Mary Poppins (character) of the stage musical, the Mary Poppins character is more deliberately mysterious than in the movie version. She is slightly stricter with the children (who are also naughtier than their book and movie counterparts) but only because she wants them to become the best they can be. Mary in the stage version is also more aware of Bert's feelings towards her. Mary Poppins first appeared in the short story "Mary Poppins and the Match Man" in 1926, and in several early bits and pieces of the first novel. P.L. Travers later changed the story of the character's origins, stating that
Mary Poppins (character) Banks children of whom she is in charge. Mary also has a friendship with Bert (Dick Van Dyke), a jack-of-all-trades who is quite at home with Mary's brand of magic. She also is less vain and selfish (although there are a couple of references to her vanity when she replaces a dingy wall mirror with a more elegant one, and sings a duet with her reflection), and far more sympathetic towards the two children than the nanny in the original stories. Emily Blunt portrayed Mary Poppins in the sequel "Mary Poppins Returns". In both the West End and Broadway versions