Mary Poppins, a musical at the New Amsterdam Theatre. It was good to return to the New Amsterdam Theatre which we had not been to since the opening week of "The Lion King". We finally made it to "Mary Poppins" because we had own of town guests who were huge Disney fans. As such, the evening was a success, but we found it to be excruciatingly long (the first act is almost Wagnerian in length) the audience was full of too young children (there was a free promotion) who got bored very quickly and the musical itself is not very good. The original Sherman songs are great, but the fill ins seemed like warmed over "Little Mermaid" complete with an Ursula character in the guise of an evil Nanny who is quickly removed from the scene after one long Ursula like song. The sets and costumes are superb and her flying effects magical. We saw the original London Mary, Laura Michelle Kelly, who sang almost as sweetly as Julie Andrews did in the film, but who showed no personality. For people with children the right age (7-10) this is perhaps a good show (though the length is a killer) but it was one of the longest evenings we've spent in the theater - we hated nearly every minute of it.
Broadway Bridge and Tunnel Test Grade. D