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Programme notes for act 2 of Mary Poppins.
Matinee Thursday August 18th.
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to Act 2 of Mary Poppins. My name is Pam and I am your audio describer for the rest of the show.
One change of scenery in this act is when Bert, Mary Poppins and the children are on the roof of the house, they descend and the roof lifts, leaving a backcloth of smoking chimneys all over London. More sweeps join them both from chimneys behind or on three large chimney stacks which are pushed on. They dance on and around these, sometimes leaping from one to the other and often while doing so theyexecute acrobatic movements. It ends up with 20 sweeps joining Bert in an extremely vigorous dance.
A later scene is in the area surrounding St Pauls where once again the bird woman sings.
One new character appears in the second act. We meet Miss Andrew, a nanny of uncertain age played by Penelope Woodman.
Miss Andrew is dressed in a black ankle length skirt with a widely striped black and white shirt. Over this at first she wears a voluminous black cape. On her head she wears a black close fitting hat with bunched feathers on each side looking like devil’s horns. She wears black boots and carries a covered bird cage.Later she puts on a large white apron. Miss Andrew is a large buxom lady with a bombastic manner. She was nanny to George as a child. Not knowing that George had hated her, Winifred has tracked her down to look after their children. Miss Andrew’s idea of ensuring that her charges are seen and not heard is to keep feeding them brimstone and treacle.
In this act you will need to remember that there is a valuable blue and white vase on the shelf above the broom cupboard door.
Also during the sweeps dance I will mention Bert’s climb.
This is when he actually walks up a vertical wall at the right hand side of the stage, then appears to walk upside down along the ceiling and down the wall on the left.
As it will be extremely difficult sometimes for you to hear me because of the music and singing and because scene changes happen while the action continues I will give you an idea now of what happens, then a reminder of the scene when it occurs.
As part of Mary’s magic, when it is meant to be snowing, little pieces of paper like rose petals drift down on to the people in the front of the stalls. During the finale in particular there will be flashing lights like snow all around the auditorium. I will give you a warning by saying “lights” just before there are flashing lights at any time.
When the curtain goes up it is winter and very windy, people scurry about in the road in front of the house.
As they leave, the house comes forward and the inside of the house is shown. There is a lot of activity. Winifred wants everything to be perfect for the arrival of Miss Andrew.
In the following scene Bert appears to be painting the word welcome on a sky blue cloth. When the children run in to him the cloth will disappear.This is the fly a kite scene when Mary Poppins reappears to everyone’s delight.
Later it is evening and Bert, now a lamplighter, carrying a long pole with a light on the end finds George slumped on park bench.
In the following scene Winifred is in despair over the children running away and asks a policeman to help her.
Mary Poppins arrives at the house with the children and deals with Miss Andrew using magic.
The following scene is where the sweeps dance among the chimney pots. Mary Poppins now wears a long red coat dress and gives red scarves to the children this merges into the scene when the house comes forward and the inside is full of people as the sweeps dance up and around the stairs and gradually everyone joins in the dancing. A bewildered George walks in left to take a letter from a messenger.
All quietens as the change is made to the set of St. Paul’s Cathedral and the bird lady.
This turns into the bank where male and female employees bustle about all dressed in black and white and the board of directors await the arrival of George.
Back to the park. There is a backcloth of a night sky with a myriad of twinkling stars. This is when at some time there will be a lot of lights flashing round the auditorium.
The sweeps now wear jackets and caps decorated with glitter and carry lamplighter’s poles. Up above them a huge blue umbrella opens with lighted tips. There isa big-eyed parrot at the end of the handle.
Gradually the whole cast join in with representatives of all the characters present.
The following scene includes Mary’s departure.
When the curtain goes up it is winter and many people are scurrying about. Umbrellas are blowing inside out and people are losing their hats in the wind. As they leave, the house comes forward and the inside of the house is shown where there is a flurry of activity. Winifred wants everything to be perfect for the arrival of Miss Andrew.