With a spoonful of sugar and an element of fun, the practically perfect musical, “Mary Poppins,” begins its run this April. This musical has a lot to offer with its on stage performance along with the behind the scenes action.

The show was announced last May along with the fall show, “Twelfth Night”. With a lot in mind for the musical of the year, there was a new idea to use a flying system to allow the actors to fly and add a whole other element to the show. Perry has never used anything like this before and will invest quite a bit of money to do so.

Theatre teacher and director Shawna Marquis’ vision for the set is to be more imaginary than literal. With this being said, the flying will add levels to the set and give a larger variety to the actors. “We’ve never done anything like that so it’s a great opportunity to meet our standards with tech theatre and rigging,” Marquis said, “as well as having a professional come out and work with us.”

As the show approaches, the company is going to come later this March to train students how to operate the flying system on their own. They will teach the actors who be flying to use it as well as their understudies, to ensure everyone is fully and properly trained. Some rehearsals will be dedicated just to the flying system to confirm the safety of the actors.

The flying system will cost between $8,000-$10,000 to rent the equipment and for the training. It will be a single track, which may not be as intricate as used in other “Mary Poppins” productions, but still allows the director and actors to be creative in the way that they use the system.

The show has a great audience appeal as it is opened to families of all ages. This timeless tale really hits home to Perry theatre after watching it together during the Arizona State Thespian Festival in 2015 at Hale Centre Theatre.

“I’m extremely excited because we watched the show as a troupe over a year ago… I really enjoyed that,” senior Michael Gerardi said. “Then when they announced the show in May and I was very excited.”

Senior Hannah Kredit will be playing the role of Mary Poppins alongside Michael Gerardi who will playing the role of Bert. This will be both of their final high school productions.

“It’s kind of emotional because I am able to relate the story of ‘Mary Poppins’ to me leaving high school,” Kredit said. “Mary Poppins comes in to  make a difference and change the live of others for the good. Then she leaves, so I feel like that’s really applicable to my life”.

Mary and Bert will be flying on stage with another character that will be revealed at the show. “Mary Poppins” will be performed April 13, 20, 21, 22 at 7 P.M along with a Sat. matinee on the 22.