<<< Mary Poppins >>> The Performance

8/3/2010

In coincidence with our anniversary, we took Margaret to DC to spend the night and to see Mary Poppins at the Kennedy Center. We stayed at the Doubletree on New Hampshire Ave NW in DC. Dinner was at the Roof Terrace Restaurant in the Kennedy Center.

We took Buddy to the Kennel and then left Margaret’s at 1145. We stopped in Cambridge at Snappers Restaurant for lunch. We checked into the Doubletree Hotel on New Hampshire NW at about 1600. We went to the Roof Terrace Restaurant and Bar on the south end of the building for dinner. The performance of Mary Poppins was excellent. Wednesday morning, the GPS took us through downtown Washington. We stopped at Denny's for brunch and had Margaret at her house by 1330.

There is a broad deck on three sides of the Kennedy Center. After we left the restaurant, we walked out on the deck for the panoramic view of Washington. The Jefferson, Lincoln Memorials and the Washington Monument were visible. A the north end, we descended into the Kennedy Center. We secured an Assisted Listening Device (ALD), a loaner, from Kennedy Center staff and then proceeded through the lobby. As promised, an "access usher," Charles, wheeled Margaret to the correct elevator and escorted us to Box 8, just to the auditorium right of the centerline. There, she transferred to a chair, as did we all, not standard theatre seats. The view was spectacular. I photographed the main chandelier and the stage before another usher politely told me I couldn't take pictures. I promptly secured the camera. The show was everything we expected and the first act was over in about 90 minutes. During the intermission, I spotted a narrow area, maybe 3 feet wide, of the stage right top balcony that had been blocked by drapes. I suspected this would be part of a grand finish. In Act II, a "bird" was released from the stage and flew, in a shower of sparks, through the house and landed in the balcony above our heads. I'm not sure how they did that. For "Step in Time", Bert, with harness help, danced up the stage left proscenium, across the top, inverted, and then down the stage right proscenium. For the finale, my suspicions proved correct as they flew Mary Poppins from downstage center, through the auditorium and into the upper stage right balcony. It was a fabulous ending to a fabulous show. Charles collected us and took us to the taxi stand for our ride back to the hotel, refusing a tip! The ladies promptly retired as it was past 11. Wednesday morning, after waiting for the traffic to clear a bit, we braved downtown Washington.

Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials Washington Monument Lobby Orchestra Box 8 Chandelier The Stage