‘Mary Poppins’ rises above script’s gaping flaws

If there’s one thing avid theater fans might wish for, it’s that Mary Poppins could swoop down on the 2004 stage musical that bears her name and use her magic to repair all that’s convoluted and contradictory in Julian Fellowes’ script.
Fellowes worked wonders in writing the PBS series “Downton Abbey,” but a visit to Carpenter Center reveals the flaws in the script whose story he patched together from the 1964 Disney film and P.L. Travers’ series of eigh