Brimstone and treacle and cod liver oil! Those are the tricks of her trade! A far cry from the syrupy, sweet, spoonful-of-sugar-style nanny, Miss Andrew is on the scene! Continuing on in our practically perfect interview series with the Suburban Players’ cast of Mary Poppins, we’ll have a chat with Tammy Oppel about playing the nasty and nefarious Miss Andrew, foil to Mary Poppins herself and villain extraordinaire in the musical.
So excited to get to chat with you, Tammy! Is this your first time with Mary Poppins?
Tammy Oppel: Yes.
Fantastic! Why did you want to come and be a part of Mary Poppins?
Tammy: Well first, I wanted to come to this theatre— Suburban Players— and do whatever show they had on. It’s been a while since I’ve worked here, obviously not during covid. But I had done a few things here before, when John Desmone was in charge. Then a while later Lauren took over and when she did Footloose, she lost her Vi a week before the show. She called me because she knows I’m crazy and would step in as a favor and cover the role. That was February of 2020, right before everything shut down.
I’ve always enjoyed doing theatre here because it’s such a gracious community. When I came back, after Lauren had taken over, of course everything had changed but it’s still a family. It’s a different change but I really enjoy working here with Lauren in charge. And I had been wanting to do a full production here— where I was a part of the rehearsal process from the beginning, not pulled in to cover an emergency last minute, so when they announced auditions for Mary Poppins, of course I wanted to come out. Originally I was supposed to audition with my daughter. I have two kids— my daughter is nine and my son is five, which is why I don’t get to do a whole lot of theatre anymore, schedules can be really tough.
I thought this show in particular would be a really great show for us to do together, we could do ensemble together. But my daughter decided to back out the day of auditions. And I thought, “you know what? I really want to do this show, I’m going out for it anyway.” I live right by here, if I had to, I could walk here for rehearsals. So it was all those reasons that brought me back here. And here I am!
That’s wonderful. Hopefully you and Miss Andrew are very, very different. You seem very nice. Miss Andrew… not so much. But tell me how you two are different, what you’re bringing to the table to perform her and what she’s teaching you.
Tammy: Oh gosh, yes! We are very different. She is so mean! She’s like the antithesis of Mary Poppins. I’d like to think that we are completely opposite. I do look for characters where I can just kind of lose it a little bit in character. Like so many people who do theatre, one of the reasons I do theatre is to lose myself. I can be kind of shy and introverted. So I like to do characters where I can kind of go crazy. And Miss Andrew definitely allows you to do that. She’s so mean! I don’t necessarily like playing mean characters but she’s a “fun” mean. Because she’s truly a villain, which isn’t something I get to do normally.
Normally I like to play characters that I like. And Miss Andrew is a character that while you don’t necessarily like her, it’s so kind of ridiculous that you like to dislike her, so it’s okay. Because Mary Poppins definitely puts her in her place, it’s okay to enjoy her. You can love to hate her.
Do you have a favorite moment in the show that either you’re a part of as Miss Andrew or maybe a different moment that you aren’t a part of that just speaks to you about the show?
Tammy: About Miss Andrew? She has the two scenes— definitely the first scene. I mean we’re still working out a lot of stuff in the second scene, so by the time we’re up and running my opinion might change, but I don’t know yet right now.
I’ve heard tell about a duel.
Tammy: Oh yes. We are definitely working on that right now. I’m hoping that as we work on it— I heard there’s going to be a little bit more magic involved with that— I find that maybe I like that a little bit more? We’ll definitely have to wait and see! But for the moment it’s the first scene. I also really like playing with the kids. The rehearsal process is more fun for me than the actual performance. I love that aspect of it. I think the most fun for me is getting on the stage initially and playing with the kids. I get to be really mean and make them laugh. That’s been pretty great. Like getting into Elijah’s face, being so mean… and then I crack him up!
Do you have a favorite song? Is it the song that Miss Andrew sings?
Tammy: I do actually love the song, “Brimstone & Treacle.” But I also love anything that Gary (in the role of Bert, Gary Dieter) sings. Everybody loves Gary and rightly so. He’s such a good performer. The chimney sweep number— “Step In Time”— is going to be really great. I can’t wait to see it finally finished!
What does the word Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious mean to you?
Tammy: Oh my gosh! Right now it means terror! Because— as you can see before you came over here to talk to me— I was looking through all the choreography and the hand signals trying to figure out which letter goes with what movement!
Can you spell it yet?
Tammy: I’m still working on all of that By the time we get to the end of the word— oh goodness, I need to work on it more!
If you could be anyone else in the show— age, gender, vocal ability, etc. not being a factor— who would you want to be?
Tammy: That’s a really interesting question because I thought I wanted to be Mrs. Banks. Now I don’t think so. I think the other role that I would want to do would be Mrs. Brill.
That’s fascinating! I’ve already spoken with Katie & Gary (though we haven’t yet run their interviews) and given who they said they would like to be… I think with you wanting to be Mrs. Brill and who they said they would be, would make for a hilarious and entertaining production of Mary Poppins. Readers, sorry, you’ll just have to wait and be surprised when Katie & Gary finally air in a few days’ time!
Tammy: That just sounds amazing. I would love to do that version of the show too.
Why do you want people to come out and see Mary Poppins?
Tammy: So many reasons! It’s a fantastic show. It’s Disney, so of course, it’s beautiful. It’s a great family show. Being a mom myself, I cannot stress how important it is to bring the kids out and to bring them to live theatre. So many children don’t understand what theatre is because they aren’t exposed to it and this a great opportunity to expose them to it. Plus, people should come out to support this particular theatre, which is so wonderful and so underrated. All of that.
Is there a moment of magic that happens in the show that just tickles you every time you experience it?
Tammy: Well, we haven’t seen the magic yet! But we’ve been shown some of the ideas behind the magic. I mean they are going all out. They’re flying— multiple people! Not just one person. They’ve really gone to a lot of effort and have spent a lot of money. And they’ve shown us all these videos for how they’re going to have dishes moving and things like that. Lauren has said she’s even giving me a little magic! There’s just going to be magic everywhere, all the time, as much magic as you pop into this show! And I’m sure you’ve heard this already, but they’ve spent so much money on flying people, that from here on out, every show is going to fly!
Did you have any personal experiences with nannies in your life? Or maybe have nannies for your children?
Tammy: Oh my gosh, no! It’s so opposite of my life! I come from Baltimore City. It’s a complete opposite way of life. What is this whole nanny thing? Very total opposite of me.
What have you learned about yourself by being a part of this production of Mary Poppins?
Tammy: Oh my gosh, I learn something about myself every show I do. For this show, I definitely have learned— actually, it’s been over the last couple of years… but I’ve learned the older I get, the harder it is to learn music, my lines, the dances, and all of that. It doesn’t get easier, it gets harder. But I’m still going to get up there and tap, gosh darn it! And I’m loving the tapping. You know, as long as I’ve known Gary and have worked with him, I have never worked with him in this capacity where he was teaching me to dance. He’s such an amazing teacher. He is doing all the tap aspect of the choreography. And he is just such an amazing teacher. We’ve been working in the theatre community for a long time and it’s really a pleasure to be able to say that about him.
I’ve never worked with Steven (Musical Director Steen S0ltow), not counting the five-seconds I had with him for Footloose. He’s impressive. I’m just so impressed with the whole team, really. And it’s so much fun when you get to work with different people. You can feel a little jaded after a while doing stuff with the same people in the same place and sometimes it isn’t always a positive experience. This is a refreshing feeling getting to be a part of this show here with these people. You just want a new, refreshing experience. And these people love it so much. Their energy excites you. And this is why you do theatre, at least that’s why I do it.
This is probably the hardest question of all, most people’s eyeballs bug right out of their head when I ask it. If you had to sum up your Mary Poppins experience in just one word, which word would you use?
Tammy: Community.
Mary Poppins plays February 10th through February 19th 2023 with the Suburban Players housed at the Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in the Hermes Rafailides Center— 2504 Cub Hill Road in Carney, MD. For tickets please call (443) 390-2981 or email Suburbanplayers2504@gmail.com
To read the interview with Bella Comotto and Elijah Tsakalos, click here.
To read the interview with Erin, Evelyn, Maeve, and Nora Acerno, click here.
