I'm sure you could do a very scary take on Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder version) as well.

The Oompa-Loompas from that movie still creep me out.

The thing I love about the Scary Mary trailer is that the Disney movie made Mary Poppins into a much friendlier character than she is in the books themselves. In the books she's cold, distant, and all this freaky (but cool) stuff happens around her. Whenever the kids try and ask her about what's happened, she gets angry with them.

t insert my usual "I want Tim Burton to re-make Mary Poppins" burbling here

Neil Gaiman literally just talked about Mary Poppins and the books in his blog today.

Jilli, will you try to see the musical if it tours? I've read that it's much much darker than the movie, even though the same songs are used. It follows the book more closely.

Jilli, will you try to see the musical if it tours?

Hell yes.

I've read that it's much much darker than the movie, even though the same songs are used. It follows the book more closely.

This makes me want to see it even more!

Me too.

Well, the guy who has the rights to the books, a descendent of Travers, I believe, refused to give Disney rights if they were going to just do the movie on stage. Finally, the new playwright said, "Look! Darkness! She's not that nice!" and the descendent said, "Ok."

Me too.

Even though I have a hyuuuuuge amount of affection for the movie musical just because I was small and pretty much imprinted on it as my Platonic Ideal of what a musical was, bad Cockney accent and American Robin and all.

There's way more than enough richness in the original material to support alternative (and more faithful) takes. Did you know the author was a founding member of the Golden Dawn?

Even though I have a hyuuuuuge amount of affection for the movie musical just because I was small and pretty much imprinted on it as my Platonic Ideal of what a musical was, bad Cockney accent and American Robin and all.

Same here. I try not to watch it when Pete is in the room, because the bad Cockney accent makes him froth with rage.

Did you know the author was a founding member of the Golden Dawn?

Yep! And in one of the Mary Poppins books, there's a whole index of common herbs and their standard magical uses.

the bad Cockney accent makes him froth with rage.

If you have a videocamera, I might be willing to pay money to see this.

Golden Dawn

I think I have my goldens mixed up -- not the South American communist paramilitary organization?

the bad Cockney accent makes him froth with rage.

This kind of cracks me up. Partly cause I can see him grinding his teeth and making *THAT* face, but also partly because IMExperience, I've never heard an American say, "That was the worst Southern accent I've ever heard! She sounded Georgian and she is clearly suppoed to be from Alabama!"