Oakton presents Mary poppins

Oakton’s performing arts program brought the childhood favorite, Mary Poppins, to life with high-flying success.

This production of Mary Poppins differed from the beloved movie by putting more focus on the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Banks (Rob Condas and Savannah Hard) and their children, Jane (Lindsey Jacobson) and Michael (Cassie Wiltse). In the movie, Mary Poppins was a savior for the children while in the stage adaptation, Poppins (Megan Griggs) was there to try to mend the relationship of the family. All other aspects of the movie still stayed true with a “practically perfect” Mary who changes the lives of the Banks children and teaches viewers that anything can happen.

This stage adaptation was a huge success with the help of the Oakton theater department, chorus, orchestra, dance team, and tech class. Each of these groups brought something special to this production.

The OHS Tech Class was able to make this production  literally a high flying success as Griggs flew across the stage and Michael Willamson (Bert) walked on walls and upside down. The flying crew of Mary Poppins was able to flawlessly pull off these technically difficult scenes.

With the help of the OHS Tech Class and the crew, the two biggest crowd pleasing ensemble pieces were “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and “Step in Time.”

Starting off with an amazing performance by Muriel Wandey as the wacky Mrs. Corry, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” began at a slow tempo with Willamson using his arms to sign out each letter and getting faster with everyone frantically spelling out supercalifragilisticexpidaliocious verbally and physically. By the time the song was over the crowd was in complete awe of the synchronized performances of the ensemble. All of the dancing in this song, and the performance as a whole, were arranged by Wandey,  the co-captain of the Oakton dance team. With her help, the entire cast had some of the best dancing seen in a high school production.

Later in “Step in Time” the crowd was once again awed by the talent on stage. Starting on the set that made the characters look like they were on top of a rooftop, the chimney sweeps were revealed to be dancers who could easily step in time with complete liquidity. The dancing was sharp and clean with pitch perfect singing. Near the end of the song Bert told the boys he was finally “going for it”. “It” ended up being Bert walking on walls then upside down. In complete awe the crowd watched Willamson climb up the side of the stage and then walk upside down and do flips in mid-air.

These Broadway-quality scenes were performed with ease by each character. The characters were entertaining and relatable with help from the actors and actresses  who played them. Griggs was able to pull off an English accent while playing the character as though she had been doing so for years on Broadway, which could easily be the next step for her. She was also able to have genuine chemistry with Willamson on stage. Willamson acted out the part of Bert flawlessly. Similar to Griggs, Willamson had a believable English accent that he showcased in his character’s role as a narrator who played an important role with the relationship between Poppins and the children. The two freshman who played Jane and Michael Banks had similar success with their accents as well as good acting that allowed them to both play the Banks children in a very realistic way. While in general both actresses are good singers, they proved to be stronger when they sang together. Their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Banks were played by the incredible Hard and Condas. Hard played Mrs. Banks, a wife who loves her children and is beginning to question her purpose as Mr. Banks wife, flawlessly. Condas entered the show with a sense of authority that translated well into his character, a stern man who grows from seeming to have no compassion to a loving father with faith that anything can happen.

While Mary Poppins was phenomenal, they did run into some technical difficulties through the performance. Starting off with bad microphone reception and trouble with a spotlight the technical crew had a bit of a rocky start that worked itself out by the end of the performance to create a smooth technical experience. There was one pesky decoration above Michael’s bed that did not seem to want to stay up, but did not take much away from those scenes. As a whole, the production did not have any very noticeable issues though.

The cast and crew made the audience laugh and cry by showing off all of their impressive talents. The cast, crew and pit should be very proud of what may have been one of the best high school performances many have seen.