Review: Maija Poppanen
Maija Poppanen’s magic heals
Helsinki City Theatre’s new musical Maija Poppanen is an entertaining and refreshing performance for the whole family that leaves you feeling good. Mary Poppins makes the viewer believe in themselves, in people, in life and in miracles. The level of the production’s professional crew is staggering. The three-hour course is full of skilful stage work and particularly skilful dancing.
The viewer does not need to know the novel background of Mary Poppins’ story or the Disney film version. The plot takes you away and makes the viewer feel comfortable and after the performance reflect on new insights into life.
Mary Poppins, a 20th-century supernanny, is the creation of Australian author Pamela Lyndon Travers , who was born at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The first Mary Poppins novel was published in 1934. The mystical Maija Poppins, who performs magic tricks, flies with an umbrella and sometimes even breaks the boundaries of convention, is still surprisingly topical in the 21st century.
In addition to his career as a writer, Travers, who also acted and danced in a theatre company and made a career as a freelance journalist and critic, avoided publicity and was fascinated by Indian mythology and Celtic mysticism. It is easy to believe that Tarvers, who lived the life of an independent woman, also wrote about herself and her own dreams in Maija Poppanen.
Upright, self-esteemed, fair, appreciative and defending the underprivileged, Mary Poppins is honestly and genuinely herself and does not flatter or lick anyone. The world would be a much better place if we all had a little Mary Poppins living in each of us.
A musical entertains and provokes thoughts
Maija Poppanen arrives as a nanny for a banking family and takes care of the whole family’s affairs at the same time. She teaches the children of the family fairness, friendship and empathy.
br>
Maija Poppanen, a career-oriented banker father, makes her realise that there are values in life that are more important than money and success. The story has a happy ending: the family regains the connection they lost – and Mary Poppanen is no longer needed, so she can soar her umbrella towards new challenges and troubled families.
The performance is written by strong professionals from start to finish. Especially the Swedish Rebecca Evanne , who was responsible for the choreography, has done a fantastic job and also made the actors dance wonderfully.
Set designer Katariina Kirjavainen, costume designer Sari Salmela and lighting designer Mika Ijäs succeed in creating two levels in the play: the greyness of everyday life and the sparkle of magic. Child viewers were particularly interested in Maija Poppins’ flight, and the charm was not hindered by the wire on which Maija was soaring. The adult viewer was particularly thrilled by the flight of the birds skilfully conjured up with lights.
Magic and small miracles are also skilfully and insightfully present on stage, for example, in the dance of statues and the collapse of shelves in kitchen cupboards.
Of the musical’s songs, especially “Zim, Zim, Zerii”, which is repeated several times, will be remembered for a long time. However, the most impressive of the songs and the dance numbers combined with them is the fast-paced alphabet rally that gets faster and faster towards the end, which demands a lot from the singers and dancers.
Emmi Kangas Maija Poppanen performs her demanding speech, singing and dancing roles excellently. The musical’s child stars, Nelli Matula as Anna Bank and Akseli Ferrand as Mikko Bank in the premiere, are extremely skilled and talented performers as actors, singers and dancers.
Tuukka Leppänen Perttu is a sympathetic soot crasher, a knight of a sad character and a boy from shady alleys. Riitta Havukainen was able to let loose as a monstrously sadistic nanny to her heart’s content. I would like to see more of the musical’s dance group working on the stage of the City Theatre.
The three-hour dose of Maija Poppins’ World also captivated young child viewers. Maija Poppanen can be warmly recommended to viewers of all ages, as the theme of the musical speaks to and offers relatable objects for children and adults alike.
Mary Poppins is an extremely professionally executed feel-good musical, the kind needed to banish the gloom of autumn and the worries of the economic recession. In the distant past, there are memories of musicals on the City Theatre’s main stage, where almost every performer seemed to be in the wrong role and the viewer felt rather ashamed of the performers instead of the joy and joy of art.
The Helsinki City Theatre has reached a level in its musical production that is no longer difficult to surpass.