Step in time, step in time, come on Cougars, step in time!

The Regional Theatre of the Palouse’s (RTOP) production of “Mary Poppins” opens this week to turn downtown Pullman into London.

Many remember Mary Poppins as the magical nanny played by Julie Andrews in the Disney film, and others would remember her origins as a character in a series of books by P.L. Travers. While the music and characters are similar, the Broadway version of the story has some differences.

“I feel a little nervous,” said Nathen Barham, who plays Bert. “I think everybody’s expecting Dick VanDyke, and I don’t know if this version is the same. There’s a lot of expectations.”

Director John Rich said this version of “Mary Poppins” is a combination of the movie, books and the London version of the show, making it familiar but different. The cast has rehearsed for the past five weeks along with participating in dialect practice that started in January.

Since the cast needs to speak with British accents, they were given dialect tapes to study in order to understand how to create that sound, Rich said. This includes the standard British accent of Mary Poppins and the cockney drawl of Bert.

“I don’t know how many American dialects (there are), but it’s the same thing with British,” Rich said. “The dialect depends on what area you’re in.”

To prepare themselves for their roles and to get into the feel of the show, the actors needed to do research not only on the area, but also how the show has been performed before.

Sixth-grader Berit Preece, one of two actresses playing Jane Banks, said they studied videos of how the dances were choreographed. Franklin Elementary student Elise French, also playing Jane, said there is a definite difference between the Disney version and the Broadway play.

“The clothing’s very different from what we wear now, but I actually like it more,” Elise said.

Kelli Barham, who plays Mary Poppins, said she read the first three “Mary Poppins” books and found some challenge in portraying the book version of Mary as opposed to the movie version everyone expects.

In the books, Mary Poppins comes off as vain and stern in comparison to Julie Andrews’ portrayal, which brings more fun, Kelli said. By studying both, she said she hopes to portray a mix of both Mary Poppins’ personalities in the show.

“I think this is the character that I’ve had the easiest time getting into,” she said. “I’m a bit of a strict mother, but in the most practically-perfect way, of course.”

Jane and Michael Banks are two of the biggest child actor roles in musical theater, Rich said. The characters, and, subsequently, their actors, are onstage more than anybody else in the show.

“If we’re offstage, we’re doing a costume change or setting something else,” said Franklin Elementary student Evan French, one of the actors portraying Michael.

Evan said one of the difficult parts of the process was learning how to spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Not in words, but in hands, as the children do a little Sign Language-like movement to spell the word during one of their musical numbers.

Despite any challenges, the child actors agreed that they liked exploring the period and learning the show. Elise said it was tricky, but she is proud of herself for practicing hard and having a brother to help with the show.

“(I’m looking forward to) showing everyone how much hard work we put into this,” Preece said.

“Mary Poppins” flies into RTOP April 16-19 and 22-26. Show times are 7:30 p.m. except on Sundays with 1:30 p.m. matinees on the 18, 19, 25, and 26. Limited tickets are available for purchase.