Mary Poppins is one of the biggest stage musical successes to emerge from London or New York in recent years. Worldwide to date, the show has grossed over $731 million, with audiences totaling more than 10 million people.

The first national tour launched in Chicago in March 2009, performed in 34 cities from coast to coast, including engagements in Toronto and Mexico City. The second national tour, which began in Providence in February 2012, has played 25 cities and set to continue for another 30 engagements through June 2013 in Anchorage, AK.

Mary Poppins will make its premiere in Auckland, New Zealand at The Civic on October 18th, 2012. This engagement is a continuation of the production’s record breaking run in Australia, which opened to critical acclaim in Melbourne July 2010 where it achieved an unprecedented 100% of gross box office.

In its seasons in Perth and Brisbane, the advance sales smashed all previous records for a large-scale musical. In total, the sell-out 97-week national touring production played to a total of 1.35 million people. In 2011 it won a record-breaking 8 Helpmann Awards including Best Musical. This production of Mary Poppins will be first time ever that Disney Theatrical Group has presented a musical in New Zealand.

A first-ever Spanish-language production of Mary Poppins will premiere in Mexico City on November 14th at the Centro Cultural Telmex. This new production joins Broadway, the US National Tour, and the Australia/New Zealand Tour, and adds to the legacy of London, the UK Tour, and a production in Holland which have completed their runs.

The popularity and success of Mary Poppins has created a strong demand from regional theaters to produce their own professional productions. Typically, licenses for such productions are only granted at the completion of the Broadway and National Tour runs, but the producers have elected to begin granting select licenses while Broadway and the National Tour remains vibrant, just as Mackintosh and Disney did for Les Miserables and Beauty and the Beast respectively.

Licensed local professional productions this fall include Budapest, Hungary and the Czech Republic and talks are underway for a French language production in Paris next fall. Future local language productions include Madrid, Moscow, Tokyo, and a touring company in Germany. An English language tour is tentatively scheduled for China and Asia next summer.