JADAR

After a decade, Mary Poppins is finally back on tour around the UK, following its closure in the West End. Ahead of the show’s descent into Manchester, we were invited to see it in Edinburgh. Before watching the show, we got to sit down with the two leads, Stefanie Jones (Mary Poppins) and Jack Chambers (Bert), who previously played the parts in a tour of their native Australia.

I began by asking the pair about if it is a lot of pressure playing such iconic characters in the award-winning stage adaptation of one of the best-known movies of all time!

“Yes. I think,” Stefanie said.

“Yeah!” said Jack.

“Yes. Full stop,” Stefanie laughed.

“Initially, when I got the role, I had to work on my nerves, when it came to representing these iconic characters that are so beloved. Everyone who comes to the show, they wanna see these characters portrayed a certain way, and they wanna hear the songs sung a certain way, so there is that sense of responsibility and wanting to deliver and not disappoint,” she revealed.

“But at the same time, you do feel such an obligation to yourself as an artist to make sure that you are making these roles your own, and sort-of paying homage as well to the books because our musical isn’t just the film onstage; it is parts of the film and parts of P L Travers’ wonderful novels. So, there’s a lot to mine and to find, and I think we have found a lovely balanced version of these characters.”

Jack followed, “You tend to have that anxiety or pressure fade away. I mean, we did it for such a long time in Australia, for 19 months, and a lot of that anxiety and the nerves were for that tour ’cause it was our first time doing the show. But you then start to have a little bit more confidence in your ability in delivering the show and these characters when the creative team wanna bring you over and have you continue doing the roles. So, we did something right!”

Stefanie said that audiences can see bits of Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke in their portrayals, especially if that is what they want to see, because there is so much there from the films, particularly in the costumes and designs.

“They’re tailored within an inch of their lives to perfection. That iconic Mary silhouette is definitely there.”

She acknowledges that the songs are so associated with Julie, and whilst she cannot sing as well as her – Jack insisted that she can – she thinks that the songs in this show will bring up beautiful memories in audiences.

Stefanie told me that Cameron Mackintosh, who produced the show, became close P L Travers, the author of the Mary Poppins books, before she passed away, and he made sure that she was happy leaving her story(ies) in his hands, especially because she had been unhappy with the Disney film adaptation.

“There is something about seeing this magic onstage with your own eyes, not just through the lens of a film camera, but seeing it with your own eyes and wondering how the hell we’ve done it – that’s what is just the most magical, wonderful thing about our show.”

I had to ask the pair how they found mastering the English accents – Stefanie has the easier job with RP but Jack has to go full cockney.

“He’s doing it a lot better than Dick Van Dyke, I will say – wouldn’t be hard,” Stefanie laughed.

She told me that they have had amazing accent and dialect coaches, both in Australia and here in the UK, to make sure that they are doing okay and there aren’t any “weird, bad habits” slipping in.

“Aussie twang,” Jack laughed.

“Being musicians, as well, being singers, I do think we have a naturally good ear to pick up accents and to hear what’s correct and what isn’t, so I think it hasn’t been too hard for me, but you’ve got the much harder accent,” Stefanie added.

“I think there’s a balance of not going too strong in the cockney, ’cause Bert takes on a bit of a narrator role, and so you still need to hear what I’m saying, so I have to find a nice balance where it’s still cockney but not so full on or too theatrical or over the top. And it could very easily go that far ’cause Bert is such a high-energy, positive character, so it’s about finding that balance that’s still honest and grounded,” Jack said.

I told the pair that I saw them perform ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ at Big Night of Musicals a few days earlier, and I thought they did a wonderful job with the accents. I asked them how they found performing at the second biggest arena in the UK (behind the recently-opened Co-op Live, which is also in Manchester) and the third biggest in Europe (a Russian arena briefly became the biggest but then Manchester took back the crown with Co-op Live!).

“It was electric. It was amazing,” Stefanie replied. “And again, coming from Australia, we have many wonderful shows that tour Australia, and they tour for a really long time, and we do have the audiences to support those length of tours. But coming here, where there is an arena-sized event dedicated to musical theatre, centring and championing musical theatre, we’ve never seen anything like it in our lives, and I was in heaven. Can you imagine, like, seven-year-old Stef would have just died to think that there is this much love and passion for musical theatre in this part of the world, so it’s really great to be a part of it.”

“Oh, it was completely thrilling,” said Jack. “And, you know, it’s such a different environment for a theatre show to perform in. We’re used to the audience being much closer, so you could feel the size of that audience, you could feel their energy and that buzz. It’s like adrenaline overload, obviously, like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m really dry!’ But it’s such a thrill.”

I asked Stefanie and Jack if there are any other musical theatre characters they would love to play, even though they are currently playing dream roles.

“I find that really a hard question,” Jack admitted.

“I know. It is hard,” Stefanie agreed. “Because we like to protect ourselves. Self-preservation. Even when Mary Poppins got announced as coming to Australia, I was kind-of trying to trick myself that I didn’t want it that bad, because you just don’t wanna get hurt, and this industry is full of so many nos. But in the dream world, I would love to play Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd. And Les Mis was my first ever show – I did the the tenth anniversary tour back in Australia; I was one of the young kids – so to revisit that show as an adult would also be a dream.”

“I’ve been very lucky to be able to tick off some characters so far in my career that were on my list,” Jack revealed. “Bert’s one of them. And I played Cosmo Brown in Singin’ in the Rain. And then I played Link Larkin in Hairspray – I’m not as young as that anymore! So, yeah, it was nice to tick them off. But I generally struggle to sometimes go, ‘Ah, am I right for that or am I right for that?’ So, sometimes I’m not super ambitious in dreaming about a certain character ’cause I don’t even know if I can do it.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there to push you,” Stefanie interrupted. “If something comes up, I’l make sure I’m calling your agent to say, ‘Make sure Jack goes in.’”

I proceeded to ask the pair why, out of all the shows out there, they should see this one.

“It’s equal parts spectacle and heart, so it just delivers on every level,” Stefanie said. “It does have those big, huge numbers that are so satisfying to watch, that just bring people to their feet, but it also has this story that just really cracks you wide open, and we have people in tears after seeing the show. And then, of course, the obvious thing I wanna say is that it is for everyone; there is something in it for everyone. So, you can bring your kids, you can bring your parents, you can bring your grandparents, and this story has something to share for everyone no matter what age you are.”

“I think it’s that in particular, the heart side of things,” Jack agreed. “It just captures a lot of people off guard. Sure, it’s joyous, and it’s a spectacle, and it’s all their favourite songs, and, you know, there’s some flying, there’s magic, there’s dancing upside down, so, you know, visually, it’s really stimulating and exciting. But those tears do flow.”

Whilst I had said that that was my last question, Jack’s comment on flying proceeded me to ask Stefanie what it’s like flying.

“Is that terrifying?”

“No – not anymore,” she said. “I will say that when we get to each new venue, we have to tech the flight, because it’s obviously a whole new system that’s been rigged up at each new venue. So, it’s when we do the flight in work lights that I find it scariest because I can see how high I am. But then in the show situation, it’s quite dark and moody, and we’ve got stars, so you sort-of lose sight of exactly where about you are in the space, which is easier to do it. But, look, we’re very used to getting rigged up into a harness, and it’s a lot of fun.”

Of course, Jack dances upside down as Bert, but I forgot to ask him about that!

Mary Poppins runs at Palace Theatre Manchester until May 18 and tours the UK until January 14. Casting is currently confirmed until July 16; casting from August 27 is to be confirmed.