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“There is a different energy around doing this show around the holidays. I love it!” Michael Dean Morgan said during a telephone interview. Exhausted after driving all night from Montreal, Canada, where “Mary Poppins” Broadway tour had just closed, he was returning his wife Shanna and children to their New Jersey home. The family visited Pop on tour Thanksgiving week. The next morning, Morgan planned to hit the road again to rejoin the cast in Norfolk, Va.
On a grocery store run, from the parking lot of a “Trader Joe’s,” with his 5-year-old daughter Avery in tow (8-year-old Dean was back at school), Morgan shared his excitement for the “Mary Poppins” tour, the universal appeal of the show’s plot and his anticipation of his first visit to New Orleans.
While Morgan was on the road, his New Jersey home was spared damage by Hurricane Sandy, but left his community in complete disarray and without power for weeks. “We are basically ground zero for where the hurricane hit,” he says. “We’re right near where NBC set up camp and saw complete devastation.”
In two years, the area has seen direct hits from two major hurricanes, both females – Irene in 2011 and Sandy. Morgan admits it’s been an unexpected weather dynamic for the Wisconsin native.
But this call focused on a different female, a gal known worldwide for being perfect in almost every way: Mary Poppins.
The Broadway touring production blows into New Orleans Dec. 18-23 onstage at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts.
“(‘Mary Poppins’) is a perfect holiday show because it has a goodwill-toward-men message,” says Morgan, who plays Mr. George Banks, a banker and the head of the household nanny Poppins comes in to magically transform.
Banks undergoes the most dramatic change among all the characters, Morgan says. “Mary Poppins is like this all-knowing Jedi knight; she can do no wrong. Bert is this charming, somewhat magical charismatic storyteller that leads us through the show; he doesn’t need the change.
“The change needs to come through the kids and Mr. Banks.”
“At the outset of the show, he’s an Edwardian man. A classic stuffed shirt,” Morgan says. “I think that’s what’s refreshing about this show. It’s a show that’s set in 1911 that is timeless.”
Like the actor, Mr. Banks is the father of two, Jane and Michael Banks. The similarities to the early Banks end there, however. “My character ultimately ends up closer to myself,” Morgan says. “He becomes a refreshed, awesome, modern guy who wants to spend time with his kids and wants to go fly a kite.
“That’s part of the show’s message,” he explains. “The modern problem is we get so wrapped up in our day-to-day stuff, we don’t really stop to smell the roses. More importantly, we forget to see our children as people and that we are not just raising children, we are raising future adults.”
As newlyweds, Morgan and his wife created a “What’s Enough?” list. They asked, “When do we have to stop beating ourselves up to move forward?”
“We wanted to have enough room for the kids and a yard where they could play, enough cash to take a vacation every now and again,” Morgan says. “What it really came down to, what we really wanted was time with our family. That’s kind of what this show is. That’s what the Banks’ family discovers.”
In true Disney fashion, “Mary Poppins” is being critically hailed for its colorful staging, beautiful theatrics and unexpected chorographical twists. “Let’s face it, this is a show built to elicit emotion,” Morgan says. “It wants to impress; it wants to surprise.”
Fans of the 1964 Disney film and P.L. Travers’ book will be satisfied that the stage production delivers. What they don’t expect, however, is the lagniappe. Chimney sweeps climbing the walls as they “Step In Time.” Mary Poppins taking flight, literally, soaring above the stage.
“Pretty much without fail, this show surprises and the audience wants to go there with you, too,” Morgan says. “Everybody has memories of ‘Mary Poppins.’ It’s the show that captured our hearts as children. They have really great memories of it. What we’ve tried to do is capture that energy and make it broader, bigger and Broadway musical-ish.
“I’m not a Baby Boomer,” the 39-year-old actor says, “but this show is in my DNA, too. It’s one of those movies that you give to your kids at some point. It’s a show all ages can share and appreciate.”
And it arrives in New Orleans just in time for the Christmas holiday. Tickets are on sale at the theater box office or through Ticketmaster.
The Disney favorite “Mary Poppins” plans to rekindle magic and memories for all ages.
Michael Dean Morgan, who plays Mr. Banks, is pictured.
