LINDSAY: I think that’s a really important point for anybody doing musicals – that it is really easy to get up in the flashy. Looking at it and saying, “How is Feed the Birds? How is this idea of taking a very small effort on your part of empathy and caring, how that translates into something very meaningful for people who need that empathy and need that caring and kind of push those two things together and that gave me the core of the story I was trying to tell?” Then, we could look at all the big numbers and the big flashy things and see how those fit in. It was Disney’s favorite piece from the movie. Mary Poppins enters into this and she’s there to sort of teach them what it’s like to be an empathetic and caring family – you know, what it’s like to care and love each other and pay attention to each other.įor me, it was stripping away all of the big shiny stuff and just going, “At the end of the day, what’s the story really about?” and it was that.Īnd then, the other thing that the story was really about for me was the song Feed the Birds. The kids are dying for attention – that’s half the reason why they’re driving the nannies out of the house and driving the nannies crazy. The father is only focused on making money and being “the perfect provider.” The mother is focused on being the best wife possible. They’re an incredibly dysfunctional family. But what’s really going on in the play?įor me, what was really going on in the play is it’s called Mary Poppins but it’s actually the story of the Banks family. You know, there’s all these big numbers and my thought was the first thing I had to nail down was what was the core of the story? What was the story really about? Because you’ve got these great numbers and Supercalifragilistic and Step in Time and they’re huge and they’re boisterous. So, my first thought was it’s problematic and that it’s so huge and epic that it can get away from you. TODD: Well, my first thought was it was probably one of the biggest shows I’ve ever directed. When you started looking at the script, what were your thoughts? TODD: It’s problematic because, well, it’s problematic because you’re trying to copy somebody else’s vision and, more importantly, somebody else’s technical abilities to get something done and, with just a little bit of forethought, I think you can concoct something that’s new and different and very specific to you as a department or a production company. LINDSAY: I think that’s a really good point and the reason that we’re talking today is that what sometimes happens in some community theatres and some high schools is that they see a show, they want to bring it in, they want to do it, and what ends up happening is they copy and they copy the production that has the most acclaim – like, with the Broadway production – and that is not great, right? Cameron Mackintosh and Julian Fellows who was the writer for Down Abbey, the creator of Down Abbey, they wanted to take stuff from the movie and the books and kind of concoct a whole new experience that was familiar but different – different enough to keep you engaged. I think it’s really smartly plotted,” and what’s nice is it’s not an exact copy of the film. Looking over the script, I thought, “Wow! It’s really well done. You know, I had some doubts going into it, directing it. LINDSAY: And there’s lots of reasons for that, right? TODD: It’s insanely popular everywhere right now. Mary Poppins is insanely popular in the high school circuit right now. Now, I know that some of our listeners, at your schools you are doing Mary Poppins. LINDSAY: And they just finished a very successful run on Mary Poppins. TODD: We held it over twice for a total of 20 performances. How many times was the show held over? Twice? The reason that I am talking to Todd today is that he just completed a very successful run. It’s the third-biggest community theatre in the country. Very good catch! I was like, “I think there’s a ‘civic’ in there somewhere.” Yes. Todd is currently the artistic director of the… LINDSAY: Today, I am talking to Todd Espeland. How did he put his own stamp on the musical? How did he handle the flying? Let’s find out in this one-on-one look at directing a specific musical. Todd Espeland is the artistic director of the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre and recently directed Mary Poppins so we’re going to talk about it. I get to talk to one of my favorite theatre artists who is not only a great teacher, a director, a mask maker, a physical performer – the list goes on and on and on. Today’s conversation is an absolute delight. You can find any links to this episode in the show notes which are at /episode153.Īll righty. I’m Lindsay Price, resident playwright for Theatrefolk. Welcome to TFP – The Theatrefolk Podcast – the place to be for Drama teachers, Drama students, and theatre educators everywhere.
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