By Yohana Flores and Austin Wymore
Riverside’s spring musical, Mary Poppins, was one of the theater program’s most lively but challenging productions.
Students performed a theatrical adaptation of P.L. Traver’s book April 16-18 in the auditorium.
The play follows the Banks family, which is having problems with their two rebellious children and needs a new nanny. A mysterious woman, Mary Poppins, appears and takes the children on magical adventures and has a profound effect on all members of the Banks family.
While the flying nanny may be world famous, not everyone knows about the work and dedication that went into this musical.
“This show is incredibly dense, and all of these set changes happen during the scene,” said assistant director River Contreras, “Whilst things are still happening, we don’t get a blackout. Everything runs into each other, so we have to coordinate the light cues and the sound cues and make sure the actors are in the right place so we don’t see anything that’s going on.”
Recreating the whimsy and impact on stage posed many challenges for those involved in the musical’s production.
“One of the big keystones of Mary Poppins is that she’s magical and she flies. That’s the iconic part,” said Contreras. “But we don’t have a fly rig. So instead, we used a gobo [a shaped light stencil] that has Mary’s silhouette so we can have her silhouette fly across the stage.”
For others, like senior David May, who played Bert Banks, challenges included new speech and singing improvements.
“I got a little bit of dialect coaching,” said May, “but for the most part, I just listened to recordings of professionals singing, and then kind of translating that to my speech as well.
“There’s a lot more that goes into playing a role than just the words and the music that you do personally,” said May. “It is also interacting with your fellow comrades on stage, and the tech people and the music and whatnot.”
Despite the many obstacles, cast and crew members are proud of their collective efforts.
“I’m most proud of the fact that we’re able to bring everybody together, and create something so intricate and so detailed in such a set amount of time,” said senior Delia Aguilar, who played the lead role of Mary Poppins.
The theater team hopes the audience recognized their efforts on stage and walked away with the wholesome message in mind.
“Everybody has something different going on in their life, and sometimes, you just need to see something like that. It could make your night, you know?” said Aguilar, “And so I hope that it just brought happiness and entertainment into their lives.”
