Steffanie Leigh, who portrays the legendary nanny in Disney’s Mary Poppins now playing at the Center and her colleagues in the show, Hannah Chin and Anthony Christian Daniel, stopped by the Newport Beach Public Library on July 21. During this special visit, the artists read the first chapter from P.L. Travers book, which introduced Mary to the world of literature and imagination in 1934. They answered questions about the show and their careers from the nearly 100 children plus parents who gathered for the afternoon event. The highlight had to be when Steffanie, Hannah and Anthony got everyone to their feet and showed them how to spell out ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ just as they do it in the show.
These afternoon gatherings organized by the Center and the library illustrate how shows and ballets and other stage productions so often originate from great works of literature. Reading them as well as seeing them provides wonderful insight into the stories and their journey through time from page to stage.
It was closer to the beach than "first star and to the right and onto Neverland," but more than 100 children did find their way to the Newport Beach Public Library on Tuesday, November 9 to meet cast members from JM Barrie's Peter Pan. It was a combination of various arts - literature, theater and puppetry. Following a brief reading from chapter one of Barrie's classic novel, Ciaran Joyce and Beth Triffon burst forth with an actual scene from the play, as Peter enters and Wendy sews his shadow back on. A special surprise was the appearance of Nana, the Newfoundland dog who is the Darling childrens' nurse (she was accompanied by her trainer/puppeteer Christopher Keller). Peter Pan continues its run at the Center through January 2.
