"A Spoonful of Sugar" is a song from Walt Disney's film and the musical versions of Mary Poppins, and it is composed by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman.
It is an uptempo song sung by Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews), instructing the two children, Jane (Karen Dotrice) and Michael (Matthew Garber) to clean their room. But even though the task is daunting, with a good attitude, it can still be fun. The melody is heard throughout the film as Mary's leitmotif.
In the musical, Robertson Ay and Mrs. Brill are helping Mrs. Banks for a tea party she's planning. Mrs. Brill tells Robertson Ay to make the frosting, which the kids try to do it instead (with Robertson Ay giving them warnings). This causes the kitchen to fall apart. Mrs. Banks is shocked to see the kitchen in this shape, when she came down with Mary Poppins. Mary sends her upstairs to get dressed, while she gives Jane and Michael some medicine, which comes out different colors (just like the film). Cleaning the kitchen up is similar to cleaning up the nursery in the film.
The song is mixed with The Bare Necessities and It's a Small World, also Sherman songs, in the final number of On the Record, a short lived revue of Disney songs.
