Dear "Mary Poppins" Fans,

Up to this point in time, have the onstage principles (Ie: Mary, Bert, the Banks Children, and their parents) surpassed the performances of the movie actors? Have the onstage principles been the equals of the movie actors? Have they been totally disappointing?

I am asking these questions, because I cannot possibly imagine anybody living up to the unsurpassable magic of Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, etc.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

I found them generally to be of an equal standard, though the onstage Mary is a more complex character by definition that she was in the film, so she may appear better. The children are a mixed bag, of course, but the best of them were better than the film kids, the worst were still a lot better than the first cover Mary who always sounded like she was reading her lines aloud for the first time.

I find all of the stage versions of the characters surpass the movie versions purely as they're more developed, ie Jane and Michael's relationship with their father is elaborated, George and Winifred's relationship elaborated, Mary and Bert have more chemistry (etc).

Of course it depends on how good an actor you get, but generally I feel the stage versions are superior to the movie.

The Children I had were absolutely amazing. I still can't how young they were. My Mary was superb too... better than Julie Andrews, but my Bert was mediocre.

All depends on the actors IMO.

I must say that the current Mary Poppins on Broadway is INCREDIBLE. Scarlett Strallen. I hadn't heard of her before, perhaps because she is from England and this was her Broadway debut. But in the 40+ broadway shows I've seen her voice is comparable to the best of the best. Only a select handful of other female performers I have seen have a voice comparable to hers.... off the top of my head Audra MacDonald, Patti Lupone, Ruthie Henshall, Julia Murney and Kristin Chenoweth. I honestly believe she surpasses the beloved Julie Andrews and definitely modern leaders of the female broadway stage such as Sutton Foster. If she decides to stay in America and do more on broadway I think she has the potential to be huge.

Well yes, Scarlett closed the London show. She's not some newly-discovered unknown face, she's a well established performer. And one born and bred, she's a Langford. I think I saw her 30-odd times in bits and pieces, and she never failed to impress me.

no one can or will ever beat David Tomlinson and Glynis Johns as the Banks.

Building off of what Dawn said...

Julie Andrews will, as far as I'm concerned ALWAYS be Mary Poppins and Dick Van Dyke will ALWAYS be Bert. There can be good ones (I've heard marvelous things about Ashley Brown, for example) but no one can top the perfection of the movie cast.

I can't compare as the show is so different from the movie (in terms of depth of character on all counts)