Mary Poppins (musical) community theatres to produce due to the popularity of the film and books. In 1993, theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh met P.L. Travers and acquired the rights to develop a stage play adaptation of her "Mary Poppins" books. She only agreed to a stage production as long as the creators were all English, and no one who had worked on the film. She died in 1996. In 2001, Mackintosh and the head of Disney Theatrical Thomas Schumacher opened talks on a possible collaboration, so that the stage play would be able to use the songs from the Disney film. With both
Mary Poppins (musical) played by Gavin Lee. Notable replacements have included Scarlett Strallen, Lisa O'Hare and Caroline Sheen as Mary Poppins and Gavin Creel as Bert (in July 2006). The show sparked mild controversy not long after its debut when producers Cameron Mackintosh and Thomas Schumacher banned children below 3 years old from entering the theatre, deeming the show too scary for young children. The ban remained throughout the show's entire run, during which the theatre staff were to prevent patrons with children below 3 to enter. The show was officially tagged as being "for children seven years and up". On March 17,