Mary Poppins in 2004, Walt Disney first attempted to purchase the film rights to "Mary Poppins" from P. L. Travers as early as 1938, but was rebuffed because Travers did not believe a film version of her books would do justice to her creation and did not want an animated cartoon based on it. The books had been a favourite of Disney's daughters when they were children, and he finally succeeded in purchasing the rights in 1961, although Travers demanded and got script approval rights. The relationship between Travers and Disney is detailed in "Mary Poppins She Wrote", a biography of Travers,
Mary Poppins (musical) include: The Australian production began previews at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne on 14 July 2010, officially on 29 July. The cast included Matt Lee as Bert, Philip Quast as Mr. Banks, Marina Prior as Winifred Banks, Debra Byrne as The Bird Woman, and Judi Connelli as Miss Andrew. Verity Hunt-Ballard was awarded the role of Mary Poppins late in the casting stage, after a long search. She was temporarily replaced towards the end of the Sydney run by Scarlett Strallen, who had starred in the role in both the West End and Broadway productions. An Australian Cast Recording was