Broaden your Horizon

Open different doors

You may find a you there that you never knew was yours

Last Saturday was a strange day for me.  In the afternoon, I took my mother and in-laws to see the stage version of Mary Poppins at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, our most upscale local theater venue.  That night, I collected my toast and toilet paper for a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at our local Unitarian Universalist church.  I rocketed from “A Spoonful of Sugar” to a “Sweet Transvestite” in just a few hours.

It seemed at the time that these two were so different.  One is an elaborate retelling of a children’s classic with extremely talented performers and stunning special effects; the other is Rocky Horror.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that these two pieces really aren’t all that different.  The storyline is basically the same- two naïve souls get taken into another world by a strange but charming guide in a dress. They meet some odd characters, confront some difficult things about themselves, learn about the world outside their comfort zones, and emerge from the experience forever changed.

Both stories are guided, almost shamanic journeys into the depths of the underworld.  They have very different conclusions, which can be blamed on the guides in each story.

Mary Poppins is a much darker story than many people realize.  If you are unfamiliar with the stage version, think for a moment about the film.  We all remember the animated sequences of Dick van Dyke and Julie Andrews dancing with cheerful penguins and riding detached carousel horses through Hyde Park.  But many of us forget little Michael Banks’ confrontation with the transient bird lady, where he is forced to see the pain and deprivation that some of his fellow humans suffer every day.

Fresh from his dark realizations, Michael is forced to go to his father’s bank and start and sensible, interest-bearing account by depositing his precious sixpence coin.  His resistance starts a chain reaction during which the little boy runs loose through industrial age London, his father loses his job, and the whole family seems on the brink of ruin.  Yet, George Banks learns that his family is truly important to him and the entire family becomes closer and happier than they ever were before.  They emerge from the darkness cleared of what no longer serves and ready to live happier lives thanks to the difficult lesson.

The stage version is similar, except that the children and their father learn separate lessons.  Jane and Michael, the children, are guided by their “practically perfect” nanny, Mary Poppins, into wonderful worlds that they never new existed. Escaping dreary London, they dance with animated statues, cavort with chimney sweeps, and learn the usefulness of the word “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” in magical candy shop.

However, the end of the first act brings with it a much more difficult experience, which they must face themselves.  It was all fun and games until their previous behavior comes back to haunt them, and they are forced to account for their actions before they can go back to playing their games. Unfortunately, the original musical number for this section, “Temper, Temper,” is no longer in the show and has been replaced by the milder “Playing the Game.”  “Temper, Temper” features the children’s toys trying Jane and Michael for cruelty.  It is far more dark and disturbing than the current song.  Here’s the original, scarier version:

George and Jane, the children’s parents, are taken on a journey into their own darkness.  George is forced to confront the main source of pain in his life, enabling his wife to understand her husband’s cold, demanding personality.  The two grow closer through this darkness and, like in the film, George learns what truly makes him happy.

Brad and Janet, Rocky Horror’s protagonists, don’t fare as well as any member of the Banks family.  These “young ordinary, healthy kids” are sidetracked by a flat tire while (perhaps foolishly) driving through a rainstorm in a dark forest.  Most Juggler readers probably know what happens next: after going to a castle to use the phone, the hapless Brad and Janet get stripped, humiliated, and seduced by the master of the house, a cross-dressing alien scientist known as Dr. Frank-N-Furter.

OK, so it’s not as deep as Mary Poppins, but it is still a trip into the otherworld.  Brad and Janet, like the Banks family, emerge from the experience forever changed.  However, their experiences involve recklessly embracing all parts of their shadows instead of removing what they don’t need and allying with the rest.  After being convinced to “swim the warm waters of sins of the flesh,” they give themselves completely over to Frank’s unmediated hedonism.  They leave his castle in much worse shape than when they arrived.

Both stories involve a journey into the underworld.  The difference between them is the guide.  Mary Poppins guides Jane and Michael, and even their parents to some extent, through their experiences.  True, they have to face the worst part alone, but she has properly armed them for the challenge.  In an echo of Wiccan cosmology, you could even argue that finding a balance is so vital that the Banks family gets both Mary Poppins and Bert to guide them, a man and a woman providing an energetic balance.

Mary Poppins is no pushover.  She and Bert teach fun and enjoyment, but the nanny also is quite strict in teaching Jane and Michael to follow the rules.  Balanced guidance.

Frank-N-Furter, on the other hand, is a mockery of proper guidance.  As the butler, Riff Raff, says, his “lifestyle’s too extreme.”  Like George Banks’ ultra-strict life, Frank’s was too unbalanced to be sustainable.  He is all mirth and no reverence, and Brad and Janet suffer the consequences.

So perhaps it wasn’t so odd to see both musicals in one day.  As we move into the dark time of the year, it reminded me that we all have a dark side that we must face.  We all have our own descents to undergo and those who will guide us along the way.  Those guides can make or break the journey.