Classic Clips: 'Mary Poppins' Costume Quick Change (2011)

"Mary Poppins" behind the scenes on Working In The Theatre. (2011)
Watch the entire Classic episode here:

[beybladekatie]

I like how the hat guy just took her hat off and replaced it with his

[rowelle]

Fascinating! I swear the people behind the scenes don't get the credit they deserve.

[thephandmphamilywithalvefo]

Once I was in a production of legally blonde and Elle has SO MANY quick changes and this one time during legally blonde reprise we were all backstage watching her change behind a piece of scenery and it was so close omg, she was struggling to get her show on and we all held out collective breaths but she made it on time

[pompe]

"Grease" (the stage production) only gives Sandy about 5 minutes to go from prim-and-proper to full on greaser's dream girl. The girl who was Sandy in my high school production ended up having about half a dozen people yanking clothes on and off her, curling and spraying her hair, and slapping heavy makeup on her. They always managed to do it in time too. Mad props!

[frillyfia]

I love watching this. I play Mary in my school's production, and these changes are RIDICULOUS. It's fun to see exactly how the pros do it. I don't have three or four people helping me (maybe one or two) but it's nice to know how quickly it could go once we get it down pat :)

[PoisonTheOgres]

Ah makes me remember the good old days when me and six dancers were literally ripping the clothes of our only male dancer because he had to do a complete outfit and makeup change in two minutes. Poor guy ;)

[paigestation]

I need these people to help me when I oversleep and I’m late for work

[mylahobbit]

mad respect. my quickest quick change was in guys and dolls, I was general cartwright and the mission crew and i were all ensemble members in the titular number, which happens directly before a scene in the mission. I was lucky because I entered a few lines after the lights went up, but sarah and the rest of the mission folks had a maybe 30 second instrumental or so before they had to be in places for lights up on the scene, and one of them had to have a giant marching band drum when he walked in. small production, so they could only spare two or three techies for the five people who needed to change - an absolute nightmare. Worst part was the mission uniforms were old marching band uniforms and were pretty much impossible to put on quickly without help - I usually got the basics down and then helped the rest of them, since I could clean up a bit in the 10-15 seconds before I had to enter.

[mandapannts]

Awesome! Who doesn't love a good quick change??

[jadenritscher]

The people behind the scenes of costume changes never get enough credit!! They make the job so much easier for the performer. Last year I participated in a production of Peter and the Starcatcher at my school, and ended up playing various parts including Teacher the mermaid. My teacher had me run offstage and change in the span of a few minutes, with no extra help. This meant that I had to redo my makeup during intermission (not to mention the fact that I had two quick changes then too), then tear off my clothes (button up shirt, pants and tennis shoes) while running back to my dressing room, completely change my outfit (new shirt, leggings, dress), shoes (heels with the straps around the ankles that act like belts if you know what I mean), put on jewelry, make sure my makeup wasn't ruined, run to my spot backstage while being quiet so as not to disturb the performance (all the while praying that the people who acted as my tail onstage were waiting for me, which some nights they barely got there in time), grab my huge tail and tie it securely around my waist (the only part I had help with), make sure everything was good to go and get on stage. I also had to enter at the exact right time, otherwise I wouldn't get to my spot on stage fast enough. It was hell but I loved every night of that performance, it was worth seeing people's faces when I came out in a completely different costume and moving tail! I have so much respect for the actors in professional settings and for the people that help them.

[DuhAverageJoe]

Quick changes were always one of my favorite aspects of musical theater!

[louisemaaree]

Oh my! How I love the thrill of a quick change. The highlight of my dancing career!

[Chrystle]

Ahh, I love a good quick change! Gets the heart pumping!!!!

[emilybrinco]

She even has time for a drink of water! Incredible!

[peacelovetennis]

That's talent right there! Dang! What if a zipper gets stuck or something?

[miaaimeerose]

My school did Mary Poppins this year, and let me tell you that quick change was the scariest moment of the entire show, every performance everyone held their breath hoping that Mary would make it onstage but luckily she was only a few seconds late on the very first night.

[goodolmilo]

When I did this show, I had 2 characters who had multiple back to back or one short scene apart quick changes, from a male character to a female character and BOI WAS IT STRESSFULL

[maisiefeek]

Huge respect to people backstage at shows. In my school's production of 'The Tempest', I was in the chorus so we had to do all of the quick changes by ourselves. There was this one scene where I had to wear a black button up shirt, then, within a period of around 30 seconds, I had to be ready for the next scene, so i had to run backstage, go up one flight of stairs, get a blue button up shirt on, then run back downstairs to be ready to go back onstage. To be honest, one night, there was a hitch, and the stage hand didn't realise we were supposed to be going on next, so I ended up having to do that quick change within a period of about 10-15 seconds, which was a rush to say the least, but it all worked out in the end, and the adrenaline rush kicked in!!

[hannahcaitriley]

I remember when I did footloose, and the entire company had a quick change of either about 1 min or about 3. But because I was rusty me and my friend who was Willard literally had about 30 seconds before the finale and honestly it was the most stressful time of my life 😂😂😂🤦‍♀️

[WilmaWonka]

Jesus to watch this gives me massive anxiety.