Below is Jules take on Mary Poppins which she saw on her recent trip to Melbourne. Hope you enjoy. And as an added bonus, I've now included the touched up colour versions of the original shots taken in Melbourne.
Posted this on the Philip Quast Forum but wanted to share this with you too. Trying to get back into the swing of things but have to say would prefer to be in Melbourne!!!
As you all know by now (and we all knew he would be!!) Philip is just superb as Mr Banks - one of the reviews posted says it so well...
"As the austere and repressed patriarch George Banks, Philip Quast is superb. This role in lesser hands could be a one-dimensional caricature, but Quast brings to it depth and gravitas as well as that marvellous voice."
What the review fails to mention is how funny Philip is too - he moves from austere/repressed to angry to frightened to vulnerable to hilarious and then becomes the most wonderful, loving father and husband - just a brilliant, wonderful performance!!!
My favourite scene has to be the discovery of his stars and the following interaction with his children and Bert - the most touching performance I have seen in a long, long time – reminded me so much of what Philip said about how powerful fighting to control emotion can be on stage during his Masterclass at the Haymarket Theatre – it was indeed very powerful. Another favourite is the scene with the children and Mrs Banks in the nursery near the end! However all Philip's scenes are great - the funny ones especially – one in particular brings the house down!! Don't want to spoil anything for those others going over - they are in for a real treat!! Anyone going who will see it more than once - you should watch Philip at his desk when other action is going on - the detail in his performance is wonderful!
Verity is just terrific - the reviews are correct!! Think what she also brings to the role is a sense of fun - she really makes you think that Mary likes to have fun as well as being slightly stern, which she is, yes there is the no nonsense approach but the softer side shines through. Another thing that does come across so well is that she is not there just for the children but for Mr Banks and the interaction and dialogue between them is lovely.
As an example of how Verity captures the children in the audience one night in the scene where George shouts at everyone and then at Mary a little girl in the audience called out "don't you shout at Mary Poppins" - she was so into the whole thing - it was great!! Also proves Philip is doing a fantastic job too!!!!
The children playing Jane and Michael are all also wonderful - they are all terrific performers and we were so lucky to see all of them in action over the time we were there!
We also saw Verity’s understudy Sarah Bakker. She was just great – especially considering she had only done technical run throughs. Some of her friends who had been due to fly back to Brisbane on the Sunday morning were with her when she got the call that she was “on”. Needless to say they changed their flights, got tickets to the show and nearly brought the house down when she flew over them in the Dress Circle – it was another great moment to remember!!
The whole cast are fabulous and work so hard - special mention from me for Sally-Anne Upton who is just fantastic as Mrs Brill!! On top of that she is a lovely, lovely lady.
"As the austere and repressed patriarch George Banks, Philip Quast is superb. This role in lesser hands could be a one-dimensional caricature, but Quast brings to it depth and gravitas as well as that marvellous voice."
What the review fails to mention is how funny Philip is too - he moves from austere/repressed to angry to frightened to vulnerable to hilarious and then becomes the most wonderful, loving father and husband - just a brilliant, wonderful performance!!!
My favourite scene has to be the discovery of his stars and the following interaction with his children and Bert - the most touching performance I have seen in a long, long time – reminded me so much of what Philip said about how powerful fighting to control emotion can be on stage during his Masterclass at the Haymarket Theatre – it was indeed very powerful. Another favourite is the scene with the children and Mrs Banks in the nursery near the end! However all Philip's scenes are great - the funny ones especially – one in particular brings the house down!! Don't want to spoil anything for those others going over - they are in for a real treat!! Anyone going who will see it more than once - you should watch Philip at his desk when other action is going on - the detail in his performance is wonderful!
Verity is just terrific - the reviews are correct!! Think what she also brings to the role is a sense of fun - she really makes you think that Mary likes to have fun as well as being slightly stern, which she is, yes there is the no nonsense approach but the softer side shines through. Another thing that does come across so well is that she is not there just for the children but for Mr Banks and the interaction and dialogue between them is lovely.
As an example of how Verity captures the children in the audience one night in the scene where George shouts at everyone and then at Mary a little girl in the audience called out "don't you shout at Mary Poppins" - she was so into the whole thing - it was great!! Also proves Philip is doing a fantastic job too!!!!
The children playing Jane and Michael are all also wonderful - they are all terrific performers and we were so lucky to see all of them in action over the time we were there!
We also saw Verity’s understudy Sarah Bakker. She was just great – especially considering she had only done technical run throughs. Some of her friends who had been due to fly back to Brisbane on the Sunday morning were with her when she got the call that she was “on”. Needless to say they changed their flights, got tickets to the show and nearly brought the house down when she flew over them in the Dress Circle – it was another great moment to remember!!
The whole cast are fabulous and work so hard - special mention from me for Sally-Anne Upton who is just fantastic as Mrs Brill!! On top of that she is a lovely, lovely lady.
As we are back to the adults - this cast really is the royalty of Australian theatre - doubt in any other country (as has been said) that Cameron would have got a stellar cast like this together - I do see why he says it is his "dream cast" and Verity is the icing on the cake and the cherry on the top (thinking of kitchen scene!!). She plays the role of Mary beautifully - in fact she is "Practically Perfect"!!!
I would rather be back on Cherry Tree Lane than here at the moment but need to work to pay for the trip! I do think this is a show you could never tire of seeing and with the inestimable, wonderful Philip Quast as Mr Banks that is a definite!!!!!
Jules
