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NEW YORK -- Richard Sherman, who with his brother Robert wrote the music and lyrics for Walt Disney's 1964 film musical Mary Poppins, is perched on a chair in a midtown rehearsal studio. "OK, let's do the last chorus," he says.
Sherman is speaking to George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, another, younger songwriting duo whose melodies and words supplement the Sherman Brothers' in the new stage version of Mary Poppins that opens Thursday at Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre.
On piano, Stiles bangs out a tune from the movie as Sherman sings with a charming faux-cockney accent: "Aaoow, it's a jolly 'oliday with Mary ... ." They croon a countermelody they wrote for the number as presented in the show, which premiered in London nearly two years ago.
"To me, the big thrill is hearing it all come together," Sherman says after the trio has finished with a flourish. "It's like a good marriage."
Like its Jolly Holiday, the new Poppins is the product of an Anglo-American wedding, between Disney Theatrical Productions and the British impresario Cameron Mackintosh (Cats, Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera).
Mackintosh acquired rights to the Poppins books from author Pamela Lyndon Travers before her death in 1996. Travers had expressed mixed feelings about the movie, but Mackintosh maintained that the Shermans' songs should be integral to a theatrical adaptation. "We had to find a way to weave Pamela's stories and those great songs together," Mackintosh says. "I knew that would require many talents."
Stiles and Drewe, who had worked with Mackintosh before, learned of the producer's plans, and after watching Disney's Mary Poppins on video drafted a song called Practically Perfect, a description Travers' nanny applies to herself. Unbeknownst to the pair, the Shermans had considered the same title for a number.
"When we first met, they were nervous," Sherman recalls. "I was kind of nervous, too, eager to hear what would happen with our mutual baby. Then they played Practically Perfect and I flipped. The first thing I said was, 'That's one of the best songs I ever wrote.'"
Still, Stiles and Drewe knew that their task was not to merely re-create a Disney classic. The musical draws on different elements of Travers' stories, presenting their material and the Shermans' in different contexts.
"The movie is structured more like a film musical," says Thomas Schumacher, head of Disney Theatricals. "The music isn't always used to tell the story. We thought there would be a better way to explore the songs. Our intention was never to take the movie and put it on stage, but to take what people love about the movie and put it on stage."
Schumacher and Mackintosh note that the show has been tightened considerably since its London opening. The Broadway production also features a new cast. London transfer Gavin Lee, who plays Mary's buddy Bert, will join a company led by Ashley Brown in the title role. Sherman is confident this Mary Poppins would have passed muster with his old boss. "When Walt Disney was creating the picture, he said that it was a family picture -- meaning that it was not only for kids but for their moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas. And that's especially true of this show. It's a mature, magical story. It's for everybody."
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