GEORGE: Winifred, did I just agree to take the children to the bank?
WINIFRED: It certainly sounded that way, dear. George, your carnation! (she fixes it)
MARY POPPINS: I’ll deliver the children to you this afternoon, sir.
JANE: (calling after their father) Goodbye Father. We’re going on an outing with you!
MICHAEL: See you at the bank, Father. And afterwards, perhaps we can fly a kite together.
GEORGE: (not hearing the children, exiting to work) Just what the children need--a tour of the bank. A capital idea! Good thinking, George. Quite right. Good idea. Quite right. Good idea. Quite right. Good boom! Admiral!
MUSIC ?? to cover scene change……………...Orchestra
Scene 8: Mrs. Corry’s Talking Shop/”Supercalifragilistic…”
(Bert and Willoughby enter one side of stage; Jane, Michael, and Poppins enter opposite side)
Jane: Oh, Michael, we’re off to the city! And we'll see all the sights, and father can point them out to us.
MICHAEL: Words can hardly describe how I feel right now.
JANE: Happy?
MICHAEL: Yes, but more than that
JANE: Excited?
MICHAEL: More than that.
JANE: Nervous?
MICHAEL: Yes, a little, but different from that.
JANE: Eager?
MICHAEL: More than that!
JANE: Well there isn’t a word then.
POPPINS: Oh, there might be. We just haven’t thought of it yet. Be patient, youngsters
(Willoughby barks noisily at Berts)
BERT: All right, all ready, we hear ya, ragamuffin.
BERTOLT: You don’t say. I’m not sure you want our advice.
BERTHA: She’s over there. You can ask her yourself.
(Willoughby barks some more)
JANE: Isn’t that Miss Lark’s dog, Willoughby?
POPPINS: Don’t interrupt when someone’s barking. (to Willoughby) You were saying? (Willoughby barks some more, Poppins answers in an acid tone) Uh, not so fast, please. I can't understand a word you're saying. Again? Och! (Willoughby sneezes) Bless you. Really? Well, she’ll be terribly upset. (bark) I understand. (bark) Asparagus and chicken every day. Yes, that could get tedious. (bark) But do you know enough tricks? (Willoughby shakes, begs, rolls over, hops on two legs) Very impressive, but I’m not sure they’d take you. (Willoughby whimpers)
MICHAEL: What did she say. What did she say?
BERTHA: She’s tired of living at home and eating healthy.
BERT: She wants to run away to join the circus. (Willoughby nuzzles Bert)
MISS LARK: (offstage) Willoughby! Come here. Where are you? (entering) Willoughby. It’s all right. Mummy is here! (Willoughby barks some more). You know, sometimes you’d almost think she could talk. (she smothers him in kisses and they rush off).
JANE: Mary Poppins, how did you learn to talk dog?
POPPINS: How do you think? Master the grammar--
BERT: Practice when you can
BERTOLT: And if you like slang--.
All B’s: Talk to mongrels (motioning to Willoughby/Miss Lark) and avoid the pedigrees.
POPPINS: Come along, now. Off to the bank. Spit spot. We can’t stand around all day ‘talking shop’.
MICHAEL: A talking shop?! What is that?
JANE: It’s an expression, Michael.
MICHAEL: What can you buy in a talking shop?
JANE: You can’t buy anything. Don’t be silly.
POPPINS: That’s a perfectly reasonable question, Michael. You buy conversations, of course. It’s a talking shop.
JANE: Mary Poppins, you’re teasing us, aren’t you?
POPPINS: I never tease.
JANE: Well, I’ve never seen a talking shop.
BERTHA: That’s because there’s only one.
BERT: And it belongs to Mrs. Corry.
JANE: Who is Mrs. Corry?
All B’s: Who is Mrs. Corry?!?!
BERT: Mrs. Corry is older than anyone in the world.
BERTOLT: She talked to William before he went conquering.
BERTHA: --to Vlad before he went impaling
BERT: --to Alexander when he weren’t so great.
POPPINS: We’ll have to call on her shop in the park.
MICHAEL: WHAT shop in the park?!? I’ve been there a million times and never seen one.
POPPINS: Then you weren’t looking carefully. Sometimes, the most interesting things are right under your nose.
MUSIC #10A - Talking Shop…………...Orchestra
(Mrs. Corry’s shop magically appears behind them. It’s a banner with letters on sticks, held up by customers. They wheel in a cart. Mrs Corry is surrounded by customers demanding conversations.)
CUSTOMER 1: Mrs. Corry, I want a political conversation. How can you be out of them? There’s no end to politics!
CUSTOMER 2: My granny is hard of hearing. I need a really LOUD conversation
CUSTOMER 3: I need a conversation that will convince my father to buy me a pony.
CUSTOMER 4: Excuse me, Do you have any conversation starters that are good when you’re out with a boy?
CUSTOMER 5: I need a joke.
MRS CORRY: How about this one, “Conversationalist #1 says: There once was a man with a wooden leg named Smith. Conversationalist #2 replies: Oh, Really, What was his other leg named?”
(All the customers moan, but Michael laughs uproariously)
CUSTOMER 5: No, I don’t want that one. It’s lame.
(Now, all the customers laugh)
MRS. CORRY: Well sorry folks. That’s it. I’ve run out of conversations. Lookahere...if it isn’t Mary Poppins! What can I do for you? I’m afraid we’re all out of aphorisms, adages, and simple truths.
POPPINS: Oh dear, that’s my mainstay.
MRS. CORRY: There’s been a run on everything. I’m even out of words. So many chatterboxes today!...But let me see what I have left. Oooh, I do have some letters.
POPPINS: I’d like an ounce.
MUSIC #10B - Choosing the Letters…………….Orchestra
MRS CORRY: That’ll be 15 letters. Go on, take your pick.
POPPINS: Jane, You can choose seven.
JANE: I’ve got a D G R U C L and I
(the customers are very impressed)
MICHAEL: How can you make a conversation out them?
POPPINS: Your turn now. Michael, seven more.
MICHAEL: A F S E T O and P
(the customers are even more impressed)
POPPINS: And I’ll choose an...X
(the customers are awestruck. will she be able to make a conversation with it?!?)
Now, what words can we make?
JANE: Well I see ‘Dog” and ‘Cat.’
MRS CORRY: ‘Rautoplex’ That’s nine
BERT: ‘Lapitoferus’
BERTOLT: That’s 11!
BERTHA: We’re almost there.
JANE: Those don’t count. You made them up.
MRS. CORRY: And where do you think words came from in the first place? Somebody had to make them up.
BERT: That’s right. You shoulda seen the new-fangled words Mrs. Corry sold to Shakespeare.
JANE & MICHAEL: You knew Shakespeare?!
MRS CORRY: Pshaw! He got most of his ideas from conversations he bought here!
POPPINS: You know, we can always use the same letter more than once. Now let me see...super..calif...ragil..istic...expi...ali... docious.
MUSIC #11 Supercalifragilistic……. (Poppins, Berts, Jane, Michael, Mrs. Corry, Customers)
MICHAEL: That’s not a word!!!
POPPINS: Of course it’s a word. And unless I’m very much mistaken, I think it’s going to prove a rather useful one.
When trying to express oneself, it’s frankly quite absurd
To leaf through lengthy lexicons to find the perfect word.
CORRY A little Spontaneity keeps conversation keen.
You need to find a way to say precisely what you mean.
POPPINS/CORRY Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
CORRY Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious
POPPINS If you say it loud enough, you’ll always sound precocious.
CORRY/POPPINS Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
CORRY/CUSTOMERS Um diddle iddle iddle um diddle ay
Um diddle iddle iddle um diddle ay
JANE: But that doesn’t mean anything!
CORRY/CUSTOMERS Um diddle iddle iddle um diddle ay
POPPINS: It can mean exactly what you want it to.
CORRY/CUSTOMERS Um diddle iddle iddle um diddle ay
POPPINS When stone-age men were chatting
Simply grunting would suffice
CORRY/CUSTOMERS UGH!
ALL B’s Though if they’d heard this word
They might have used it once or twice
CORRY I’m sure Egyptian pharaohs would have grasped in a jiffy
Then every single pyramid would bear this hieroglyph-y
Oh, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Say it and wild animals will not seem so ferocious.
CUSTOMERS GRRR!
POPPINS Add some further flourishes---It’s so Rococococious.
CORRY Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
POPPINS Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
ALL B’s Ah-ah-ah-ah
POPPINS/JANE/MICHAEL/CORRY Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
CORRY/ALL B’s/JANE/MICHAEL/CUSTOMERS Um diddle iddle iddle um diddle ay
Um diddle iddle iddle um diddle ay
Um diddle iddle iddle um diddle ay
Um diddle iddle iddle um diddle ay
ALL B’s: The druids could have carved it
On their mighty monoliths
CORRY: The ancient greeks I’m certain would have
Used it in their myths.
POPPINS I’m sure the roman empire only entered the abyss
Because those latin scholars never had a word like this.
ALL Bs/CORRY/POPPINS/JANE/MICHAEL Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
CUSTOMERS Yum Yum Yum Yum Yum
POPPINS If you say it softly the effect can be hypnotious.
ALL Bs Check your breath before you speak in case it’s halitotious.
MICHAEL/JANE/CUSTOMERS Yuck!
ALL Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Um diddle iddle iddle um diddle ay
Um diddle iddle iddle um diddle ay
Um diddle iddle iddle um diddle ay
Um diddle iddle iddle um diddle ay
POPPINS: You know you can say it backwards, which is suoicodilaipxecitsiligarfilacrepus
MICHAEL: She may be tricky, but she’s bloody good! (all gasp at Michael’s cheekiness!)
CORRY: So when the cat has got your tongue
There’s no need for dismay
Just summon up this word
And then you’ve got alot to say.
ALL B’s Pick out those eighteen consonants
Add 16 vowels as well
And put them in an order that is very hard to spell
POPPINS S U P E R, C A L I F, R A G I L, I S T I C E X P I A L I D
MICHAEL JANE O C I O U S
All B’s Smarty Pants!
(all join in charades)
ALL S U P E R, C A L I F, R A G I L, I S T I C E X P I A L I D
O C I O U S
S U P E R (S U P E R), C A L I F (C A L I F), R A G I L ( R A G I L),
I S T I C E X P I A L I D O C I O U S
(increasing in tempo) S U P E R (S U P E R), C A L I F (C A L I F), R A G I L ( R A G I L),
I S T I C E X P I A L I D O C I O U S
BERT Here we go!
ALL Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious
If you say it loud enough, you’ll always sound precocious.
Supercalifragilistic.
MICHAEL/JANE Supercalifragilistic.
ALL Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
MUSIC #11A-Supercalifragi Reprise/ “The Wind May Blow”
(Exit Poppins) Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
S U P E R (S U P E R), C A L I F (C A L I F), R A G I L ( R A G I L),
I S T I C E X P I A L I D, O C I O U S
BERTOLt/BERTHA: Here we go!
ALL: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious
If you say it loud enough, you’ll always sound precocious.
Supercalifragilistic.
ALL Bs Supercalifragilistic.
ALL Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
***********end of ACT I**********
Scene 9: On the way to the Bank/ “Feed the Birds”
MUSIC #14 - Cherry Tree Lane (Reprise, a portion of it)..................Orchestra
POPPINS: And now to the bank to see you father and learn about investments. We’re a little behind our time. Spit spot.
JANE: This will be our first outing with father.
MICHAEL: I brought some money to buy kite string and a kite.
JANE: Michael, Father won’t fly a kite, he’s too busy.
MICHAEL: Oh look, there’s a witch.
MUSIC #10 - Feed the Birds…………..(Bird Woman, Poppins, Ensemble)
(points to BIRD WOMAN who is seated on steps feeding birds. The birds are 2 dancers in black with bird streamers. They appear and flock nearby and eventually come for bird seed)
BIRD WOMAN Feed the Birds, Tuppence a Bag,
Tuppence, Tuppence, Tuppence a Bag.
POPPINS: It’s rude to point, Michael. She’s hardly a witch.
MICHAEL: Well, she’s certainly scary.
JANE: She’s just a bundle of rags.
POPPINS: Ah, is that so? I think she’s far more than that.
Early each day to the steps of St. Paul's
The little old bird woman comes
In her own special way to the people she calls
BIRD WOMAN Come buy my bags full of crumbs
Come feed the little birds show them you care
And you'll be glad if you do
Their young ones are hungry
Their nests are so bare
All it takes is tuppence from you
Feed the birds tuppence a bag
Tuppence, tuppence tuppence a bag
POPPINS Feed the birds that's what she cries
While overhead her birds fill the skies
ENSEMBLE (offstage) Ah…
(reaches in his pocket and moves toward Bird Woman)
JANE: What are you doing, Michael?
MICHAEL: I want to feed the birds.
JANE: Can’t you see, she’s a beggar? ( Jane grabs him back)
MICHAEL: No, she’s not. She’s a caretaker….for birds.
JANE: Father would say it’s a waste of money.
POPPINS: That’s a matter of opinion.
All around the cathedral
The saints and apostles
Look down as she sells her wares
Although you can't see it
You know they are smiling
Each time someone shows that he cares
Though her words are simple and few
Listen, listen she's calling to you
BIRD WOMAN Feed the birds tuppence a bag
Tuppence, tuppence
BIRD WOMAN/POPPINS tuppence a bag
BIRD WOMAN Tuppence, tuppence tuppence a bag
(Michael is just about to hand the BIRD WOMAN a tuppence for a bag of seeds.)
SCENE 10: A Run on the Bank
GEORGE: Children, where’ve you been. You’re late.
Jane: FATHER!!! We had the most wonderful morning with Mary Poppins.
GEORGE: Yes, yes. Not so loud. Mary Poppins. Please return for them in half an hour. This is most inconvenient.
JANE & MICHAEL: Half an hour?! I thought we were going on an outing together, Father?
POPPINS: Sometimes things happen for a reason, children. (exits)
GEORGE: If that isn’t a vacuous statement.
JANE: Speaking of statements. Father did you know there’s a TALKING SHOP in the Park? We could go back there today, if you like. And we learned a new word.
MICHAEL: And a joke, a really good joke. It goes like this. “I know a man with a wooden leg named Smith.”
GEORGE: Smith? We don't know anyone called Smith.
MICHAEL: Then the second conversationalist says, "What's the name of his other leg?" (Michael laughs)
GEORGE: A leg named Smith? Come along.
MICHAEL: May I feed the birds, Father? It only costs a tuppence.
GEORGE: Waste your money on a lot of ragamuffin birds? Certainly not.
MICHAEL: But Mary Poppins--
GEORGE: I am not interested in what Mary Poppins says. Nor do I wish to keep hearing her name for the remainder of the day. Now come along!
Michael: But it's my tuppence!
GEORGE: Michael, I will not permit you to throw your money away! When we go inside the bank, I shall show you what may be done with your tuppence. And I think you'll find it extremely interesting.
MICHAEL: hmmph. I don’t know what to say
JANE: Just say, supercalifragilisticexpealidocious
GEORGE: What?! Good gracious! super cali fragi what-sis?!
JANE & MICHAEL: (really loudly) supercalifragilisticexpealidocious
JANE: Mary Poppins taught us. Isn’t it the most wonderful word?
GEORGE: I told you, I don’t want to hear her name
JANE: It’s what you say when you don’t know what to say.
GEORGE: When you don’t know what to say, you remain silent. Which is what I expect of you children when we enter the bank. And that’s the final straw! Mary Poppins gets the sack this afternoon.
JANE: Oh Father, please don’t make her go.
MICHAEL: That’s not fair.
GEORGE: Now fix yourselves up. And bring out your best manners, I know you have them somewhere. Too much silliness is unhealthy for young minds. Super cali fragi--whatever. Utter nonsense.
MUSIC #9 - Precision & Order (Clerks, George, Chairman)
(they enter the bank; a hive of industry with neither heart nor soul.)
CLERKS: PRECISION & ORDER
COGS IN A WHEEL
OPENING a LEDGER
CLOSING A DEAL
PRUDENT INVESTMENT,
FINANCIAL SENSE
OUR PERFECT RAY OF SUNSHINE
POUNDS, SHILLINGS AND PENCE.
DAWES bank officer: Hello, Banks. What's all this about?
GEORGE: These are my children, Mrs. Dawes.
DAWES: Well, so I assumed. But why are they here?
GEORGE: They wish to open an account, sir.
DAWES: Oh, indeed? And just how much money do you have, young man?
Michael: Tuppence. But I want it to feed the birds.
GEORGE: Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.
CHAIRMAN: Tuppence? Tuppence? Precisely how I started.
GEORGE: That's the chairman of the bank, the elder Mr. Dawes. A giant in the world of finance.
Michael: A giant? He looks pretty short to me.
GEORGE: Shh, shh, shh. Listen to him
CHAIRMAN: GREAT MEN HAVE DREAMS OF POWER AND POSITION
AND IT’S OUR JOB TO BACK THEM TO THE HILT
FOR SHREWD INVESTMENT AND ADVICE
THEY’LL PAY OUR PRICE
CHAIRMAN/CLERKS THE BEDROCK ON WHICH BANKS ARE BUILT
CLERKS IN EVERY TRANSACTION CREDIT OR DEBT,
SHEETS ARE ALL WELL BALANCED,
TARGETS ARE MET…
MET...MET...MET….MET...MET. ...MET….MET
DAWES: Uh, Father, these are Banks's children. They want to open an account.
CHAIRMAN: Oh, they do, do they, boy? Excellent. Excellent. So you want to be a banker, young man?
A MAN HAS DREAMS OF BUILDING AN EMPIRE
TO MAKE HIS NAME IN MANY DISTANT LANDS
AND IN THE NEW WORLD, I AM TOLD
WE’LL SOON STRIKE GOLD
LET’S SEIZE THAT CHANCE WITH BOTH OUR HANDS
CLERKS/DAWES ASSESSING THE MARKET,
LIMIT THE RISK
LITTLE ROOM FOR ERROR
BUSINESS IS BRISK...
BRISK...BRISK...BRISK...BRISK...BRISK...BRISK...BRISK...
CHAIRMAN We can alway use more money to, to put to work for the bank, can't we, boy? So, you have tuppence? May I be permitted to see it?
Michael No. I want it to feed the birds!
CHAIRMAN Fiddlesticks, boy! Feed the birds and what have you got? Fat birds! You must put your money to good use.
DAWES: You can purchase first and second trust deeds.
CLERKS: (each saying a line) Bonds, chattels, dividends, shares.
Think of the foreclosures!
Bankruptcies. Debtor sales.
Opportunities.
All manner of private enterprise.
Shipyards. The mercantile. Collieries. Tanneries. Corporations. Amalgamations.
DAWES/CHAIRMAN/CLERKS/GEORGE: While stand the banks of England, England stands. When fall the banks of England, England falls!
CHAIRMAN (grabs tuppence from Michael) Welcome to our joyful family of investors.
Michael Give it back! Gimme back my money!
GEORGE: Michael, behave.
Share with your friends: |