A Spoonful of Sherman, which premiered in 2014, returns to the London stage in August – but it’ll look and sound different this time round. In the third in a series of show blogs, Robbie Sherman talks about changes to the 2017 presentation.
A Spoonful of Sherman, which premiered in 2014, returns to the London stage in August. In the first in a series of show blogs, Robbie Sherman recalls how the original concept came about.
Following two sold out critically-acclaimed London runs, Robert J. Sherman's hit show A Spoonful of Sherman, returns for two weeks only to Live at Zédel in the heart of London's West End. The show celebrates the songs of nearly 100 years and three generations of the Sherman Family music.
In the second of a two-part blog series marking the 50th anniversary of Disney release The Happiest Millionaire, Robbie Sherman explores why the film didn’t prove to be the follow-up hit to Mary Poppins as expected.
In the first of a two-part blog series, Robbie Sherman applauds the Disneyana Fan Club’s recent anniversary retrospective on the 1967 film with songs by The Sherman Brothers.
We're delighted to announce new London dates for Robbie Sherman's hit show A Spoonful of Sherman, celebrating the songs of three generations of the Sherman family. Here's a press release from the venue, Live at Zedel.
Marianka Swain recently interviewed Robbie for leading theatre website BroadwayWorld.com in connection with the release of the Bumblescratch London Concert Cast Recording, which is also now available on iTunes. Here are some of our favourite excerpts (plus links to the full interview).
In this fourth in a series of blogs on the recently released BUMBLESCRATCH cast recording, Robbie marvels at the attention and professionalism of orchestrator and arranger Rowland Lee and other members of the creative team. Can you hear the difference?
In the third of a series of blogs to tie in with the release of the MOOSE audio book, Robbie remembers how much effort - and emotion - went into collecting the photographs that form such an important part of his father's story.
In this third in a series of blogs on the recently released BUMBLESCRATCH cast recording, Robbie gives thanks for the vocal dexterity of 13-year-old Ilan Galkoff, who played Perry the Plague Rat.
In the second of a series of blogs to tie in with the release of the MOOSE audio book, Robbie recalls the process of recording more than eleven hours of reading aloud and the voices in his head, including his father's and Walt Disney's.
The BUMBLESCRATCH Official Cast Recording (OCR) is officially released today! To celebrate, in this second in a series of CD-related blogs, Robbie considers the importance of making OCRs and why they're so collectable.
EPCOT Center holds special memories for Robbie, who was a teenager when his father and uncle were working on music for the Kodak Pavilion opening. As part of his Disneyana Fan Club trip to Disney World this week, he recalls one little spark memory...
How did a childhood spent on the move influence the Sherman Brothers' songwriting? That's a subject that Robbie explores in this year's Walking With Giants event for the Disneyana Fan Club.
Robbie is in Florida this week with the Disneyana Fan Club. He's got a busy schedule over the next few days, with the annual Walking With Giants event, "It's a Small World" talk, a marching band first and a return to EPCOT Center...
In the first of a series of blogs to tie in with the release of the MOOSE audio book, Robbie explains how the book came to be and how important it was to his father, despite its posthumous release.
In this first in a series of blogs on the BUMBLESCRATCH cast recording, Robbie looks back on the intense work that went into creating the release and some difficult decisions, not least to do with the physical limitations of a CD.
To coincide with today's announcement of SimG Records' upcoming release of the BUMBLESCRATCH cast album, we're sharing this timely foreword that Robbie wrote as the foreword for booklet that accompanies the CD. Watch out over the coming days for more on the creative process behind the album.
Here's the press release from SimG Records on Robbie's album news:
Just in time for Christmas! On Monday 19 December 2016, SimG Records, the leading independent British label devoted to new musical theatre writers and artists, is to release BUMBLESCRATCH.
Here's the publisher's press release on this exciting development...
First published to critical acclaim in hardback in 2013, MOOSE is the definitive autobiography by Academy Award Winning Songwriter Robert B. Sherman, the man Walt Disney called ’The Poet’. This Christmas, MOOSE is released as an audio book for the first time in a special version narrated by his son and editor of the book, Robert J. Sherman.
After working with Michael Xavier on BUMBLESCRATCH in September, Robbie was delighted to be invited as a special VIP guest speaker at Michael's pioneering Musical Theatre Masterclass. Here's more information on this great programme and Robbie's participation...
I've been pondering this question with less than a week to go before BUMBLESCRATCH premieres at the West End's Adelphi Theatre. My father would always refer to the musicals that he wrote as “family musicals” and not “children's musicals”. Of course the two aren’t mutually exclusive, but there is a significant difference...
BUMBLESCRATCH is an allegory in that several of the characters represent aspects of the protagonist's personality. Even London itself behaves as a reflection of Melbourne. The crumbling, disease-ridden city provides an appropriate backdrop. I sometimes refer to “The Four Melbournes”which exist in the world of the story…
BUMBLESCRATCH is a sung-through musical. Since I was small, I knew that I wanted to follow in my father’s, uncle’s and grandfather’s footsteps and write musicals. But one piece of unchartered territory, at least for Shermans, was writing sung-through musicals (or opera). So I made it my goal that I would one day write one! And it’s been a sort of bucket-list challenge for me ever since.
As rehearsals officially begin today (18 August 2016) in London for BUMBLESCRATCH, here are quick character studies of the four lead rats and a few details you may not already know about the actors playing them: Darren Day, Jessica Martin, Michael Xavier and Ilan Galkoff. Character development like this always starts as handwritten notes from my library of red notebooks. I daren't tell you what volume I'm up to now!
Further to my blog on Friday… When researching London history for BUMBLESCRATCH, I participated in a lot of walking tours. And I can’t recommend them highly enough!
I'm a bit of a history buff so it was fun researching 17th-century London for BUMBLESCRATCH. I went on several walking tours of London and read a few books, including Peter Ackroyd’s London, excerpts from Samuel Pepys’ diaries and Peter Jackson’s London Bridge: A Visual History. Did you know there have been about seven London Bridges since the Romans built the first one about two thousand years ago?
Frankly, I can't stand rats, or mice: they terrify and disgust me. So why write a musical about rats like BUMBLESCRATCH? Shakespeare’s Globe is to blame.
BUMBLESCRATCH was something I felt compelled to write. It's about the plague of London. I started writing it in 2004 and finished the first draft four years later. There were a couple projects in between, so in total it was a good three years of work.
We have a full cast for BUMBLESCRATCH’s West End premiere on 4 September. And I’m particularly excited by the casting of the child actor Ilan Galkoff, who will follow in the footsteps of Sebastian Croft in the role of Perry – a part I first saw him for three years ago.
The audition process for BUMBLESCRATCH is nearly complete and, to start, I'm delighted to be able to share with you the names of our new stars, who I'm sure many of you will recognise: Darren Day, Michael Xavier and Jessica Martin.
Ahead of the full West End concert presentation premiere on 4 September, theatregoers can get a sneak-peek at Robbie's new musical BUMBLESCRATCH next weekend at the annual West End Live festival in Trafalgar Square.
We're hugely excited to officially announce that Robbie's musical BUMBLESCRATCH will receive its West End premiere in a one-off gala concert on 4 September 2016, commemorating the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London. Also today, we've launched the show website at www.bumblescratch.com. Please check it out! Here's the press release...
Robbie reflects on the challenges of creating an online archive for his prolific family of music-makers.
Robbie Sherman’s new song, “Mondays” features on Ms., the new charity album in aid of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, which is due to be released on 9 May 2016.
Love for penguins is a many-feathered thing. Robbie explains how a family in-joke led to him writing two penguin-themed musicals.
You will – of course! – know that this past Monday was International Penguin Day. Robbie shares some thoughts on penguins and the part they play in his dad’s work on Mary Poppins and his own musical Love Birds…
Robbie Sherman's three-part blog series celebrating the 2016 reboot of The Jungle Book concludes with consideration of the Sherman Brothers' song "Trust in Me", sung in the new film by Scarlett Johansson.
Robbie Sherman's three-part blog series celebrating the 2016 reboot of The Jungle Book continues with a closer look at the Sherman Brothers' song from the 1967 original, "I Wanna Be Like You", which also features in the new version.
Nearly fifty years after the animated classic, Disney has launched a brand-new version feature film of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. The soundtrack includes new versions of the Sherman Brothers’ songs “I Wanna Be Like You” and “Trust in Me”. To coincide with the new film’s release, Robbie Sherman reflects on those songs and the Sherman Brothers’ overall involvement with the 1967 original in this three-part blog series. This is part one…
As we get rolling with regular blogs on the new website, Robbie gives an overview of how he plans his year – and divides his time between his original projects and his duties managing the Sherman family estates.
Having returned to London from California yesterday, tonight Robbie Sherman will be hosting a dinner for the Beverly Hills High School Marching Band on the final night of their London Christmas Tour.
The weekend long celebration of Robert B. Sherman's 90th Birthday (18-20 December 2015), hosted by Robbie Sherman and organized by the Disneyana Fan Club went on without a hitch.
Robbie has returned to the United States this week to conduct the second annual WALKING WITH GIANTS tour, a Disneyana commemorative event.
Robbie was delighted to attend the gala of The S&S Award at London's St James Theatre on Sunday 15 November.
Love Birds successfully completed its critically acclaimed season at the Pleasance Courtyard in Edinburgh. And producer Kat Portman announced that development was already under way for a longer, full-length version of Robbie's show.
