Trying out some costumes and a few moves were, front, left to right, Selena Fletcher and Gracienne Swarbrick; back, left to right, Ziibi Cameron, Ashlynne Thede and Charlotte Berry.

Hub Staff

The Saugeen District Secondary School (SDSS) Musical Theatre has been busy singing, dancing and rehearsing for their supercalifragilisticexpialidocious production of Mary Poppins May 31 to June 3.

Originally Mary Poppins was a series of children's books written by P. L. Travers, the first of which was published in 1934. In 1964 Walt Disney released a musical, fantasy movie by the same name, starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. More recently, Disney produced the movie, Saving Mr. Banks, in 2013, which put the focus on Walt Disney, played by Tom Hanks, P. L. Travers, played by Emma Thompson and the development of the Mary Poppins movie. The theatrical musical version of Mary Poppins debuted in England in 2004 and on Broadway in New York City in 2006.

The story focuses on the Banks, a dysfunctional family who are in need of a new and strict nanny for their children. Mary Poppins takes on the position and shows she has a different approach to being a nanny, taking the children on several magical adventures and having a positive impact, not only on the children but on the adults in the family as well.

The show's Music Director, SDSS music teacher Kerri Lynn Boys, said that the students have been rehearsing twice a week. “It's a course, we have class every day and then we do these extended rehearsals. The cool thing is that we've invited some of the elementary students to come up and help be chimney sweeps and fill up some of the songs, so that's new,” she said, explaining that invitations had gone out to Grade 7 and 8 students at G.C. Huston, Northport, Saugeen Central and St. Joesph's. “It's normally Grade 10s and up but we do have a Grade 9 in the class too.”

Boys said they have approximately 40 students in the class and rehearsals for the show began at the beginning of the semester. “We taught them some routines, some singing exercises, some moving and just some team building exercises.” She added that there is also a lot of volunteers who help with the show. “The former musical director Ian Burbidge comes in and Ann Marie Benedict who was also a teacher. They're both retired now but they are still involved and we have some other retired teachers who will be helping out in all kinds of capacities as well as a lot of staff and community members too. So it’s really neat team building, family, all-hands-on-deck kind of thing.”

Students have also been busy with their costumes for the show. “Students are asked to go look through their wardrobes - parents, grandparents - to find things,” said Boys, adding that they also have a lot of costumes from previous years in the drama room. “We have a costume committee made up of parents and community members. Whatever they don't have, they find. If they can't find it, they make it.”

Artistic Director and SDSS drama teacher Leslie Turcotte said that everything with the production was going very well. “We have a really positive group of students this semester. They're willing to try things, they’re eager to learn new things, they're helpful to each other when they need help with dance steps or whatever,” she said. “I've been really impressed so far.”

Turcotte explained that the SDSS Musical Theatre puts on a production every two years - the last one being Grease - because of the time it takes to put a show together, not only for students and staff but for the volunteers involved in the show. “It’s a huge undertaking so for those of us who are the main players it’s gigantic. It takes over our lives for a few months,” she said.

SDSS student Audrey Turcotte, said that she was thrilled to have be chosen to play the role of Mary Poppins. “You definitely feel like you have to prove yourself a bit but it’s good, everybody's been really nice about who got what part,” she said, adding that the hardest part of the role had been putting everything together. “You really think you've got a song and you really think you can dance it and then you try and do it together and it all kind of falls apart at first.”

Aspen Chapman, who plays Mrs. Brill, said she also likes her role. “I run everything, I have a good amount of lines and I get to be really sassy,” she laughed.

The Banks’ two children, Jane and Michael, will be played by MacKenzie Shular (Jane) and Josie Berry (Michael). “We're on stage more than any of the other characters so we don't really have a lot of break time in the show. It's constant, it’s like run on, run off, run on, run off, so that will take some getting used to but I think we'll do ok,” said Shular, explaining the main challenge of their roles. “We have a few costume changes. They're not huge ones, thank goodness, but they'll have to be extremely fast.”

Artisic Director, Leslie Turcotte said that they try to involve the Saugeen Shores community as much as they can. “We get our tickets locally, we get our posters done locally, t-shirts. I see it as a community event, even though it's the students.”

She said that the students will also be heading out into the community two weeks before the show. “Every time we do a show we do a ticket blitz where students dress up in costume and they each have a section of town where they go door-to-door, knocking on doors and telling the people about our show and leaving a pamphlet. They also have tickets with them so a lot of people are now used to us doing this and they're waiting for the students to show up,” explained Turcotte. “It also generates excitement. It’s exciting for the kids to get into costume and be out in the community and it starts to get the community excited.”

There will be a total of five performances of Mary Poppins: May 31, June 1, June 2 starting at 7 p.m. and two shows on June 3, 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and will be available within a couple of weeks at Cathy's Flowers 'N Treasures in Port Elgin and at SDSS's main office. Students will also have access to tickets and, new this year, tickets be made available online.

Heads of the household, George and Winifred Banks, sit with housekeeper Mrs. Brill. Left to right, Grade 12 students Liam Nicoll (George Banks), Aspen Champman (Mrs. Brill) and Hallie Acton (Winifred Banks).

Busy rehearsing a rooftop chimney scene, (left to right) Maria Tsatsos, Emma Martin, Marissa Kahgee, Chloe Swarbrick and Tyler Schropp.

Some of the show’s main characters rehearsing on stage, left to right, Josie Berry (Michael), MacKenzie Shular (Jane), Audrey Turcotte (Mary) and Jack Flarity (Bert).

SDSS's Musical Theatre rehearsals for Mary Poppins are well underway for the May 31 to June 3 performances.

Students rehearse some choreography routines at SDSS.