Mary Poppins a jolly holiday

A spoonful of sugar may help the medicine go down, but it certainly wasn't needed for the production of "Mary Poppins" put on by the Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) Drama Club.

Despite having to postpone their production last year due to the pandemic, the drama club took to the stage of the Platte Valley Community Center Theater on April 29 for their rendition of the classic children's book series made popular by the 1964 Disney movie. 

The titular role of Mary Poppins is played by Emily Mills who makes the role all her own and, though she doesn't emulate Julie Andrews, reminds viewers of the cinematic version of the character. The same goes for Jensen Mills, who plays the singing and dancing chimney sweep Bert. While there are hints of some Dick Van Dyke influence, Jensen does a wonderful job making the role his own.

Arriving on a wind, and literally blowing the other nanny candidates away, Emily as Poppins comes to take care of the Banks children; Jane, played by Ellie Duggar, and Michael, played by Abby Vannett. Both young ladies fit into their respective roles whether it's expressing wonder at Mary Poppins' magical bag or the excitement of jumping into Bert's chalk drawing. 

Logan Robinson takes on the role of Mr. Banks, a role that he seemed very fit for as he was able to swing from stern and serious to silly and whimsical with apparent ease. Playing opposite Robinson is Jaden Campbell as Mrs. Banks, who is nearly as busy marching with the suffragettes as Mr. Banks is working in finance.

From there, Jason M. Illig, Jacob Fairbanks, Madi Dunning, Hannah Lee and Elizabeth Vannett all move around the main cast as they take on multiple roles. Illig, for instance, takes on the role of Mr. Banks' boss, Mr. Dawes, Sr., as well as a chimney sweep, an announcer for a stick-horse race and a nanny candidate. Lee takes on the role of Mr. Dawes, Jr. and a cook, and a chimney sweep, and a penguin. 

All of the cast do a wonderful job, as well, going into song and dance for the various musical numbers. Whether it's dancing on the rooftops of London, singing about the Bird Lady-played by Marie Christen-or the ever popular song about a word that, while sounding atrocious, makes one sound precocious.

Indeed, despite the various hurdles faced in getting the production going-Head Coach Elizabeth Brown informed the crowd beforehand practice began via Zoom-the small but versatile cast did a more than wonderful job with "Mary Poppins". If there were one downside to the production, it would be one hour passed by far too quickly.

It was, in a word, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.