A musical interlude : Mary Poppins – a tale for our times

• Dancer
• 15 years ago
• Categories: International

The stage has often been the realm where society holds itself up for examination and consideration, but who amongst us would have picked Mary Poppins as a tale for our times? According to Harold Evans of the Guardian

“the tale of the twinkly-eyed nanny is suddenly topical – because the father is a banker suspicious of a money-making scheme that’s too good to be true. Who’d have thought that an English nanny with a sharp tongue could have a message in these glum times for all the grown-ups?

The lights of Broadway are big business, and the hard times have hit there too:

“That Mary Poppins has suddenly acquired such vivid topicality – a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious topicality – is not good news for anyone else on Broadway where the lights have gone out in theatre after theatre…

I hope the art scene here does not suffer a similar fate. The cultural sector did well out of a Labour administration and I’m sure there will be those within National who regard it as ripe for re-prioritisation.

I also note a certain irony that another British import is currently Broadway’s top earner  – Billy Elliott with “striking coal miners dancing in Mrs Thatcher’s Britain.”