Manda Borden (Mary Poppins), Adam Santucci (Michael Banks) and Leora Deisenroth (Jane Banks) feed the birds along with Riley Goold (The Bird Woman) during the song Feed the Birds at a rehearsal a couple of weeks ago. Photo by Donna MacKenzie
Don’t expect the film version to be transported to the stage when the students at Honeoye Falls-Lima High School perform Mary Poppins this week at the HF-L District Auditorium, but be prepared to hear many of the old favorite songs from the popular 1964 film starring Julie Andrews and Dick VanDyke.
HF-L’s musical production of Mary Poppins will be presented March 17 and March 18, both at 7:30 p.m. and on March 19 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the District Auditorium at the Middle School, 619 Quaker Meeting House Road. Tickets for the performances ($10 adults, $8 for students and senior citizens for the evening performances and $8 for everyone for the matinee) are going fast but some are still available.
There are 46 students in the cast and another 38 are helping out in some capacity backstage, be it with the stage crew, lighting crew, costume crew, sound crew or in the pit orchestra.
Members of the cast are Manda Borden (Mary Poppins), Lucas Smith (Bert), Leora Deisenroth (Jane Banks), Adam Santucci (Michael Banks), Aidan Goold (Michael Banks), Annabeth Hinman (Mrs. Winifred Banks), Bryan Donahue (Mr. George Banks), Annika Mounts (Bird Woman), Riley Goold (Bird Woman), Kendall McDermott (Mrs. Brill), Tony Crego (Robertson Ay), Katie Quigley (Miss Andrews), Vikki Webster (Mrs. Corry), Abbie Cleveland (Katie Nanna), Shira Silverstein (Annie), Lauren Cody (Fannie), Eleanor Vaughan (Miss Lark), Bernard Tomaszewski (Admiral Boom and Bank Chairman), Wyatt Tatakis (Park Keeper), Ben Bernstein (Neleus), Ryan Stansbury (Policeman), CJ Tomaszewski (Von Hussler), Spencer King (John Northbrook), and Helen Warfle (Messenger). Ensemble members are Mary Royce, Kelsey Natale, Kit Rhodes, Amelia Hedlund, Lydia Eilinger, Noah Butterazzi, Eric Williamson, Anna Powell, Andrew Warfle, Siobhan Krenzer, Kadin Deisenroth, Anna Garcia, Brooke Erion, Tigh Regan, Emily VanHouten, Gabby Patchett, Tony Ennis, Catlin Wheelock, Whitley Brinka, Rachel Roof, Sam Gilbert and Lauren Freeman. Lydia Santucci and Claire Torregiano are the student directors.
“It’s been a few years since we did a Disney show and we wanted to do something well-known and that is for the whole family,” artistic director Sue Palomaki said.
The stage production of Mary Poppins is based on the 1964 Walt Disney film and the Mary Poppins series of children’s books written by P.L. Travers. While it retains many of the songs from the film such as A Spoonful of Sugar, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Let’s Go Fly A Kite, Chim Chim Cher-ee, Jolly Holiday, Feed the Birds and Step in Time, they are not necessarily in the same scenes as the movie and some of the scenes from the movie such as the dancing penguins and Uncle Albert’s tea party on the ceiling are not in the stage musical.
HF-L students perform Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious during a recent rehearsal for Mary Poppins. Photo by Donna MacKenzie
“It is a fusion of various elements from both sources, the film and the books,” Palomaki said. “Another difference is that, in this show, the roles of Mr. and Mrs. Banks are much bigger than they are in the movie.”
The students have been having a blast with the show.
“It’s so cool playing the role of Mary Poppins,” said Borden. “I have always wanted to play an iconic role such as this. It’s challenging as well because it is so associated with Julie Andrews’ portrayal in the movie. I am trying to put my own spin on it while also keeping the classic parts of the role. I had never seen the stage production except for some clips on YouTube.”
One of the songs that Borden enjoys the most is Step in Time because she loves tap dancing and it is also a number where her character interacts with students in the ensemble who are the chimney sweeps.
Another fun element to the show for three of the students (Borden, Smith and Quigley) is the fact that they fly during the show. This technical aspect of the show is a challenge but thanks to the company Flying by Foy (which does many Broadway shows that involve flying such as Peter Pan) and also to four volunteer fathers, it was surmounted.
“We went through the budget, contacted Flying by Foy and they were great,” Palomaki said. “We rent the equipment (harnesses, wiring and such) from them and a member of Flying by Foy came here and trained our four dads and the students for two full days.”
The first day, the Flying by Foy employee Ryan McAlpine (a Rush-Henrietta graduate) showed the four dads Luis Garcia, Mike Antalek, RJ Cleveland, and Brent Powell how to operate the rigging/wiring for the flying and had the three students in the harnesses and attached to the wires so that they knew how fast they would go. The second day saw them review from the first day and then add more of the cast members as well as the costumes worn by the three students when they are flown.
“It is really amazing to fly,” Borden said. “It’s not only fun, but it also gives you a different perspective being up there.”
Palomaki said that the harnesses, flying wires and rigging are checked before every rehearsal and before every show as per Flying by Foy instructions.
“The two-day process of learning how to fly for the dads, Katie, Lucas and I was really interesting,” Borden stated.
“For instance, one of the things I have learned is that when I get close to being offstage, I have to tip my umbrella down so it doesn’t get caught in the rigging. All three of us are very comfortable up there. We thank the dads for volunteering.”
