Produced by Cameron Mackintosh and Disney Theatrical Productions and directed by Richard Eyre with co-direction from Matthew Bourne who also acted as co-choreographer with Stephen Mear, the original West End production opened in December 2004 and won two Olivier Awards, one for Best Actress in a Musical and the other for Best Theatre Choreographer.

A Broadway production with a near-identical creative team opened in November 2006, with only minor changes from the West End version.

[1] 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.

[2] Around this time, songwriters George Stiles and Anthony Drewe heard about the project, and independently wrote a demo version of a new introductory song for the character of Mary, titled "Practically Perfect".

Julian Fellowes was brought on to write the show's script because of his "clear understanding of the social niceties of the English class system that prevailed in the Edwardian era".

Notable replacements included Scarlett Strallen, Lisa O'Hare and Caroline Sheen as Mary Poppins and Gavin Creel as Bert (from July 2006).

She appeared onstage during the curtain calls, where she gave a speech recalling her own memories from making the film and praising the cast for their new interpretation.

A UK tour of the London production commenced on June 4, 2008, and ended on April 18, 2009, with stops at venues including the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, Edinburgh Playhouse, and the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff.

On November 15, 2009, during the opening night in Los Angeles, Dick Van Dyke (who played Bert in the film) appeared onstage during the encore.

[32] On March 7, 2024, a new UK tour was announced, opening at the Bristol Hippodrome on November 4, before heading to Dublin, Edinburgh, Plymouth, Manchester, Birmingham, Southampton, Sunderland, Milton Keynes, Cardiff and Liverpool.

The opening of the new tour in Bristol marked 20 years since the show started out-of-town previews before transferring to the West End.

[33][34] A West End revival began previews on October 23, 2019 at the Prince Edward Theatre and officially opened on November 13.

The cast included Zizi Strallen as Mary Poppins (reprising her role from the 2015-16 UK Tour), Charlie Stemp as Bert, Joseph Millson as George Banks, Amy Griffiths as Winifred Banks, Petula Clark as the Bird Woman, Claire Moore as Miss Andrew, and Paul F. Monaghan as Admiral Boom (Barry James was originally due to play this part but he left before the first preview for unknown reasons).

[37] On June 22, 2022 Louis Gaunt temporarily took over from Charlie Stemp whilst he performed in the revival of Crazy For You at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

[40] This production was externally licensed by Disney Theatrical and performed entirely in Swedish, with the book translated by Magnus Lindman.

In May 2021, it was announced the show would return to Australia in May 2022 at the Sydney Lyric Theatre with a nation-wide search to find a new Mary Poppins.

[56] From November 14, 2012 to August 11, 2013, the first Spanish-language version of the show ran at the Centro Cultural in Mexico City, produced by Ocesa Teatro and starring Bianca Marroquin as Mary and Mauricio Salas as Bert.

[57] In April 2015 Brazilian entertainment company Time for Fun opened auditions for the Portuguese-language premiere in São Paulo, but eventually the production was cancelled.

Within moments, Mary Poppins arrives, restored advertisement in hand, and takes charge of the Banks children, having every confidence in her own qualifications and merits ("Practically Perfect").

On the children's first outing to the park, they meet Bert and, despite their reservations, Mary teaches them that they must learn to look past appearances.

To illustrate the point, Mary brings the park statues, including a mythological figure named Neleus, to life ("Jolly Holiday").

On the trip home, the children meet the enigmatic Mrs. Corry who runs a magic sweet shop that also sells words ("Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious").

In a misguided attempt to please her husband, Winifred arranges for his childhood nanny, Miss Andrew, to take over from the suddenly departed Mary ("Cherry Tree Lane (Reprise)").

This leads to a confrontation between the two nannies, ending with Miss Andrew having a taste of her own medicine as she is trapped in a large birdcage and vanishes down below ("Brimstone and Treacle Part 2").

When she is being led away for comfort, George goes to clean the broken pile himself, to find it reveal a collection of gingerbread stars from his childhood.

Mary and Bert take the children across the skies and they see everyone they met along their journey including Mrs. Correy, Neleus, and even Miss Andrew, who kindly shakes hands with Michael ("Anything Can Happen (Part 2)").

The two children watch as their parents waltz happily together and Mary flies high above the audience using her magical parrot headed umbrella.

George Banks has been expanded from the film: in the musical it is revealed that he had a difficult childhood in which he was ignored by his parents, Jane and Michael's paternal grandparents, and was placed under the care of a fearsome nanny.

This nanny, Miss Andrew, a character from the books, makes an appearance in the musical as the polar opposite of Mary Poppins, advocating "brimstone and treacle" instead of "a spoonful of sugar".

New characters were developed to create a new conflict at the bank, the nice John Northbrook and scheming Herr Von Hussler.