Born in Queensland, Australia in 1899, Helen Lyndon Goff grew up a house near a branch of the Australian Joint Stock Bank, where her father, Travers Robert Goff worked as a bank manager before he was demoted to bank clerk. When her father died, her mother neglected the children with grieving, so to comfort her younger sisters, 7 or 8 year old Lyndon Goff told them a story of a magic white horse without wings that could fly. Years later, the author of Mary Poppins said this story was the start of her career as an author.

After adopting a new name, 'Pamela Lyndon Travers’ moved and had several careers as a secretary, actress, journalist, and poet. In 1933, while recovering from pleurisy, she claimed to have been "visited" by Mary Poppins. The Banks family of the book experiences events similar to those of the author's own childhood.

The novel was a huge, immediate success. One sequel to the book later, Walt Disney approached Travers for the film rights to the book, but was refused.

Then, in 1939, Broadway director Guthrie McClintock planned to produce a stage version with his wife Katherine Cornell as Mary Poppins. World War II arrived and the show never happened.

Two sequels later, Walt Disney again approached Travers for the film rights and this time he succeeded. The planning of the film took two years. With music by Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman, direction by Robert Stevenson and script by Bill Walsh and Don Da Gradi, the 1964 Hollywood film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke won five Oscars, a Grammy, a Golden Globe and countless other awards.

Two more sequels to the book and six years later, producer Cameron Mackintosh approached Travers in the early 1970s for the stage rights to the book and was refused.

After three more sequels to the book, in 1993, the stage production Beauty and the Beast paved the way for Disney's entrance into theater. Michael Eisner, head of the Disney Corporation, considered bringing MARY POPPINS to the stage.

It seemed that Cameron Mackintosh and Disney were on similar paths to produce MARY POPPINS.

When Mackintosh finally convinced Travers to grant him stage rights to MARY POPPINS, he also persuaded her that the show could not succeed unless elements from the Disney film were included in the stage version.

Thomas Schumacher, President of the Disney Theatrical division, also had a belief that a stage version was possible and with a "go" from Disney, he gave Mackintosh twenty years of script drafts, outlines, and sequels from the Disney archives to review.

Work began on the new stage version. Then in May 2003, with music from the film by the Sherman brothers, new songs from Anthony "Ants" Drewe and George Stiles, a script by Julian Fellowes, designs from Bob Crowley, choreography by Matthew Bourne, Stephen Mear, and Geoffrey Garratt, this new stage version was presented to Michael Eisner at Cameron Mackintosh's New York apartment.

After a workshop production in London, everyone knew that MARY POPPINS was going to work as a stage performance.

Of course there was still a lot of work to be done: casting, rehearsals, sets and costumes to be built, lights and sound to be designed, a score to be completed, special effects to be created and a book to be finished.

Finally, on December 15, 2004, MARY POPPINS opened in London's West End to be called by The Sunday Telegraph  "a triumph of spectacle and theatrical flair…utter delight."

Two years later, MARY POPPINS popped in for its Broadway rehearsal with more of everything--dance, set, costumes, sound, lights, special effects, and music.

Then on November 16, 2006, opening on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre, MARY POPPINS was acknowledged by the Associated Press to be "a lavish stage version that's a wonder to behold."

Quite a journey: eight novels, one film, London, Broadway, Sweden, National Tour, and now, MARY POPPINS arrives in Cleveland. "Kick your knees up, step in time."

Photo of Gavin Lee as ‘Bert’ and the original Broadway Company of MARY POPPINS. ©Disney/CML. Photo by Joan Marcus.