Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious

Hm...I hope I spelled that correctly.

Mary Poppins at the Bob Carr Center last night was wonderful.  It's been on Broadway for six years, although we heard that it's closing soon.  It was in London for years before Broadway, and we have finally seen it!

This was our first trip to Bob Carr.  Yes, it took a few minutes over an hour to drive there, but it was an easy drive.  The parking was only $10, outdoors, and an easy, short walk to the theater entrance.  The theater was big, but not too big, and Mark bought seats 30 and 31 in row K, which meant we were DEAD CENTER.  Best seats EVER!!  There was only one weird thing about this theater.  It had NO center aisle.  Really.  The theater is relatively wide, and the row ran directly across from one side to the next.  We entered ten minutes before show time and had to crawl over the 29 people who had taken their seats (1-29) before we got there.  No one seemed to mind, so that was nice.  We made a mental note to arrive MUCH sooner if we go back and have seats numbered anything bigger than 10!!

I had read a review of the show in the Orlando Sentinel, and I mostly agreed with it. The sets and choreography are truly the stars of the show!  The choreography for "Supercali..." and "Step in Time" are about the best I've seen, very complicated and very tightly performed.  Well done!  The acting is often over the top broad, but the director must have wanted it that way.  Most of the voices were great, especially the young man playing Bert and the lady playing the Bird Woman, who doubled in the role of Miss Andrew.  Unfortunately, Mary Poppins' voice was not all that great.  She had way too much vibrato for my taste, and it was a little shrill at times as well.  She looked the part, acted the part, danced like a pro, but her singing just didn't cut it for me.  The two children were cute, but it was often difficult to understand what they said, so we missed a few lines here and there.

I had forgotten there are many new songs written for the stage version.  I enjoyed most of them; Mark enjoyed all of them. I didn't care for "Practically Perfect," which featured Mary and the children.  In Act One, I didn't care for it at all, but the reprise in Act Two was better.  The character of Miss Andrew is not in the movie, but I bet it is in the book. I had heard there were some elements added from the book.  In general, we were really glad we finally had the chance to see it!

On another note, I also saw my opthamologist (retina specialist) yesterday morning.  I am FREE!  I mean that I have finally been released completely from any more follow-up visits after that retinal tear I had a year and a half ago.  Yay!  He said everything looked good and I should come back in one or two YEARS, or earlier if anything else goes wrong or concerns me. I'm glad I'm finally released from SOMEBODY!  Haha!  It seems once something happens to you, the doctor visits just go on forever.  I think that when I see the radiation oncologist next time that I will get released from future follow ups with him, too, because it will be two years since the radiation ended by the time I see him again.  Crossing my fingers on that one.

Today will be a charmingly relaxing day.  I am going to my Cancer Support Group meeting for the first time in a long while, and then I'm going out to lunch with a lady I met this year in Guys and Dolls.  She is driving and picked the restaurant, so I think it will be interesting and fun.  When I get back, if it's still sunny and nice, which it should be, I'm going to relax at the pool and read my book for awhile.  This evening will be spent at home, with some time devoted to planning the clothes I need to pack for next week's cruise on the Disney Dream.  Nice day!

Mark, on the other hand, is NOT having my relaxing day.  Sorry, Mark.  He has to drive nearly two hours to the Tampa area for a NARFE Board meeting, and when he gets home, he has to do the week's grocery shopping.  Fortunately for him, the shopping list is short.  After tonight, we are not eating at home for a week!  I think he is hoping to join me at the pool later this afternoon.  We'll see.