Mary Poppins: stage vs screen

Mary Poppins began as P. L. Travers's books about a magical nanny, which Disney turned into the 1964 film directed by Robert Stevenson, starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. The stage musical, produced by Cameron Mackintosh and Disney, opened on Broadway in 2006 with a book by Julian Fellowes. It borrows from both the film and the books, and adds new songs. Here is which parts come from where.

Stage

Broadway musical (2006)

Screen

Mary Poppins (1964), directed by Robert Stevenson

1. The musical draws on both the film and the books

Mackintosh acquired the stage rights in 1993. According to the show's history, Travers agreed only on the condition that the creators be English and that no one from the Disney film take part. Talks with Disney in 2001 later made it possible to use the film's songs, so the stage show combines the Sherman Brothers' score with story material taken from the books.

2. Miss Andrew comes from the books

The film has no Miss Andrew, but the stage show borrows her from the books and makes her George Banks's strict childhood nanny and the show's main antagonist. She is also the source of the song "Brimstone and Treacle." The musical also brings in the park statue Neleus and the houseboy Robertson Ay, two other characters from the books who are absent from the film.

3. George Banks gets a past

In the film, Mr. Banks is a stern banker and a supporting character. In the musical, he becomes a lead, with a difficult childhood in which his parents ignored him and Miss Andrew raised him. He keeps his film song "A Man Has Dreams." New bank characters, the scheming Herr Von Hussler and the plain-dealing John Northbrook, give him a choice between a flashy scheme and a sound loan that drives his Act Two story.

4. Winifred is an actress, not a suffragette

The film's Mrs. Banks is a suffragette, with her name changed from Cynthia to Winifred at Travers's request. On stage, Winifred is a former actress who struggles to live up to her husband's expectations. Her film number "Sister Suffragette" is cut and replaced by "Being Mrs. Banks." In the books she has five children, including twins, which neither the film nor the musical follows.

5. Bert narrates the show

The film's Bert is a cockney jack of all trades, from street artist to chimney sweep. The musical makes him the narrator who introduces Cherry Tree Lane and opens the show with "Chim Chim Cher-ee," and it also shows that he already knows Mary. He leads the sweeps in "Step in Time" and the children in "Let's Go Fly a Kite," which becomes an Act Two number instead of the film's finale.

6. Songs moved, cut, and added

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" moves from the park outing to Mrs. Corry's sweet shop, and "Feed the Birds" now follows the bank visit as a duet for Mary and the Bird Woman. Cut from the film's score are "The Life I Lead," "Stay Awake," "I Love to Laugh," and "Fidelity Fiduciary Bank." George Stiles and Anthony Drewe joined with a new song for Mary, "Practically Perfect," and the score adds "Precision and Order" in place of "The Life I Lead."

7. No penguins or ceiling tea party, and toys come alive

A stage cannot easily make things float, so two famous film effects are gone: the animated dancing penguins in "Jolly Holiday" and the tea party on the ceiling at Uncle Albert's. "Jolly Holiday" stays, with the statue Neleus coming to life. A new nursery scene, inspired by the books' "Bad Wednesday" chapter, has Jane's doll Valentine and other toys scold the children, in "Temper, Temper" and, since 2009, "Playing the Game."

8. A different ending

The film ends with George mending the children's kite, the family flying it, and Mr. Dawes Jr. rehiring and promoting him before Mary leaves. In the musical, once the family is reunited, Winifred persuades the bank manager to quadruple George's salary and the children watch their parents waltz. Mary says goodbye to Bert with a kiss on the cheek, then flies over the audience with her parrot-headed umbrella.

Mary Poppins movie vs musical: FAQs