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 Returns pitch" while calling Shaiman and Wittman's songs as a "gravest disappointment", which she stressed out that "these are songs that get in your head, body, memory, and there’s nothing here with comparable melodic or lyrical staying power" in her negative comparison of the former to the Sherman Brothers' 1964 original songs, but praised Whishaw's performance as "emotional rawness". Mary Poppins Returns Mary Poppins Returns is a 2018 American musical fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall, with a screenplay written by David Magee and a story by Magee, Marshall, and John DeLuca. Based on the book series of the same name