Musicals Blog

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.