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12 Phonebox Magazine | November 2025 The spectacular production of the award-winning musical Mary Poppins fl ies into Milton Keynes for four weeks in November. And it takes a lot of people and equipment to put it on, discovers Phonebox%u2019s Tom Johnston.IT%u2019S AN EYE-POPPIN%u2019 PRODUCTION!Since its premiere at the Bristol Hippodrome in 2004, the stage adaptation of Mary Poppins has gone on to record-breaking productions around the world, gaining over 50 major international awards, including two Olivier Awards and one Tony Award. More than 15 million people have now seen the magical show worldwide, with the production having been translated into 13 languages. Now the smash hit production has landed in Milton Keynes for most of November.Leading the company are Australian stars award-winning Stefanie Jones and Jack Chambers, the winner of So You Think You Can Dance Australia, who reprise their roles as Mary Poppins and Bert, from the successful Australian production. The pair opened this UK and Ireland tour last year, to great acclaim. Singer Patti Boulaye and international recording artist and actress Lyn Paul also star while fi ve girl and fi ve boy actors will alternate playing the parts of children Jane Banks and Michael Banks.Mary Poppins is the largest production on tour with a company of 100 people. It takes 17 45-foot trailers to move the production from one venue to the next. The show fi nishes in one venue on the Saturday and opens in the next venue on the Wednesday, just four days later. For each performance, waiting backstage there are 35 adult cast.Two children perform at each performance and two are in the building on standby.The backstage teams includes: two Company Management, six Stage Management, six Stage Crew, four Flymen, three Follow Spot Operators, three Touring Carpenters, three Automation Operators, four Sound Operators, three Touring Electricians, seven Dressers, five Wigs personnel, six Wardrobe personnel and one Physiotherapist.There are 12 Members of the orchestra plus a Musical Director, one Resident director, one Children%u2019s Director and one Resident Choreographer.To move the show around requires 17 45-foot trucks and trailers. It takes around 22 hours to take the show out of a venue and three days to put it into the next venue working 24 hours a day. To suspend the set and equipment in a theatre, 58 motors have to be used. There are 25 fl ying elements in the set and 100 production and local crew members are involved in putting the show into a venue.As far as laundry is concerned, the team do 64 loads of washing per week. After all the costumes are washed regularly, they have to be sprayed and painted to make them look dirty. The production has three washing machines, four tumble driers, three ironing boards and three steam irons touring with it.The wardrobe team spends every day darning stockings, and each member of the team has their own sewing equipment. Every piece of costume has a hand sewn label with the actor%u2019s name, scene and character. The majority of the costumes are kept onstage in a large area known as the Quick Change Village.Each cover cast member has 19 sets of costumes, shoes and hats and every child%u2019s costume is checked by a member of wardrobe before they go onstage, to see that it still fi ts and looks correct. All show shoes have a special rubber sole fi tted so nobody slips onstage.All wigs are made from real hair and have lace fronts, and there are 90 wigs in total including the understudy costumes.Used during the show are 97 moving lights, three spotlights, one smoke machine, two haze machines and two foggers. The sound department uses 95 microphones, 140 loudspeakers, 20 video monitors and 32 wireless communications devices per night.The electrical equipment takes two 45-foot trailers to transport between venues. There are 600 props used in the show. Each prop has to be accounted for before each performance. When the show moves to a new theatre each prop has to be carefully wrapped in bubble wrap to avoid any breakages.Mary Poppins is at Milton Keynes Theatre, until Saturday 22nd November.