Saving Larry Poppins

PALMER — Longtime Valley Performing Arts volunteer and founding member Larry Bottjen has donned just about every role in his 43 years in community theater. Bottjen is directing the Valley’s take on ‘Mary Poppins’ at the Glenn Massay Theater until April 22. It will be his last play. Nearly every seat is taken each night at what appears to be VPA’s highest show attendance yet.

Ticket sales for Mary Poppins are not only breaking records for VPA, but apparently for the Glenn Massay Theater, as well, according to Bottjen.

“Tickets are gang-busting,” Bottjen said.

For many cast and crew members, this play, its story and its massive successes mirrored their bittersweet memories with Bottjen and the VPA family.

“I’m the new girl and I still feel that camaraderie,” said supporting actor, Angie Weeks.

Like most of the supporting cast, Weeks played multiple roles in Mary Poppins. Her most prominent role was the Miss Andrew, the “evil nanny” and the play’s only real villain. Weeks’ character goes head-to-head with Poppins at the end of the play over who will take care of the children. In the end, Poppins outmatches Andrew and Bert carries the iron-fisted nanny off the stage.

“It’s an honor to battle with that woman; she is so talented,” Weeks said.

Weeks never played a villain before and she has had a lot of fun with the opportunity. She said she loved that she could push the children around and then hug them after the show. She shared a common VPA sentiment — a sense of family with the cast and crew. Her on-stage presence was met with thunderous applause as a character everyone loved to hate.

“They [the audience] fed us and we fed back,” Weeks said.

Weeks moved to the Valley last year and this is her first VPA production after a 17-year hiatus from the theater. She acted in high school and college and Mary Poppins is her return debut to the theater. She said that working under Bottjen’s direction during his “swan song” was “bittersweet.”

“I’ve really never had a director as great as Larry,” Weeks said. “He’s thought of every little detail. He’s had a plan for it in his head for a long time.”

Weeks marveled at the sheer size of the production and Bottjen’s vision of it. She said that his directing style was friendly yet firm, “rigid at first, then more of a father figure later on.”

“That’s why this play is so successful,” Weeks said.

Weeks compared Bottjen to Mary Poppins, bringing everyone together only to fly off in the wind at the end.

“In the play, Mary Poppins leaves and it’s this bittersweet moment,” Weeks said. “She comes in, she does what he has to do, gets the kids in shape and she leaves — that’s how it feels with Larry. He put us all together, made us a family, created all these wonderful memories and then he’s got to go; and it sucks, but at the same time you have all those memories!”

Heather Sawyer donned the iconic role of Mary Poppins, commuting from Anchorage throughout each week. This is her first VPA play after performing many times in the big city. This is also the first time she’s played a character like Poppins, an “idealized version” of herself. Sawyer said that the Valley has a lot of talent and a lot of passion — qualities needed to fuel community theater.

“If you’re involved with community theater, you must be passionate,” Sawyer said.

Bottjen noted that he couldn’t do this play alone. He had to find the best people who were willing to commit to the stage. Several cast members agreed that Bottjen was flexible with people’s lives. Bottjen said that you can’t overstretch the team because that’s how people get burned out, to the point even of quitting entirely. He’d rather catch flies with honey, he said.

“I could not ask for a better swan song,” Bottjen said.

Looking back on his 43 years, which began with VPA’s first show “Harvey”, Bottjen is staring down a deluge of emotions. What he found most prominent was a feeling of gratitude from VPA. He said people have the “wrong thinking” when they say “Larry, you’ve done so much for VPA.” He said it was quite the contrary. “No! It’s VPA that’s done so much for me,” he said.