Magical show in a league of its own

Mary Poppins, Palace, Manchester, to March 5

When two mighty theatre producers get together, the result can be spectacular.

This extraordinary Cameron Mackintosh/Disney stage version of the famous movie (or rather books and movie, old songs and new all skilfully combined by “Downton Abbey” writer Julian Fellowes) is a major attraction that shows just how big a gap lies between Mackintosh, the man behind “Phantom” and “Les Mis” and, say, the entertaining production of new musical “The Girls” over at the Lowry.

In isolation the Tim Firth/Gary Barlow show is an entertaining night out. But this one is in an entirely different, almost magically constructed league.

It starts with the sets, massive open spaces for parkland, a human-scale dolls house for the Banks’ home and rooftop, bank interior and other locations with distorted scale and perspective to lend grandeur to proceedings.

It continues with magnificent lighting and colour, strong sound, fantastic choreography and costumes, and has at its core some lovely performances, from the Banks children (16 youngsters in eight pairs at various performances) to Poppins herself.

Zizi Strallen brings a curious other-worldliness to the role; not warm but gentle and concerned (since Poppins is hardly human this seems appropriate).

Fondness for her performance grows throughout the evening, culminating in the production’s final coup de theatre as she flies out over the heads in the audience and up past the circle balcony to her next stop. It’s a simple wires trick, but goodness it’s magical — almost matched earlier by Bert’s “Step in Time” highlight as the sweep (Matt Lee) walks up the proscenium arch, upside down across the gap and down the other side as the sweeps dance across the rooftops.

But theirs aren’t the only performances of note: Milo Twomey and Rebecca Lock are sympathetic as the dysfunctional couple Poppins comes to help, while Penelope Woodman is magnificently nasty as nanny Miss Andrew.

The show remains an expensive but thoroughly enjoyable night out for the family. The saving grace is that every penny of your ticket money can be seen up on stage.