that is not a fair criticism just because when I hear those words no matter if I like the show or not, I feel like finding a soap box and asking them who they think they are saying something is not theatre or the opposite? Now, there is such a thing as bad and awful theatre, which is totally fine and a matter of opinion. This article if anything has made me want to see it more, just to see why this guy almost had a heart attack writing the review
I agree with Sonia, this critic is very angry. What an awful review, if you can even call it a review. This was all Ted Hoover's opinion of how he hates Mary Poppins and nothing about what the show actually contains.
Thursday evening I shadowed on of the Stage Managers as they called backstage, and from there the show looked wonderful. I enjoyed seeing all the tricks and magic used, which in fact is not always high tech, often it is a prop person hiding not automation.
The last thing that really bothered me in this article is "But, more importantly, I'm sure the stage manager can write in his or her nightly report that the show ran exactly the same number of minutes it ran yesterday." Of course the show will run the same time it did yesterday, that is the point. It is also the point that it is performed the same way night after night. Why would it change drastically from night to night, especially in national tour?
For anyone who wishes to see the show, I would recommend it. Mary Poppins has an interesting take on the movie with lots of fun dance numbers. The technical elements are also very cool, whether high tech or not.
Wow. I have to agree that that review was so scathing as to not be a review. Sonia said she felt like finding a soap box. I feel like thats exactly what this review was: a soap box rant, complete with insults to whores references to Jesus. Goodness I know some musical theater can be super campy, but that doesn't necessarily make it bad. Some people like campy. Little kids want to see the show they saw on their TV and meet the "real" Mary Poppins. Thats what Disney is about. Could they change it a little? Sure. (although the show should run the same every night I don't know what that part was about)Could they tone down the SFX and make it a little more believable in places in respect to the parents? Sure. But thats no reason to call it "everything single thing I hate about theatre." The point is that the quality of this review made me question the professionalism of the reviewer not Mary Poppins.
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