On Saturday, we watched Mary Poppins (the West End show). It was quite the entertaining, well-produced, well-performed all-around good quality show. We highly recommend it.
Afterwards while sipping Pimms and lemonade and enjoying the brief period of sunshine, we sat and contemplated on the question “What would Mary do you for?".
In case you have never heard of Mary Poppins, or have (as I did before watching the show) only a vague recollection of Julie Andrews prancing around in the movie version, let me just provide a short synopsis. The Banks are a family in trouble. Mr Banks is the cold detached disciplinarian father of two unruly spoilt children who have scared off a series of nannies in quick succession, and also an all-business non-affectionate husband. His kids put together a “list of qualifications” of their dream nanny e.g. feeds us lot’s of sweets, which he tosses in the fireplace, and he and Mrs Banks begin their desperate search for a nanny. In a gust of wind, Mary suddenly appears (with coincidentally a copy of the kids’ list of nanny qualifications). Through a series of “lessons” a.k.a quite nifty song and dance routines, she manages to 1) convince the children of the futility in their grumpy attention-seeking ways and also begin to appreciate that there’s a whole world to explore and that things are not always as they seem; 2) convince Mrs Banks that she’s a capable strong woman; and finally 3) help Mr Banks realize that the most important thing to him is his family.
All basic life lessons really, but one could use a reminder once in a while. So a Pimms and full glass of wine later, I believe my answer to the question posed was “A swift kick up the arse”. Cast off thy woeful ways!
Some pics of the day:
Outside the theatre
Soul searching with Pimms and Lemonade
Chinatown munchies
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