'Mary Poppins' in Chicago: Which Poppins will Land in the Loop?

This news article from the Chicago Tribune talks about the impending opening of the touring version of "Mary Poppins" that will kick off here at the Cadillac Palace theater in Chicago. However, it also traces the history of the original movie and the evolution of the stage production. In other words, there are a lot of stories surrounding "Poppins" that I've never known about.

In 2005, The New Yorker published a riveting account by Caitlin Flanagan of how much Travers hated the Disney movie and regretted handing Walt Disney the rights. Flanagan’s story begins with Travers sitting at the Disney premiere, weeping.

In essence, Flanagan claimed, Travers thought Walt Disney had cheapened her complicated heroine with animation, flattened the Banks parents (whom Travers had based on her own family) and generally “Disneyfied” the whole enterprise with chirpy specialty songs by the Sherman Brothers (“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” “Chim Chim Cher-ee”).

Fascinating!