We enter number 17 Cherry Tree Lane and meet its assorted occupants. The workaholic father, George Banks, is a paid up member of the children-should-be-seen-but-not-heard brigade, a Freudian victim of his own repressed childhood, excellently portrayed by David Haig. Linzi Hately gives a strong performance as Winifred, George’s dutiful but dizzy wife. Jane and Michael, the wilful offspring in need of a firm but kind nanny, are played by various children, and the pair we saw were very good.

Laura Michelle Kelly is outstanding as the prim and proper Mary Poppins. Her voice is strong and clear, and she ain’t a bad dancer either. She appears from nowhere (a clever trapdoor) into the Banks’ dressing room and proceeds to take over their lives. Her carpet bag is placed on a small table, and she somehow removes a large lamp and a plant. “I am practically perfect” she sings, which is pretty close to the mark.

A walk in the park with Bert the chimney-sweep and the children, and Matthew Bourne’s choreographic fingerprint is unfurled. The children are bemoaning their tedium when the statue of Neleus unwraps himself from his plinth and bursts into life. Stuart Neal ably plays the granite-grey god, who gracefully leaps and twists around the stage. He is then joined by other statues in a pas-de-dix to “Jolly Holiday”.

Bourne’s party piece is the lively “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” (which my spellchecker recognised, so Microsoft does have a sense of humour!), a cornucopia of colour and movement. The song is acted out in semaphore and sign language, like an extended version of village people’s “YMCA”, but decidedly more upmarket. It is difficult to appreciate all the movement around the stage at a single viewing, but that particular spoonful of sugar went down a treat. I can envisage it headlining on the next Royal Variety performance.

The show contains all the familiar songs from the film, written by the Sherman brothers. New numbers penned by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe interleave with the familiar tunes, in keeping with the tone and style of the originals. In particular, the toys dancing to “Temper, Temper”, and the “Brimstone and Treacle” of Miss Andrew, Mary Poppins draconian short-lived replacement, stood out.

Matthew Bourne is complemented by his co-choreographer, tapmeister extraordinaire Stephen Mears. Bert and his fellow sweeps grace the rooftops to “Step in time”, a lively song and tap number that whirls round the London skyline. Gavin Lee is competent as Bert, and is a decent tap dancer and singer, but overall I felt he lacked that charisma.

When Mr Banks finally realises that his wife and children come before his work, the family’s redemption as a functional unit is complete. The wind changes direction again, and the enigmatic Mary elegantly disappears over the audience into the heavens.

As a show for all the family this is top quality entertainment. The standard of the sets, lighting and special effects were what you expect of a Cameron Mackintosh production. Not one for dance purists, but the singing and dancing was lively and varied, and adults and children can enjoy the show at different levels.

Anthony Kent

When Mary first comes to the house she appears from out of thin air and then unpacks her bag, which is really strange in a magical way how she takes large objects out of it. When Mary took the children on a “boring” walk through the park, I thought the statues were real statues at first and then suddenly they sprang to life.

Later they travelled back to 17 Cherry Tree Lane and Mary Poppins had the night off. Then out of the blue in the childrens’ bedroom all the toys grew into human-sized shape and started singing. That was funny in a clever way. At the end of Act 1, Bert sings
“Chim Chim Cher-ee” again with Mary.

In the second half of the show, Bert writes the word “Welcome” with his chimney brush using different fonts which I thought was quite amusing. Miss Andrew was very good singing her song too. The singing, dancing and acting were wonderful right throughout the show and there were good jokes as well. Also the beautiful staging was amazing. There’s nothing quite like the show of Mary Poppins because it was “practically perfect in everyway”.

Whoops - wrong musical! I can't stand musicals I'm afraid so no wonder I get confused...