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• New musical fails to capture magic of original Disney movie

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Had Walt Disney and director Robert Stevenson never created the marvelously successful movie adaptation of P.L. Travers’ stories of the magical nanny Mary Poppins in 1964, the new Cameron Mackintosh musical would be quite a nice, and at times spectacular, rendition of these same stories for children of all ages. But, that is not the case.

This national touring company of Mary Poppins, which is presently playing at the Cadillac Palace Theater in Chicago, has many undeniably impressive features. With a cast of more than 50 players and marvelous Broadway leads Ashley Brown as Mary and Gavin Lee as Bert, they really give this musical the New York polish and snap. Richard Eyre’s direction is smooth and brisk. The Matthew Bourne choreography is lively and, at times, even breathtaking, especially in a scene where Bert does his “Step in Time” number around the entire proscenium arch of the stage.

Yet where this adaptation fails, for at least this reviewer and unabashed fan of the Disney classic movie, is in how the book by Julian Fellowes and new songs by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe diminish the charm and near perfection of the original story. It’s true that ads and theater programs state in fine print under the title “a musical based on the stories of P.L. Travers and the Walt Disney film,” but the narrative of the Disney film is mostly ignored and reconstituted. “Loosely adapted” would have been a more honest phrasing.

Gone is the conflict between Mr. Banks and Mary over the saving of the children’s tuppence (or allowance). Gone are the lovely descriptive songs that define the personalities of Mr. and Mrs. Banks in the early 20th century of the stories’ settings. In fact, Mrs. Banks is no longer a suffragette — ­she’s just a former stage actress. Replacing the songs “Life I Lead” and “Sister Suffragette” are mundane, serviceably simplified “Precision and Order” and “Being Mrs. Banks.” Gone are Uncle Albert and his “I Love to Laugh” number, the dancing penguins, racehorses and fox hunters.

Classic Richard and Robert Sherman songs ”Spoonful of Sugar,” Let’s Go Fly a Kite” and “Feed the Birds” remain, but “Step in Time,” “Chim Chim Cher-ee” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” all have different lyrics. Adaptation and revision for a contemporary audience is completely understandable — it is what makes artists uniquely individual — but some choices are just not that wise.