Palmer High School stages ‘Mary Poppins’

PALMER — Sure, school plays are usually special for the students performing in them.

They’re a chance for kids to inhabit other personalities, to develop camaraderie with co-stars and deeply study great works of literature.

But ‘Mary Poppins’ has something else going for it.

Samantha Lasselle — Mary herself in Palmer High School’s production — summed it up succinctly:

“It’s pretty special. I’ve loved the movie since I was little,” she said.

The play ran April 23-25 and took a week off. It’s back again Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students.

If you somehow managed to miss this cultural touchstone, the play surrounds the title character, Mary Poppins, and the two children — Jane and Michael Banks — she is hired to nanny. Poppins takes the children on magical adventures.

It’s a familiar story. Of course, there are some tweaks in the stage version.

Jessica Owens is proof of that. She plays both the familiar Bird Woman (the one with the song about feeding the birds) and the less familiar Miss Andrew, who wasn’t in the movie at all.

“She was George Banks’ old nanny, and she’s terrible,” Owens said.

Of the two, Owens said it was hard to choose which one she likes more. Sure, Feed the Birds is a pretty important and touching song, but, “I have a little bit more fun with Miss Andrew,” she said.

Thomas Doak’s part doesn’t need any explanation — he plays Bert, the jack-of-all-trades who Dick Van Dyke made famous in the movie. Doak described Bert as someone who enjoys lightening the mood. As for what Doak enjoys, when it comes to acting, he said he likes the crowds.

“I love seeing the expression on people’s faces,” he said, before adding, “when the lights aren’t too bright for me to see them.”

Crowds weren’t always top on John Chase Wells Knutson’s list of things to like about acting.

“For the longest time I had some serious stage fright,” said Knutson, who plays the bank chairman, Mr. Banks’ boss. Acting helped him get over that, which he is grateful for.

“It’s also just enjoyable to be around other people that enjoy acting,” he said.

Grant Olson directs about a play a year at Palmer High, usually the musical performed in the spring. He’s helming ‘Mary Poppins’ and said the performances are looking great. Getting there was no small accomplishment.

“It’s really one of the more ambitious plays we’ve ever done here,” Olson said.

He said he thinks he likes the stage version better than the movie.

“The emphasis is on George and Winifred (Banks) as much as the children,” Olson said.

Which means that Seth Blohm has more work than he might have had. Blohm plays the aforementioned George Banks.

“It’s kind of a fun character to play,” Blohm said. “As the play progresses he turns into a different person.”

He said Banks gradually learns to put more emphasis on his family rather than his job.

Alexa Milbrandt plays Winifred Banks. She said her character also grows during the play, becoming her own woman rather than just a wife.

“That kind of goes with the transformation from the Victorian to the Edwardian era,” she said.