Expert "Mary Poppins" cast blows in for a jolly holiday

SALT LAKE CITY — To describe the cast of “Mary Poppins,” you’d need the biggest word you’ve ever heard — a word that is something quite atrocious and makes you feel precocious. Yes, it’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

And you’re sure to be charmed.

A spectacle-filled “Mary Poppins” opened on Labor Day weekend at the Capitol Theatre, to the delight of fans of perhaps the most-popular children’s musical movies of all time.

The stage version combines new arrangements of the unforgettable Sherman Brothers’ double-Oscar-winning songs from the Disney 1964 film with new Broadway-style ballads by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. The script by Julian Fellowes is an odd mix of Disney’s “chim chim” cheer and the more dour stories of the original author P.L. Travers’ books, but it boasts practically perfect performances, many from actors who honed their roles in New York, along with Disney-style wizardry that delight.

Led by a prim Steffanie Leigh in the title role and Nicholas Dromard as her chimney-sweeping dancing partner, Bert, the cast is uniformly pleasing. As conceived in the original show, Dromard, a superb singer, tap dances horizontally up one side of the stage’s proscenium and then upside down across the ceiling. The same computer-driven, wire-suspended harness flies vocally proficient Leigh off the stage and into the audience.

The script calls for the talented Laird Mackintosh as George Banks to confront the gorgon nanny from his childhood in an new, ill-conceived addition to the story. Mrs. Banks, a spry suffragette in the Disney version, is now a lonely former actress, well played by Blythe Wilson.

The Banks children have much larger roles and are much more bratty than in the movie. Utah County native Talon Ackerman played Michael opposite Camille Mancuso on opening night. Though multiple child actors rotate the obstreperous roles, both on Broadway and in the national tour, Ackerman and Mancuso are troupers and completely in step with the adult actors.

Rachel Izen (Mrs. Brill) and Dennis Moench (Robertson Ay) do nice comic turns as the put upon household staff, and Q. Smith as the evil nanny Miss Andrew is a powerhouse singer.

The big-cast musical numbers, choreographed with great flair by Matthew Bourne, are crowd pleasers, and the Banks’ Cherry Tree Lane home, which reveals like a pop-up book, is nearly as impressive as the original Broadway creation.

“Mary Poppins” is a fun family event. And you’ll impress your children if you can say that magical word backwards. It’s dociousaliexpilisticfragicalirepus.