"Mary Poppins" Musical - A Review

Warning! SPOILER ALERT! If you don’t want to know, stop reading!

Opening night, Fri., November 13th, my friend Kim & I drove to the Ahmanson theater in L.A. Why CAL TRANS decided to do pot hole repair on a Friday night during rush hour traffic, I’ll never know, and we arrived at the parking structure 18 minutes before show time! (Good thing we had allowed lots of extra time!) They had made it very clear that they wouldn’t let you in if you’re late, so I took off my heels and we run/walked (4 flights of stairs) all the way from the car to the door. We made it with time to hit the restroom, but no time to buy a program. More on that later.

We had been looking forward to this since I bought the tickets in April, and my expectations were high. But it was Disney! It was Broadway! How could it not be great? It was NOT great.

OK I’ll start with the highlights. There are two. “Step in Time” (2/3’s of the way through the almost 3 hour show) was FANTASTIC! It was the kind of choreographed, top-tapping number you expect from Broadway, complete with Bert doing his own Fred Astaire-esque dance on the wall and ceiling! Perfect number. “Supercalifra..”, etc., was also done very well. Cute choreography. Unfortunately I had seen this number several times on the Tony awards and talk shows, but it was still good.

Before I continue I must also say that the cast was wonderful. I understood almost every word (Exception: the butler character…have no idea what he was saying 80% of the time), and they were very talented.

OK, that’s where the good stuff ends. The show is put on by Disney, so wouldn’t you expect it to follow the movie? I think that’s what people expect and it’s what they want. I was really looking forward to what they would do with “Jolly Holiday” when they jumped into the chalk drawing. Guess what? No chalk drawings. Well, Bert did have 3 pictures hanging on the rod iron fence, but none on the ground. Then when they “arrived” in the fantasy world, there was no carousel, no horses, no penguins, only grey/white statues that come to life. Actors dressed in skin tight leotards with a few strategically places leaves. Mary and Bert were wearing hot pink and purple. Yes, I know this looks good on stage, but where are their red & white outfits? They were being worn by chorus members. With my binoculars I could see that the red/white striped jacket that the chorus member was wearing was really pink/white and not red, but it still looked weird. If you’re going to put Mary & Bert in another color, don’t put the chorus members in “their” costumes. So, back to the number, well that’s it. The “frozen” actors come to life and dance. rah. Nothing magical about it.

The potential for this scene on Broadway is huge…Chalk drawings projected on the floor of the stage floor (I’m thinking how beautiful the stage floor was for Secret Garden), special effects to have them jump into the paintings, colorful carousels horses, cute dancing penguins. Yeah, it’s expected, but isn’t that the point with a classic like Mary Poppins?!!!

So then we were both waiting for the big Uncle Albert number where they all fly and laugh wildly. It was non-existent. There was NO Uncle Albert! No happy laughing scene. This was one of the many changes. Not only did they leave things out, they added weird things that added nothing to the story. At one point mid-way through the show, Mary Poppins leaves the Banks family and they must replace her. Her replacement is “The Holy Terror”, “Miss Andrew”. She is pure evil, making them drink her own horrid version of medicine in a number called “Brimstone and Treacle”. My friend Kim pointed out that it was interesting they named her Miss Andrew considered our beloved Julie Andrews played M.P. in the movie. In the earlier Supercali..(etc.) number, the foursome visited Mrs. Corry who owns a magic sweet shop. They learn that their father had a mean nanny named Miss Andrew. Being raised by this monster & the fact that his own father ignored him has made him a cold man.

Other “low-lights”:
• When Mary flies in the 1st time, the backdrop is baby blue, so the wires are highly visible.
• No “Votes for Women” storyline to involve Mrs. Banks.
• No Admiral Boom bit where the family & staff has to batten down the hatches whenever he fires his cannon. (He’s in the musical, but pretty much a non-character.)
• When Mary first arrives and empties her carpet bag, the items were all collapsible. I mean, you could see several of them “pop-up” or expand. The toys don’t come to life in this scene. Instead…
• The toys come to life in a dream the children have after mistreating their toys. The music is creepy and scary, and so are the toys. Think “Chucky”. :-(
• The “Spoonful of Sugar” song was not in the nursery. It was in the kitchen after the children decided to take over and made a mess. The table/counter “cracked” in half and the shelves on the wall broke so the plates “fell”. Nothing really breaks. When Mary “fixes” everything, it’s like when a ride at Disneyland resets itself and the table goes back together and the shelves right themselves. Cheesy special effects.
• We see too much of the marital problems of Mr. & Mrs. Banks. As Kim put it, it was like we were going through marriage counseling with them, including Mrs. B. singing “Being Mrs. Banks”.

At intermission, I didn’t even want a program. But I did buy a cute umbrella ornament and a MP pin. OH! I have never, ever, had problems at a theater DURING INTERMISSION, IN THE LOBBY, with taking pictures. But I snapped one picture and TWO employees were all over me. They wanted me to surrender my camera. I explained I didn’t realize you couldn’t take pictures in the lobby. They said the issue was that I HAD a camera in my possesion, and if they know it, they must confiscate it. Kim jumped in at one point and asked if she could just give us a warning, and I promised I wouldn’t remove it from my purse. She eventually said OK, but you could tell she was really worried I wouldn’t comply and said she’d really get in trouble, yada, yada. Sheesh! It’s a lobby people!

There was one more highlight at the end when MP flew away. She flies right over the audience and from our 6th row of the Mezzanine, she was about 20 feet away. That was cool! She floated right up into the rafters & disappeared!

Kim initially felt bad that she was going without the kids, but after seeing it she was glad. I really wanted to like it, & I didn’t want to give a bad review. Really, if it didn’t have the Disney name on it, I could understand it being different. I probably wouldn’t have been thrilled, but I could’ve understood it. I can’t believe I’m saying this but...“Disney Productions, you disappointed.”

This is the "illegal" picture I took:

Running of the Ears

If you are interested in running, walking, cycling, or "tri-ing" (doing a triathlon), and if you love Disney, check out this website! There's lots of helpful info about training for all kinds of races (even non-Disney ones), and you'll meet a lot of great people! All the cool kids hang out here :-)

CLICK ON LINK AT THE LEFT, or just go to www.runningoftheears.com

"Garmin Forever" uh, I mean Forerunner

In the running world, I'm really behind the times. After a couple years of ignoring all the Garmin talk (mainly because I didn't know what the heck it was, let alone what it could do for me), I finally decided to see what all the chatter was about...and proceeded to buy one. OK, it would probably surprise most of you who know me that I really like electronic toys. I just don't like figuring them out when they 1st arrive. I just want them to magically do all their little tricks.

Why do I "need" one? When I first started walking I actually used something as primitive as a pedometer! Can you imagine?!!! :-) They were fine, but they're a pain to calibrate, very inaccurate, and if you want to jog a little, forget it, they won't work. Then sometimes I would hop in the car and drive the route. Of course this required me to remember the route I had driven. Then I found www.mapmyrun.com -A very handy little tool that lets you map out your run right on a city street map, and it calculates the distance. The downside is if I've already mapped out my route, I can't deviate from it if I see a neat looking street, or decide I want to go by way of the corner market (more water!) or "Hey, there's an ice cream truck!" Just kidding.

Enter the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS trainer. Ah bliss. Slap that baby on my wrist, turn it on, and go! Since it is GPS, it calculates my mileage. Heck, if I wanna run in circles (see picture below) I can do that too! It's also a stopwatch (of course) and calculates pace, calories, heart rate, and lots of other cool, geeky stuff. If I'm feeling competitive I can even set up my "virtual partner" to run with me, then watch who is ahead. It's been so nice to just walk up and down whatever street I wanted to without planning ahead. Lately the criteria has been, whichever street has the most shade!

About my "running in circles" comment, yesterday I grabbed my shoes and plopped myself down to put them on, then saw this:
I own more than one pair.

Run Through Redlands April 19, 2009

Last year I did the 1/2 marathon in this race, and hated it (See old post), so I vowed I'd never do it again and would instead do the 10K. It was just right. Still enough of those good old Redlands hills to offer a nice challenge and still have fun. No medal for the 10K but even without the bling I'm glad I did it. (I did get a pretty green ribbon) :-) I had a decent run/walk (mostly walk) time of 1:25. At least there were still orange slices and water left when I finished! And then I found my friend Sandi and waited with her for her husband Mitch to finish his 1st 1/2marathon.

"It's my blog and I'll rant if I want to!"

This is really a P.S. to my Pasadena 5K report.
During the 5K I actually saw a group of people who "cheated"! I couldn't believe it. In longer distance races there are mats placed throughout the race, and the timer chip you wear will record your time when you hit that mat, i.e. if you miss that mat, you won't be timed and you will have a DNF (Did not finish.) For instance, in a 1/2 marathon you will also cross a mat at the 5K and 10K mark, or other predetermined distances. This is both for the runner to be able to check their times at certain points, but also to keep people from cheating. But with a 5K there usually are no "check points" since it's just 3.1 miles. I was, and still am, shocked. What possible gratification can you get from cheating on a race! And yet it happens. I am really big on encouraging people who are just starting out...even if you're a couch potato, you can do it...but come on! If you can't finish a 5K legitimately, don't sign up. And this was not a case of someone who was "in trouble" physically, as in, we've just got to get to the finish line. So, as I was on my back half of the race, on my way to the finish, I saw this whole group of people cut short of the 1/2 way point & cross over and join the return route. Unbelievable! I heard them rationalizing to themselves about how they had probably walked 3 miles if you count walking to/from the car, etc. I almost said something but didn't want to get beat up. And to think that they got a medal for it. Disgusting.

OK, I'm off my soap box.

Pasadena 5K - "Inaugural Redux" March 22, 2009

The inaugural Pasadena Marathon/Half Marathon/5K/Bike Races were originally scheduled for Nov. 11, 2008. Then Southern California was hit with terrible fires. The race officials sent updates all day Saturday saying it was still on, but Sunday morning (race day) at 4:00 AM, the message came that they had to cancel due to poor air quality. Probably a good decision, but I felt really bad for those who had trained for the half & full. So, it was rescheduled for March 2009. As we got closer to race day, the forecast was rain. When I left the house it hadn't started raining, but just as I was arriving, it started to sprinkle, and then standing in the corral it POURED. Fortunately I had a sweatshirt & a rain poncho. Oh! They had about 20 port-a-porties at the start for this huge crowd. Ridiculous. Other than that, they did a good job considering it was their first race & had faced a lot of adversity.Aneeeeeway, being primarily a walker, I hadn't done much training in the way of running, but decided to do some run/walk intervals, and I finished in 40:14, my best 5K time! If only I had run a bit more I could've done sub 40 minutes! For the 5K-ers, the rain stopped for most of the race, then poured again as soon as I finished.

Disney World Princess Half Marathon March 2009

Only 5 days (and 2 of those were spent traveling) at WDW, and I had to fit in 4 parks, an Expo, a 5K, and a ½ marathon. Oh, and some sleep. Didn’t get much of the latter. I learned a lot from this trip, namely that I’m not 20 anymore, and that you really can’t cram all this into 3 days! I hadn’t been there since 2000 so my “to-do/see” list was long!

Arrived on Thursday night with just enough time to meet my roommates Erica & Kelly, eat a sandwich and head to bed. On Friday morning Kelly & I headed over to Animal Kingdom to try out the “new” roller coaster, Expedition Everest. It was a blast, except when we rode a 2nd time & my head slid off the head rest & smacked into the side of the head rest. But other than that… Also checked out the Nemo show, then it was off to the Wide World of Sports for the Princess Expo. OMGoodness, I have never spent so much time at an expo! When we arrived the fairy godmothers sprinkled us Princesses with Pixie Dust.Then it was off to getting our race packets & SHOPPING! There were several running skirt vendors, plus all the Disney Princess stuff, and OF COURSE meeting my “imaginary friends” from DisneyRunning.com (Many of us know one another from the “club” but have never met in person, and some family members think our friends online are imaginary.)
We were there for about 5 hours! It was fun, but I hadn’t planned for this and ended up messing up my shoulders, neck, & back for the rest of the weekend from carrying a backpack that weighed about 20 lbs. Seriously. Another reality check on the age.
We grabbed a quick bite to eat then headed to Epcot. That night we had fish & chips in England, went on Test Track, and watched Illuminations from our prime viewing area. Kelly’s cousin works there so instead of having to get a viewing spot an hour before, we walked up right at the start & had a place right on the pier!
Saturday morning was the 5K. Got up early to catch the bus to the start. A lot of the women dressed as their favorite princess, or at the very least, in the colors of their fav. The Cinderellas:
After the 5K, Erica, Kelly & I headed over to the Polynesian for a good breakfast, then on to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM). Tower of Terror, Aerosmith’s Rockin Rollercoaster, Chocolate shakes at the 50’s PrimeTime Café, Great Movie Ride, Grauman’s Chinese Theater (had to put my hands in Mickey’s prints)We ate at Mama Melrose’s for our "carb load" dinner. The girls told the waiters it was my birthday so we got to celebrate that too! Soooo, it’s Saturday night before the big race. I’m already exhausted from the 3 hr. time change, slept about 6 hrs. Thurs. night, 4 hrs. Fri. night, and now we were also loosing another hour because it was Daylight Savings changeover time! We changed the hotel’s clock time & set the alarm for 3:00 AM. It went off at 2:00. Apparently the clocks reset themselves for DST, only we didn’t know that. Then Erica in her sleepy stupor kept hitting the snooze instead of shutting it off. She’s a deep sleeper. :-) I slept about 2.5 hrs., and by Sunday my neck & shoulders were really tight. We went to the food court for a quick bite, got on the bus & made it to the start line by 5:30 or 6:00. It was really cold (especially for this CA girl!), but all the DR people met up at the “R” tent and had fun waiting for the start. It was literally almost a full mile walk to the start (What were they thinking?) and there was one “last chance” porta-potty area, and then too bad. I don’t even want to tell you what some were doing. Let’s just say there’s a lot of swamp land out there!
As with the 5K, there were characters everywhere, both the Disney ones, and runners dressed as characters.The course took us through the Magic Kingdom at around miles 5-6 which was really fun. My eyes were darting all over the place trying to soak it all in and still keep moving. I HAD to stop for a few pictures…
Except for Magic Kingdom the course was a lot of open roads with trees, up and down on/off ramps with what I thought was a lot a camber, which is really hard on the joints. By Mile 10 my shoulders and neck were one big knot. I tried to massage my shoulders to work it out, but it hurt pretty bad. I was also feeling like a wet noodle…combo of not enough sleep, the humidity, and probably needing some nutrition.I can't tell you how forced this smile was.

Crossed the finish line, got my beautiful tiara medal, AND a DIET COKE! Yes!


















After a shower at the hotel, we all met up at the Floridian for a nice Princess character dinner. Cinderella and the whole family!
But we’re not done yet! After dinner it was off to the Magic Kingdom.There was so much I wanted to see and so little time. I decided to head off on my own & see a few of the sites. Visited Mickey & Minnie at Mickey’s house and I HAD to go to the Carousel of Progress! I guess it’s the nostalgic thing, and since we don’t have it at Dland, I really enjoy it. I bought some fudge to take home to Dad, shopped a little more, then headed back to the hotel. In the morning, Erica, Kelly & I had breakfast at the hotel (Mickey waffles!) then Kelly & I had to head to the airport.

It was a fantastic trip, but I would definitely do things differently next time. Since I’m not in a position to make my trip longer than 5 days, I probably wouldn’t do the 5K, less time at the expo, and more park time. Before I left for this trip, I had already signed up for the 2010 Half Marathon in January. This will be during the Marathon weekend where some will do the full marathon or half OR BOTH, which is appropriately called the “Goofy” I’m not that crazy. Good-bye Disney World. Until next year!

Surf City 1/2 Marathon, Huntington Beach Feb. 1, 2009

Is it really February already? I haven't blogged in awhile and a race report seemed like a good reason to blog. On Sat. 1/31 I headed down to Newport Beach to meet Kim & Jeff, the kiddos & Kim's mom, Karen.
After picking up our packets and checking out the expo, we headed down to the beach. It was a gloriously beautiful day! Sunny and warm but not hot. The kids played in the sand and splashed in the water and the rest of us soaked up the sunshine.




If you look closely at the horizon, you can see Catalina Island.
The sunshine kinda brought out the kid in me!


Thanks to Jeff & Kim and their Marriott points :-) we stayed at the Newport Beach Villas. Very Nice. Sunday morning Jeff, Kim & I left the hotel a little before 6:00 AM to head to Huntington Beach.

The shuttle service for the race was horrible, and poor Kim had to jog to the start line to meet Steve for their 5K. Jeff & I walked over to the start for the 1/2 which started a bit later. It was overcast & cold before the race.
The sun came out after about 1-2 miles. It stayed cool so the sun felt good. I was keeping a pretty good walking pace. The thought occured to me that I might be sorry in the later miles, but it would also feel really good to have a PR (personal record), so I tried to keep the pace. I did have to stop for a pic or two. :-)

My right knee started hurting around mile 10, but I didn't slow down. By mile 11-13, I was longing for it to end. Crossed the finish line at 3:06! (previous PR 3:14)
Jeff had his own PR of 1:59 despite some heavy duty pain in his ankle. And then there's Kimmie. She was just 4 weeks out from surgery, but decided to attempt walking the 5K anyway. She just wanted to finish, even if it took 2 hours. Well, she finished in 49 minutes! That's a great time even without surgery! And her sweet brother Steve stayed with her the whole time even though he could've run. Good brother! I'm proud of you Kimmie!

I was looking online for any press there may have been for the race, and specifically the number of runners, which was about 18,000. I found this interesting article about a man named Robert Lopez who ran Surf City...his 198th marathon! AND he and his wife have both survived cancer! Pretty inspiring, if you feel like reading it:
http://www.marathonguide.com/news/search.cfm?M_ID=484
I could relate to something he said: "I was attracted to running because it wasn't a team thing and nobody was relying on me to not screw up and a little bit of pressure was off. But also there was a social aspect to it. I was able to meet people, and they had great stories to tell." When you run (or walk), the only competition is with yourself, but there's still a lot of camaraderie. Sometimes chatting with complete strangers can get you through a tough mile or two. I've also recently "met" some pretty fun people on...[EDIT: Previous website referred to here is no longer a good site. See new, fantastic site www.runningoftheears.com] and will be joining some of them next month at Disney World for the Princess 1/2 marathon! Oh yeah, and the medals are pretty fun too!