HC + MAGIC ! / while it isn’t much thought about from most , the poppins-stewart family is probably one of the most powerful families , magic wise , in aura.don . it’s never much elaborated on where their magic comes from ; some state that their mother is a witch or even some sort of fairy but there’s no exact confirmation on it . the closest thing there is to an answer is , according to mary , ( from referencing the m.ary pop.pins book ) all children are magical when they’re born however , as they grow older , they lose their magic . so we can assume that the po.ppins have simply never lost their magic in the slightest if that’s the case ! what that categorizes them as , however , no one rightfully knows & it’s better that one doesn’t try to ask . no part of the po.ppins family delivers a straight answer on the matter or , if they do , none of their answers match .
so it’s not completely known what they are , technically , which makes what they’re capable of even more a mystery . they are powerful , though , that is for sure . when mary arrives over london b.ert mentions there are winds & mists coming in with her . that sort of impact from arrival isn’t for some unimpressive magic . they , or m.ary at least , also seem to have some kind of connection with the wind as it’s said that mar.y leaves when the wind changes . either mar.y herself controls the wind , the wind simply responds to when she comes or goes , or wind seems to dictate when & where mary goes . whatever it is ! from what we’ve seen mary do it can be assumed that their powers , assuming the pop.pins kids all have their mother’s abilities , have near if not full on reality warping capabilities . to understand that more here’s a list of just some of the things we’ve seen ma.ry be capable of with her magic .
* this list including things from book , film , & novel !
flight / a famously known ability of mary’s as due to the iconic image of her floating down to j.ane & mi.chael’s house with her umbrella then leaving similarly . this is may be only capable with the umbrella but also could possibly be accomplished without it as she seems to float up to uncle albert’s tea party on the celling when he laughed himself up there just fine on her own .
granting objects sentience / something we’ve seen done with j.ane & mi.chael’s toys in both film & stage ( though a bit more dramatic in stage & she also made them life sized . ) & she’s also seen bringing statues to life in the stage version . she also talks to her umbrella .
moving objects & people without touching them / usually done by snapping her fingers though she also controlled a fully grown woman with a few waves of her arm in the stage version & that’s something i’ll elaborate more on later .
communication with all animals / she speaks to a dog in all the film , book , & stage versions . she also has been seen to give animals the ability to talk back in perfect english .
creating solid structures from clouds or smoke / she’s first seen sitting atop a cloud checking her make up in the film & later on also creates a staircase out of a smoke stack to take ja.ne , mich.ael , ber.t , & herself above the clouds to see the stars .
bringing drawings to life / done in book when on a day out with bert & ( more notably ) in the film during joll.y holi.day . she is also able to ender the drawings & explore them as entire worlds & “ draw on ” entirely new clothes . if the drawing is destroyed , however , so will the world be it seems .
transporting to & from fantastical worlds / she’s traveled with the children to other places & not only ones in drawings . this is something seen more in the books than in the film or stage version .
repairing objects instantly without touching them / she fixes several broken pieces of furniture in the kitchen during the musical scene of spoo.nful of su.gar .
expanding the inner space of something without altering the outside / her carpet bag . she also seems capable of hiding said expanded space from other as the children complain to her that , when they look in the bag , it appears empty .
creating realistic temporary objects & people / so like in the stage version of jo.lly ho.liday they don’t go into a drawing they stay in the park yet tons of people come around dressed in colors like them & i could excuse that for just a needed chorus but also the queen shows up at one point ? then all of this disappears by the end of the song & has apparently only been seen by b.ert , m.ary , & the kids .
quite literally talk to her mirror self / mary’s reflection sings back to her in the film then on it’s own later as if it’s own person .
there’s also one more thing she’s been shown to do with her magic that i’m going to bring up separately here because it’s something she’s able to do that’s actually incredibly terrifying .
in the stage version in the end of act i , mar.y leaves the children , lamenting to b.ert that they “must do the next bit on their own.” in act ii , as the children are now again nannyless , mrs ban.ks hires a new nanny named ms. andrews who was mr. ban.ks’ old nanny . she’s a horrid nasty woman who disaplins the children with disgusting medicine she calls ‘brimsto.ne & tre.acle’ . mary returns later on & eventually the two nannies have an encounter that takes place during the song ‘brimsto.ne & trea.cle pt 2′ . ms. andrews is infuriated with the children for running away from her & is readying to give them another dose of medicine until mary interrupts her . the two have an argument until ms. andrews realizes someone let her lark out of it’s cage ( something we saw mary do when coming into the home prior to all of this ) . ms. andrews blames the children & claims they’ll feel her full rage now . now that i’ve set the scene here’s where it gets insane . as ms. andrews readies a spoon of her disgusting medicine & begins moving it towards the children mary , stretching out her arm , controls ms. andrews’ actions & forces her to turn the spoon back on herself & down the medicine . she then , with both arms now , controls ms. andrews to scuttle about the room before mary has her turn the entire bottle of medicine on herself & then chug it . after all of this a large bird cage , similar to the one ms. andrews kept her lark in , rises from the floor ( or wall depending on how the set is built , on broadway it came from the floor ) & mary deems her a bully then , still controlling her from a distance , sends ms. andrews into the cage . as the cage sinks back into the floor with ms. andrews all the lights turn red & as the floor closes , cutting off the last shriek from ms. andrews , there is a flash of light then echoes of smoke in the room .
if you want to watch it here’s a link to a bootleg of the scene !
i’m not sure how everyone else would interpret that scene but it seems to me that mar.y pop.pins just deemed a woman terrible & sent her to hell or somewhere similar at least . the popp.ins’ magic is most often used for fun adventures , cleaning , teaching lessons , & enjoyment but it’s used that way by choice . it’s powerful magic & can be used for terrible things ! & even po.ppins have their limits . point is ? don’t piss off a pop.pins kid they’re far more a danger than you’d think .
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