Hot off the heels of a wildly successful Australian tour, Mary Poppins is flying into the Festival Theatre – literally – with a delightful bag of tricks in tow.

The combination of an accomplished cast (Stefanie Jones and Jack Chambers dazzle as Mary Poppins and Bert, respectively, along with the rest of the talented ensemble) and truly outstanding stagecraft creates a truly magical experience. Entire coatracks and brooms materialize out of thin air; mops glide across the floors unaccompanied; cakes bake themselves.

The musical draws inspiration from both the books by P.L. Travers and the 1964 Disney film; in addition to the well-trodden ground of chimney sweeping and kite flying, the Banks children also visit the mysterious purveyor of conversations, Mrs Corry, and dance with a statue of Neleus in the park.

If you’re a fan of the Disney film (which, notably, P.L. Travers herself was not), you’ll find plenty to like in this musical adaptation; almost all of the original soundtrack has made it in, from ‘Jolly Holiday’ to ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’There are also some new numbers too, supplied by songwriting-team George Stiles and Anthony Drewe – these range from the endearing ‘Practically Perfect’ to the somewhat unnerving ‘Playing the Game’, in which a person-sized clown doll cavorts around the stage while imploring Jane and Michael to treat their toys more respectfully (‘Playing the Game’ was actually a late addition to Mary Poppins; the original 2004 stage show featured a song called ‘Temper, Temper’ instead, which was axed because it was too scary for young audience members. Given the already-sinister undertones of ‘Playing the Game’, one shudders to imagine what its predecessor was like).

Given the sheer amount of source material the musical has to play with – Travers wrote eight Mary Poppins books in all – it’s perhaps inevitable that the story feels more like a compilation of charming tableaus than a completely cohesive plot. In addition, the character of Mrs Banks – though played with warmth and wit by Lucie-Mae Sumner – feels somewhat one-dimensional, having lost her Suffragette edge (and the iconic accompanying song).

However, even the indominable Mary Poppins herself admits that she’s only practically perfect; and this heartwarming adaptation comes a great deal closer than most.

At Festival Theatre, Edinburgh until Sat 15 Feb 2025