Mary Poppins
by Claire J Rottenberg
The 1964 film version of "Mary Poppins" was one of
Disney's most successful movies. It starred two
accomplished Broadway performers in the lead roles -
Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins and Dick van Dyke as
Bert.
The London and Broadway musical plays of "Mary
Poppins" were equally successful, with the Broadway
version still running after more than two years. Both
the film and play are based on the popular children's
book by P. L. Travers.
The play began, like so many recent plays, in
London's West End. It opened there in 2004 and two
years later, an almost identical version moved to
Broadway. The London version ran for four years,
closing in 2008.
The songs for the movie version of "Mary Poppins"
were written by Robert and Richard Sherman and nine
of the original songs were kept in the play. Seven
new songs were written by George Stiles and Anthony
Drewe to replace the five songs from the original
film that were eliminated in the stage version.
The stage versions of "Mary Poppins" were co-produced
by Cameron Macintosh and Disney Theatrical
Productions. The producers and creators of the stage
version made some changes to the original script,
making it more modern in some ways and in others
being more faithful to the original book. Two scenes,
especially suited to film media, were eliminated from
the stage version - the "Jolly Holiday" number where
Dick van Dyke danced with animated penguins and the
scene where the children and Bert fly up to join
Uncle Albert as he floated near the ceiling of his
room.
Both the movie version and the Broadway version of
"Mary Poppins" received several nominations for major
awards. The film was nominated for 13 Academy Awards,
including Best Picture, and it won 5 of the awards.
The Broadway version was nominated for 8 Tony awards,
including Best Musical, and it won one minor award
(Best Scenic Design).
"Mary Poppins" is a delightful story for both
children and adults and, if you or your children
haven't yet seen it, now is the time to either rent,
or better yet, buy the DVD, or, if you're lucky
enough to be in New York City, see it on the Broadway
stage.