I ducked into the second act of Mary Poppins at Fair Park Sunday, in between corny dogs and fried butter (oh my Gawd! Fried butter. Awful! Delicious!), to catch original, Tony Award-nominated star Gavin Lee dance on the ceiling as Bert. Lee, I noted in my original review last week, was one of several first-string cast members out on press night.
He makes a big difference.
Lee, legs long and limber, has a goofy, seasoned charm in a role that coasts a long way on charm. He and Ashley Brown (one of the best things in the show) have chemistry that goes a long way. Is his presence enough to convert the show from adequate to unmissable? Well, no. But he certainly makes a good case for checking it out.
