“Anything Can Happen” is my favorite song in the play, Mary Poppins. The first line of that song is “Anything can happen if you let it.” Something happened when Meira Berendt (Levi) decided she wanted to do a production with women. With the help of Hashem, after eight months of hard work, supported by her musical directors, choreographers, cast, and crew, it happened: the women’s play Mary Poppins. The result was a spectacular production that could have been on Broadway.
As a teacher, I
always loved the character of Mary Poppins. For many years in Atlanta, I
dressed up on Purim as Miriam Poppins (a Jewish Mary Poppins) and visited Morah
Dena Friedman’s kindergarten class at Torah Day School, bringing joy to the
children (and myself) as I marched around with my bird head umbrella and sang
“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” So when my daughter was practicing for
the play, I bought tickets for both nights’ performances, December 22 and 23,
at the Panther Theater. I sat at the edge of my seat during this all-woman
professional performance. After the play, I went to sleep singing the songs and
got up singing them. The acting, singing, dancing, scenery, costumes, special
effects, and more were beyond what I expected. It was so enjoyable that I wish
I could watch it again!
Here’s the
first paragraph synopsis of Mary Poppins as it appears in the evening’s
playbill:
The Banks
family of 17 Cherry Tree Lane is in crisis. George Banks, a strict and
disciplined banker, is losing control of his household, while his wife Winifred
feels inadequate in her role as a mother and wife. Their mischievous children,
Jane and Michael, have driven away every nanny until Mary Poppins mysteriously
arrives. With her magic touch, she brings order to the chaos and helps the
Banks family rediscover joy and connection
*
* *
Producer and
director Meira Berendt had already shown she was a doer. When she came back
from seminary, she taught English for two years to seventh graders at Bais
Yaakov. “I loved it,’ Meira says, but she wanted to expand her creativity.
While finishing a degree in computer programming at WITS, she started working
for Kolrom, a multi-media company.
She continues
to work at Kolrom and even wrote her first novel, Hidden Loyalties,
published by Israel Bookshop Publications. But, she says, “I really
wanted to do a women’s production.” So she started looking for plays to produce
and chose the stage play Mary Poppins, a beloved family musical and
obtained a license to produce the show.
Next, Meira
chose a theater. She explains that theaters are set up for different purposes,
such as a lecture or symphony concert hall. She chose the Panther Theater
because it was set up for theatrical productions, including a professional
sound system, flywheel system, and a well-equipped backstage and dressing room
for performers.
In April 2023,
when Meira planned to hold auditions at Bnos Yisrael, she wasn’t sure if enough
women would show up. She advertised and was surprised when many women of every
age came. She says,“I discovered so much unknown talent in Baltimore.”
*
* *
Adina Berman,
as Bert in the play, is a loyal friend of Mary Poppins. Bert is also a
chimneysweep, artist in the park, and spirited narrator throughout the play.
Adina plays piano but had no training in acting or singing. Like many of the
other performers, she has always loved the musical theater. For her audition,
she sang “Practically Perfect” from the play. On May 18, 2023, she received an
email from Meira informing her that she was chosen to be Bert in the show. “I
was glad to have any part,” she says and didn’t realize they would give her a
big role.
“It was a
challenge trying to tap into physical energy,” says Adina. “I really worked
hard to have the kind of playfulness that Bert brings.” She explains that Bert
is a storyteller, telling the audience the story of the Banks family’s journey
as they become closer. Maybe Adina’s own family became closer, too. With the
support of her husband, who hired a babysitter to attend parent-teacher
conferences, she was able to make practices. And her children memorized her
lines, laughed at her antics, and enjoyed practicing with her.
*
* *
In a neat, blue
outfit that fits her character, Shaina Ettel Menda stars as Mary Poppins, a
happy but stern nanny. Shaina Ettel, who owns SE Wigs, has been singing since
she was three years old. At seven, she started voice lessons, and from age 7 to
19, she was in over 45 plays in both regional and local theater. She received a
college degree in music with a concentration in voice. Then she made aliyah
and stopped singing to mixed crowds. In Israel, she sang in a women’s band. One
of her most moving experiences was performing for 100 women from Gush Katif in
a hotel they had to call their home, just days after their expulsion in 2005.
Shaina Ettel is
grateful that Meira had the idea for this play and made her musical director.
She worked hard rehearsing the many musical numbers and says, “The chorus was
incredible.” (And they were!) At the performance, before the cast went out on
stage, she gave them a pep talk: “We know what we got, and we can show it. Now
go out there and shine!”
“It was a
kosher musical without compromising our values,” states Adina Berman, who in
addition to playing Bert, worked alongside Shaina Ettel as co-musical director.
*
* *
Sitting in the
audience, I noticed nervous daughters, who were perhaps dreading seeing their
mothers on stage, and mothers on the edge of their chairs (like me) hoping
their daughters would do well.
Two pairs of
mothers and daughters performed in the play together. Hadassa Friedman, who in
real life wears a red apron and creates candy packages at the Candy Store,
played the part of George Banks. Her daughter Rivka Hammelburger, a history
teacher at Bais Yaakov middle school, played Jane, Mr. Banks’ daughter. The
play gave this mother/daughter duo a chance to bond over something
wholesome and fun. Hadassa expressed what a nachas
it was to watch her daughter shine, and Rivka said that it was a privilege and
a pleasure to watch her talented mother perform.
Leslie Klein,
who plays the maid, Mrs. Brill, has a background in theater, singing, dancing,
and making others laugh. She’s also the academic dean of WITS and wrote in the
playbill that she’s so proud of all her former students in the show. Of course,
she’s proud of her daughter Molly, a freshman at Bais Yaakov, who danced a tap
solo in the “Step in Time” dance and was the ballerina en pointe in the musical
number “Playing the Game.”
*
* *
In the spring
of 2023, most of the major roles were assigned. Then Meira got engaged,
married, and had a baby, b”H. So the play was put on hold until the
following Pesach when she was ready to go back to work. As a new mother, she
benefited from AIM ( Association for Infants and Mothers), whose volunteers
sent her meals after her meal train from friends and family was over.
Even before
their chesed in making meals for her, Meira chose AIM to receive
proceeds from the play because it’s a new organization ready to assist mothers
with infants regardless of family nearby or finances. Besides cooking and
delivering meals, their volunteers babysit other children in the family, send
house cleaners, and offer lactation counseling, their newest program.
Giving proceeds
to tzedakah is just one way that Meira’s production went beyond. Before
the curtain went up, everyone rose and recited chapter 130 from Tehillim. And once the curtain lifted,
several rows of hearing-impaired women on the right front row seats enjoyed the
play while women in black signed for them.
For eight
months, from after Pesach until right before Chanukah, the cast practiced two
or three nights a week. Each woman or girl worked as a team member using the
talents that Hashem gave her. Many held jobs or attended school during the day
and came out for three-hour rehearsals at night. They knew each other’s lines
so well that if anyone was absent they could fill in, Since the cast didn’t
have a fixed place to practice, they met in several schools and shuls as well
as homes of individual families, who opened their spaces and hearts to
them.
*
* *
Elena Tal, a
professional singer and voice teacher, didn’t audition for the play and wasn’t
planning on being in it because she has a busy teaching and performance
schedule that takes her out of town. But in the middle of the summer, at the
request of Shaina Ettel, she became Miss Andrew, the evil nanny. Elena was very
touched that the cast was so kind and respectful to her even though she joined
later. She states that this play was on a very high professional level. “The
people in the cast went above and beyond, meeting with each other, helping with
costumes, and offering ideas.”
Once they
became frum, Shaina Ettel and Elena have only performed for female
audiences but gained in the end. Shaina Ettel says that when she was performing
for mixed audiences she was working her way into their brains to love her.
“When I perform for women, it’s more of a sharing connection, Their hearts are
in mine.”
Elena says that,
singing for females only, she’s experienced a closer connection with her
audiences, creating a sense of camaraderie and support. She feels so
appreciated by the women, especially after she shares her journey of leaving a
professional singing career in the secular world when she discovered the beauty
of Torah. Elena reflects that “Music is a gift from Hashem and allows us to
connect to the Almighty through our neshama. Singing for women and girls
elevates this feeling for me.”
Some of the
women in the play were new to performing. For Aliza Stallman, although she
likes singing, this was the first time she was on stage, “It’s one of the best
things that’s happened to me,” she says. A nurse, Aliza and her husband moved
to Baltimore only two-and-half-years ago, and she was having a hard time making
new connections. A long-time friend, Devora Gross, who plays Mrs. Cory, invited
her to join the chorus. Aliza performed in the musical numbers “It’s a Jolly
Holiday for Mary,” “Let’s Go Fly a Kite,” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,”
“Anything Can Happen,” and “Step in Time,” her favorite, because she was able
to dance up the aisle in the audience. She gives credit to Meira for her
foresight and the ability of both “Meira and Shaina Ettel, working together, to
make this happen.”
Aliza adds,
“It’s been lovely getting to know this group of talented women from all walks
of Yiddishkeit, who readily accept each other. The respect in that room (at
rehearsals) was incredible.” Now, she’s made new friends. and she’s not the
only one.
My daughter
Fayga Grossblatt, the Bird Lady in the play, shares that the group had a What’s
App to schedule rides for rehearsals. After the play, the What’s App became
“The Mary Poppins Friends” so they can keep in touch with each other.* “We
spent so many months together,” she says, “that there is a certain bond, like
family.”
On Thursday,
the first day of Chanukah, three days after the play, I stood at the shtender
that my husband gave me for a birthday present several years ago and sang Hallel like I had never sung
it before. How did this happen? I don’t know but “Anything can happen...if you
let it”!
Meira
is tentatively planning another women’s production in 2026, with auditions
before Pesach of that year and the show before Chanukah. She invites anyone who
wants to get involved to please email her at info@stardomtalent.com.
*I wish I could have interviewed everyone
in the play because this was such a group effort. You were all wonderful!
