Sherman and Stiles Downstage Center Interview Online
By: BWW News Desk May. 02, 2007
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Click this link to hear Mary Poppins composers Richard M. Sherman and George Stiles on the American Theatre Wing's weekly theatrical interview show, "Downstage Center."
Press notes state, "Sherman and Stiles, the film and stage composers of Mary Poppins, come together for a special program that explores the creation of the original film score and how it was adapted and supplemented for the stage musical. Sharing a piano, they play and sing snippets of a variety of Poppins songs – including songs that were cut from both versions, some of which ended up in other familiar scores. Separately, Sherman and Stiles also provide quick overviews of their respective careers, with Sherman recalling how he and his brother Robert became the house composers for Disney and later wrote the stage musicals Over Here and Busker Alley, and Stiles reviewing his partnership with Anthony Drewe and how they spent seven years writing Just So, only to win the Olivier Award for their more swiftly created Honk!"
George Stiles and his partner Anthony Drewe have written five musicals together. Their other shows include Tutankhamun; Just So; Honk, which won the Olivier Award for Best Musical in 2000; and Peter Pan, which won Best Song and the Orchestras Award at the 1996 International Musical of the Year in Denmark. They have also written two revues and contributed songs to a variety of theatre, TV, and radio shows, including the RSC's Shakespeare Revue. Stiles and Drewe's next project is Soho Cinders, and together they are founder board members of MMD, a charity promoting new writing for the musical theatre.
Independently, George is the composer of Moll Flanders (winner of Best Musical in the 1995 TMA Awards), Tom Jones and, most recently, The Three Musketeers . George's other recent projects include the score for Sam Mendes's productions of Habeas Corpus, Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya at the Donmar Warehouse and working as Dame Edna's musical director and arranger.
Richard M. Sherman is an Academy Award-winning Jewish-Americansongwriter who specializes in musical film with his brother Robert B. Sherman. Their work has earned them two Oscars®, nine Oscar® nominations, three GRAMMY® Awards, 24 gold/platinum albums, a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame and induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Early hits, including "You're 16" and "Tall Paul," led to a long-term association with Walt Disney and more than 150 songs for Disney films, TV and theme parks ("It's a Small World" being the world's most translated and performed song). Their Disney film credits include The Jungle Book, The Parent Trap, Bedknobs & Broomsticks, Winnie the Pooh, The Aristocats and The Tigger Movie. Other films: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Tom Sawyer, The Slipper and the Rose, Charlotte's Web and Beverly Hills Cop 3. Stage credits include Over Here!, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (London, Broadway, UK tour), Busker Alley, Mary Poppins (London and Broadway).
For more information, visit www.americantheatrewing.org or www.xmradio.com.
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