'Practically perfect' Ann Michels gets her turn in 'Mary Poppins'

This was a nervous morning for Ann Michels. She hadn't slept well and, really, how could she? It was opening day of rehearsal for the area premiere production of "Mary Poppins" at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. Michels was anxious and eager to start developing her portrayal of the iconic title character — her most-visible role in a long and accomplished theater career.

Of course she was nervous.

Michels sat in the front row of chairs set up in Chanhassen's big rehearsal hall as director Michael Brindisi rallied 50-some actors, musicians, designers and staff members. The seats on each side of her were empty.

Watching from the back of the room, you didn't need to see her face to know it was Michels. There is that bobbed auburn mop of curls perched above lean, strong, square shoulders. And it is on those shoulders that this enterprise will rest.

Indeed, theater is a highly collaborative art, but audiences rarely marvel at the teamwork necessary to get "Mary Poppins" on stage. Chanhassen patrons will hope to be amused by Mark King's Bert, Keith Rice's Mr. Banks and Janet Hayes Trow's Mrs. Banks. The charming and cute children will leave an impression, too.

But Michels knows — everyone in the room knows — that "Mary Poppins" is about Mary. If she is practically perfect in every way, audiences will love the show. If not?

This weighs on Ann Michels on the first day of rehearsal.

Also on her mind this morning is her foot, which she broke landing a dance step in "My Fair Lady" at the Guthrie last summer. It happened early in the run and despite the pain, she made it to closing night. She had surgery in October to remove the sesamoid bone, which was irritating tendons and nerves. She was immobile for weeks and then hobbled for a couple of months.

It felt OK this morning but she knew well enough that she would play with pain if need be, like the gymnast she was in college and high school. Rest, ice, elevation. Then back out, to perform again.

That's the Michels approach and why several observers feel she just might be perfect to play a character with whom she shares important traits.

Mary Poppins and Ann Michels both have a charitable but flinty eye for picking out nonsense. They understand the importance of hard work and duty. They feel strongly that we should respect the Earth and all the spirits within. They expect, as a matter of course, to make magic with their lives.

A mystical character

Michels forged this purposeful approach to life growing up in Northfield with her mom and sister. Her dad lived in Duluth, and she remembers answering the phone at home and telling her mom, "It's Jay." She didn't meet her dad until two years ago.

"That's one of the reasons I think we're such good friends," said friend and frequent castmate Kersten Rodau. "We both had single moms growing up, and we have these deep conversations about it. She is very grateful for her life."

As a kid, Michels loved to play outdoors, sink her feet and hands into the earth. She was naturally athletic as a gymnast and found that she had a talent and an affinity for theater and music — and mystery.

Michels understands Mary Poppins as a modern mythology. She has read many books by Poppins creator P.L. Travers. She's even brought copies to the rehearsal hall for others to read, with little tabs to highlight key passages.

"When I was laid up with my foot, I did total nerd research," she said.

Travers and Michels share the belief that humans become more distant from magic as they grow older — essentially following the track of civilization from the foundations of myth and mystery to science and rationality. The character Travers created was almost a pagan figure, summoning the animals and birds and communing with the constellations in the sky.

"There is nothing sentimental about her," Michels said. "The only time you see Mary Poppins happy in the books is when she's communing with nature. Otherwise, she was prim, stern and structured."

Where is the joy?

Yet, as Michels sits and listens to Brindisi exhort his crew on opening day, she knows that her audience will have been steeped in the sugar-dusted Mary Poppins of Walt Disney and Julie Andrews. Michels knows that she will need to find that lively spirit in the show's music.

"You can't help but have joy in the exuberance of the songs," Michels tells a visitor. "Mary is warm and generous and thoughtful in those moments."

Which is how actors and singers describe Michels, who started in the smallest of Twin Cities theater venues and built a reputation based on talent, eagerness for hard work and an unquenchable buoyancy of spirit. She has had several key roles, at Chanhassen, Theater Latté Da, the Guthrie and the Jungle.

She's a great dressing-room mate, someone who keeps the bar of professionalism set high no matter the assignment.

"I love that she is fully committed, whether she's a lead or in the chorus," Rodau said. "Audiences will fall in love with her positive energy."

That energy, or force, drives a spirituality in Michels that recognizes all that is seen and unseen in the world. She shows up for life every day and pays attention to people.

"I must say 'Bless you' 10 times a day," she said, referring to the people she passes on the street who appear "down on their luck."

Like Travers, who explored the mysticism of American Indian tribes and the philosopher George Gurdjieff (the Fourth Way), Michels is on a constant search for meaning.

"I think she was one of those souls that I was predestined to know," said actor Stacia Rice, who met Michels when they played lovers in a small play 14 years ago. "She is first and foremost luminous, and I don't think that's something that can be manufactured."

Will she fly?

Brindisi is winding up his inspirational opening-day address, about to land on the money moment.

"I am scared by only one thing," he tells the troops. "Becoming emotionally absent. As we get older, there are so many temptations to check out, to become numb, cynical and negative."

It is emotional for Brindisi, who has been feeling the stress of his own aging body, and for Michels — who has worked with this director many times. Tears well in her large, expressive, shiny eyes.

"He gets Mary Poppins," she said.

Brindisi, whose work is grounded in myth and heart, returned the compliment.

"A lot of younger actors who auditioned were really good, but they seemed contemporary and from our world," Brindisi said. "Ann felt like she was from another world."

There had been whispered grumbles among theater folks that Chanhassen's building limitations might prevent Mary Poppins from flying — arguably the character's signature gesture.

Brindisi had heard the scuttlebutt too, and as he now greets each person in the rehearsal hall, he embraces Michels and whispers in her ear: "You're going to fly, Annie."

Asked later whether he meant she would fly literally or metaphorically, Brindisi would only say, "We handle challenges like that with creative, imaginative, evocative theatrics. She'll fly."

Brindisi takes a full 15 minutes, walking through the rows of seats, hugging every person present, thanking them and handing out York peppermint hearts. When he finishes, people stand, stretch and break into conversation.

Michels turns and faces her mates, looking sunny and happy. The nervous energy of the morning has transformed into focus as she starts the task at hand. There is a show to learn.

John Trow, a longtime Chanhassen actor/stagehand, greets a visitor and chatters for a few minutes about golf, grandchildren and the coming summer. He stands silent for a moment, looking across the crowded room of people ready to begin the "Mary Poppins" adventure.

"It's really great to have Annie back," Trow said, unbidden. "She brings such a great spirit to the room. This is going to be fun."

Just as the mercurial Mary Poppins she will portray, Michels is nearly perfect in every way.

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299