Disney’s musical fantasy “Mary Poppins” has delighted families for decades, and this weekend Lake Central Theatre Company presented their own rendition of the classic with its spring production of “Mary Poppins: The Musical.”
Featuring a plethora of musical numbers, high-flying antics, and a variety of set pieces, “Mary Poppins: The Musical” offered something for everyone. All of that also meant plenty of challenges for its young cast and crew, ones they were eager to take on.
“The kids dived in with love and passion,” Director Pam Neth said. “We’ve been working on this show the whole year. I teach a class in theatre production management; it’s a tech class, so a lot of the magical elements are things we’ve been working on since September. We even had an extra weekend for fly training, and the kids were so excited to do it. I’ve been here for about 25 years, and it’s the first time we’ve ever done flying.”
A number of cast members took to the skies during the show, supported by a safely and carefully constructed system of wires and harnesses. Mary Poppins stars in the most iconic of these scenes, sailing in or out of the skies with her famed umbrella.
“We had a 9-hour fly training day at the beginning of the rehearsal process,” said Kasey Barron, who stars as Mary Poppins. “It’s not really scary; I was expecting it to be, but it really hasn’t been.”
For seniors like Barron, the musical will be their last show at Lake Central. It is something Barron thought about a lot – with some of the musical numbers hitting harder than others.
“It’s definitely bittersweet,” Barron said. “There’s a song I sing at the end of the show that kind of sums those feelings up, so it’s hard to do without tearing up a little bit. I’m going to miss all of my friends, but it’s been such an awesome experience, and I’m happy that I’ve gotten to do this for four years.”
The original “Mary Poppins” is also known for Dick Van Dyke’s performance as Bert, a jack-of-all-trades who seems to possess at least some of the same magic as his friend Poppins. Bayless Neth, who starred in the role for Lake Central, had plenty of fun stepping into Bert’s shoes.
“He’s kind of like the narrator; he takes the audience through all the places on Cherry Tree Lane,” Bayless said. “It’s a really fun role, and I get to interact with a lot of my friends. I just love it.”
Bayless was thrilled to see how the show, and the cast and crew’s countless hours of work, all came together.
“Last night was amazing. We had a great audience, and we really performed well,” Neth said. “It also felt like we’d won the Super Bowl or something. It was a great feeling afterwards.”
To learn more about Lake Central Theatre Company, please visit lakecentraltheatre.com.