Welcome to my Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There Blog.
Today my Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There blog is a little different, as I’ve only just returned from Auckland and our fabulous trip to see ‘Mary Poppins’ . As mentioned in Wednesday’s blog I won an all-expenses-paid trip for two to see the show, plus the opportunity to meet the two lead actors for morning tea the next day. Being that my twelve-year-old daughter, Kate, loves Disney’s Mary Poppin’s movie, she was the obvious choice for me to take.
We stayed at the Citylife hotel just off Queens Street in Auckland, which was a beautiful hotel—clean, luxurious and with one of the most comfortable beds I’ve ever slept on—even with a restless kid next to me, thanks to two of my favourite words: Pillow-top mattress. After the mandatory girl’s shopping trip in one of Auckland’s most famous shopping streets we got ready for the show.
If you’ve never been to the Civic theatre in Auckland, it’s just breathtaking. Built in 1929 in a Rococo style, it’s the biggest theatre in New Zealand and certainly one of the most impressive. We were seated upstairs in the balcony area with a perfect view of the stage. Kate was vibrating with excitement next to me and practically spent the whole two hours plus of the performance on the edge of her seat.
As to the show itself? Not enough adjectives to describe how wonderful it was, sorry. I’ve been fortunate enough to go see two Broadway level productions, ‘Fame’ in Sydney, Australia, and ‘Shrek’ on Broadway, NYC. Mary Poppins blew both of them out of the water. From the top-class singing, dancing and acting, to the up-in-the-air-acrobatics (which I’ll let you in on a little insider secret if you keep reading) Mary Poppins gripped us from beginning to end. Once it was finished, both Kate and I had bright red hands from clapping so much and we wanted nothing more than to see the whole thing over again. The costumes were fantastic, the singing gave me goosebumps it was that good, and OMG the dancing…Ladies, if you didn’t know it already, tap is dead sexy. And somehow in the course of my 2 minute exchange with Matt Lee (who plays Bert) I managed to blurt out that he’d made tap sexy again. He found it funny, I think I probably turned a similar shade to one of the little tomato sandwiches we ate for morning tea…
Highlights of the show? For me, the dance routine to ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ was eye-poppingly good with the cast’s exuberant energy and the complicated routine. ‘Step in Time’ with the incredible tap routine and some wicked acrobatics from Bert (keep reading, it’s coming) and lastly, Mary’s little flight over the auditorium which the crowd loved and had me sniffing back tears like a big girl (I also LOVED Disney’s Mary Poppins as a kid and always wanted her and Bert to get together).
Morning tea with Rachel Wallace and Matt Lee (Mary & Bert) the next day was wonderful, although it was over far to quickly. Along with four other couples we were escorted to one of the penthouse suites on the top floor. Both Rachel and Matt were charming and relaxed, and very easy to talk to. Rachel and I had a nice chat about driving in New York, versus driving in New Zealand—neither of us were keen to drive on the ‘wrong side’ of the road.
Somehow the conversation came around to Matt’s audition for Mary Poppin’s where he said he was asked if he had a problem with ‘heights’. Matt stretched the truth a little and said ‘no worries’, but he actually has a big problem with heights. Luckily, he reckons, with the spotlights blinding him he can’t see how high up in the theatre he is. Matt is also adamant he couldn’t do what his co-star Rachel does every night.
All too soon our thirty minutes with them was over, but it was cool to hear just little tidbits of what life is like for two such big-name, talented performers. Oddly, or maybe not, they’re just like us. Except they sing and dance a lot better.
Tracey
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