When someone mentions the musical Mary Poppins, your next thought probably isn't "experimental."
Not so with Michael Barfield.
After the Spokane Children's Theatre's executive director, Tanya Brownlee, tapped him to lead the theater's production of the musical, which closes the organization's 78th season, he found himself contemplating exactly what Mary Poppins — and its audience — typically demands.
All kinds of fantastical things take place in this story about a wise and enigmatic nanny who sorts out the problems of the dysfunctional Banks family. Toys spring to life to teach children a lesson. Candy shops also deal in extraordinary words.
"The first thing that came to mind was the daunting tricks of the show. Like, how are we going to make Mary Poppins fly? Or how are we going to do all these fun special effects?" he says. "So I tried to think about those in terms of how we could try something different and whimsical and magical but that's not reliant on a rigging system that we might not necessarily be able to make work in our particular space."
Fortunately, Barfield has experience working within tight parameters. For the past decade plus, he's been professionally involved with a mix of public and private middle and high school drama programs.
"With school theater shows, you're limited by either budget or whatever space you can perform in," Barfield says. "And I find that a lot of times your limitations are best for creative inspiration."
Beyond Mary Poppins' iconic ability to take to the sky by holding her umbrella aloft, a recurring challenge was the many set changes of this Broadway musical, a 2004 adaptation that loosely draws on the 1964 Disney film starring Julie Andrews as the title character and Dick Van Dyke as her friend Bert, a jack of all trades.
The solution was to double down on the show's lighthearted self-awareness. It already has a good dose of that, given that the script calls for Bert (played in this production by Leland Hargrove) to break the fourth wall and address the audience.
Barfield's own directorial approach is "just leaning into that a little bit more."
The set he's conceived turns the Banks household into one of the toys that you might find in the playroom of its mischievous but misunderstood children, Jane (Sienna Miller-Thomas) and Michael (Henry Swanson).
"The play begins with the opening of this life-sized dollhouse and the characters coming out. I'm really inspired by the idea that there's a chorus that's inviting the audience into the production. The best comparison I can think of is the show Pippin."
Between scenes, Barfield spotlights the ensemble in a way that suits the feel of the production. For instance, it wouldn't be out of place to see a group of chimney sweeps take the stage as the location changes around and behind them.
"They might be interacting with audience members in some way just to remind them that they are watching a play and that we're not going for the realism of 1910s London," he says. "Rather, we're a group of kid actors looking to put on a show for you."
THE YOUTH OF TODAY
Spokane Children's Theatre has a long history of productions with mixed adult and youth performers. Back in 2018, Barfield himself played the Beast in an SCT production of Beauty and the Beast. But when more than 100 people turned out for the Mary Poppins auditions, he felt spoiled for choice and exclusively cast under-18s.
"There was just such overwhelming talent with the youth that auditioned that I really wanted to see what it would look like to do an all-kid version of Mary Poppins," he says. "It's not only, on a practical level, to give kids this experience with the arts, but also I think it works well thematically for our production's adherence to make-believe and childlike playfulness."
That's why you'll find younger actors like Evan Sperry and Norah Spilker playing parents George and Winifred Banks, respectively, along with 14-year-old Darby Shuster in the musical's eponymous role.
Although Shuster has appeared recently in Carousel and A Christmas Carol at the Spokane Civic Theatre, this marks her first lead in several years. The role itself also has personal significance for her. Seeing a production of Mary Poppins at the Civic was what inspired her to try her hand at acting in the first place.
Back then, at age 6, she was smitten with the idea of Mary Poppins being able to fly. In this show she's been given the slightly more enviable ability to freeze time.
For her take on the character, Shuster was encouraged by Barfield to play the nanny figure, in his words, "less like Julie Andrews and more like Miss Frizzle" from The Magic School Bus.
"She's got that little bit of eccentricity, but she's still practically perfect," she says with a nod to her character's act-one song, "Practically Perfect."
Mary Poppins is also giving Shuster opportunities "to learn and to grow," especially when it comes to honing her skills as a performer. Choreographer Natalie Krusenstjerna has incorporated a good amount of tap dancing into the popular number "Step in Time," and Shuster notes that there are some ballet influences in "Jolly Holiday."
"I'm learning a lot about different dances and styles. And Natalie is doing an amazing job of teaching it," she says.
Barfield says that Shuster "personifies the classic Poppins" and is also "a clear triple threat with acting, singing and dancing." It's a level of "incredible talent" that he believes is shared by many in the cast and will surprise audiences when they realize that this is the full Broadway script, not some abridged version.
"By seeing an all-kid cast, ages 8 to 18, do this amazing stuff, I hope that any kids and families who come see our show are inspired to pursue the arts in their own lives," he says. "For lack of a better phrase, this isn't your grandmother's Mary Poppins." ♦
Mary Poppins • May 23 to June 8; Fri at 7 pm, Sat-Sun at 2 pm • $12-$18 • Spokane Children's Theatre • 2727 N. Madelia St. • spokanechildrenstheatre.org • 509-328-4886
