The Sherman Brothers News

Filmmakers Gregory V. Sherman and Jeffrey C. Sherman explore the brothers' peripatetic childhoods, marriages, early careers and close personal and professional relationship with pioneering filmmaker and studio chief Walt Disney to create a unique portrait of these two extremely gifted but very different artists.

'the boys: the sherman brothers' story' is an intimate journey through the lives of Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, the astoundingly prolific, Academy Award-winning songwriting team that defined family musical entertainment for five decades. The feature-length documentary, conceived, produced and directed by two of the songwriters' sons, takes audiences behind the scenes of the Hollywood magic factory and offers a rare glimpse of a unique creative process at work. It also explores a deep and longstanding rift that has kept the brothers personally estranged throughout much of their unparalleled professional partnership. BroadwayWorld is pleased to bring you some images from the film.

Asolo Repertory Theatre presents George Bernard Shaw's THE DEVIL'S DISCIPLE, directed and designed by the multiple Tony and Academy Award winning Tony Walton. The Asolo Rep production opens March 20 and continues through May 24, 2009. Tickets are available through the Asolo Rep box office at (941) 351-8000, toll-free at (800) 361-8388, as well as online at www.asolo.org.

Asolo Repertory Theatre presents George Bernard Shaw's THE DEVIL'S DISCIPLE, directed and designed by the multiple Tony and Academy Award winning Tony Walton. The Asolo Rep production opens March 20 and continues through May 24, 2009. Tickets are available through the Asolo Rep box office at (941) 351-8000, toll-free at (800) 361-8388, as well as online at www.asolo.org.

The Chicago engagement of the national tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has been canceled. The show was originally scheduled to play The Chicago Theatre Feb. 11-15. The tour's website announces that the engagement was canceled 'due to slower than expected local ticket sales.' Any tickets that were ordered through Ticketmaster (by phone or on-line) will be credited to the purchaser's credit card account. Tickets purchased through Ticketmaster outlets or through The Chicago Theatre's box office must be returned to the original point of purchase. The show stars STEVE WILSON, KELLY MCCORMICK, DICK DECAREAU, GEORGE DVORSKY, ELIZABETH WARD LAND, DIRK LUMBARD, SCOTT COTE, RICHARD G. RODGERS, OLIVER WADSWORTH , ALY BRIER, JEREMY LIPTON, CAMILLE MANCUSO, ZACHARY CARTER SAYLE, BIANCA BURGESS, MARK CHMIEL, PAIGE FAURE , GEOFFREY GOLDBERG, TREY GILLEN, TIMOTHY HUGHES, MATTHEW BRANDON HUTCHENS, KEVIN LEARY, KENT M. LEWIS, CHRIS KLINK , MOLLY MAHONEY, ALISON MARCHESE, ELLIE MOONEY, TIFFANY LEE OCVIRK, MICHELLE PETRUCCI, JOHN SAUNDERS, ERIC SHOREY, MOLLY TYNES

The BMI Foundation, Inc. has announced that Columbia University graduate student Jeffrey Simno has won the 2008 Robert Sherman Scholarship. The $1,000 award is made possible through the generosity of Mary Poppins composer Robert Sherman and is given each year to a talented student composer studying musical theatre.

CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG comes to the Providence Performing Arts Center beginning March 19 for six performances only! Based on the novel by famed James Bond author and creator Ian Fleming, the production features music and lyrics by the Sherman Brothers, composers of MARY POPPINS. The National Tour also features an original script and a fresh adaptation, directed by Ray Roderick. The Providence engagement of CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG also features six local children in the chorus. In October of 2008, over eighty children came to PPAC for the audition, which consisted of them learning choreography from the show, on-site, and singing an up-tempo song of their choice. The show's producers selected Andrew Purdy, of Franklin, MA; Eric Halvarson, of Cranston; Rebekah Philip, of Rehoboth, MA; Carolina King and Virginia King, of Clayville; and Fifer Horwitz of Tiverton as the regulars, and Daniel Perkins, of Bellingham, MA and Maddie Crump, of Norfolk, MA as the boy and girl alternates. The six regulars will appear in all six CHITTY performances at PPAC.

The Chicago engagement of the national tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has been canceled. The show was originally scheduled to play The Chicago Theatre Feb. 11-15. The tour's website announces that the engagement was canceled 'due to slower than expected local ticket sales.' Any tickets that were ordered through Ticketmaster (by phone or on-line) will be credited to the purchaser's credit card account. Tickets purchased through Ticketmaster outlets or through The Chicago Theatre's box office must be returned to the original point of purchase. The show stars STEVE WILSON, KELLY MCCORMICK, DICK DECAREAU, GEORGE DVORSKY, ELIZABETH WARD LAND, DIRK LUMBARD, SCOTT COTE, RICHARD G. RODGERS, OLIVER WADSWORTH , ALY BRIER, JEREMY LIPTON, CAMILLE MANCUSO, ZACHARY CARTER SAYLE, BIANCA BURGESS, MARK CHMIEL, PAIGE FAURE , GEOFFREY GOLDBERG, TREY GILLEN, TIMOTHY HUGHES, MATTHEW BRANDON HUTCHENS, KEVIN LEARY, KENT M. LEWIS, CHRIS KLINK , MOLLY MAHONEY, ALISON MARCHESE, ELLIE MOONEY, TIFFANY LEE OCVIRK, MICHELLE PETRUCCI, JOHN SAUNDERS, ERIC SHOREY, MOLLY TYNES

THE SHERMAN BROTHERS Richard B. Sherman & Robert M. Sherman, Multiple Award-Winning Composers Of Such Film & Theater Scores As: MARY POPPINS, CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, THE JUNGLE BOOK, THE ARISTOCATS & THE TIGGER MOVIE, as well as the upcoming Broadway Production of BUSKER ALLEY, receive the National Medal of Arts Award.

Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner, last seen on Signature's stage in the critically acclaimed production of The Witches of Eastwick, is featured in the new musical adventure Ace. On Thursday, September 4th, 2008 she will participate in Signature Theater's free event 'Thursday Brown Bag Lunch'. The first Thursday of the month patron can sit down for a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Signature productions. 'Enjoy your lunch while you engage in an informal discussion with some of the artists our their 2008-2009 season,' says the theater's website.

Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner, last seen on Signature's stage in the critically acclaimed production of The Witches of Eastwick, is featured in the new musical adventure Ace. On Thursday, September 4th, 2008 she will participate in Signature Theater's free event 'Thursday Brown Bag Lunch'. The first Thursday of the month patron can sit down for a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Signature productions. 'Enjoy your lunch while you engage in an informal discussion with some of the artists our their 2008-2009 season,' says the theater's website.

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed 'Best of New York' by New York Magazine and 'an invaluable New York institution' by The New York Post, will continue the Spring 2008 season with the debut of Tony Award nominee EMILY SKINNER for two nights only, June 1 and 8.

Laura Michelle Kelly flies from Cherry Tree Lane to Middle Earth, Frances de la Tour stars in Boeing-Boeing and Lloyd Webber casts Joseph through reality TV

Musical theatre lovers who like their leading characters emotionally aloof and commitment-phobic can now enjoy a worthy companion piece to the upcoming revival of Company. Mary Poppins has flown into town in a ravishing production that kicks all that sentimental nonsense about familial closeness into the wings and pushes the heartwarming thrills of good ol' fashioned music hall song and dance fun downstage center.

JAY Records has scheduled to record the Original Cast Album of Busker Alley on Tuesday November 14 in NYC, following the Concert performance.

Busker Alley, which will soon be seen at the York Theatre Company in a star-studded concert headlined by Tony-winners Jim Dale and Glenn Close, may sidle up to a Broadway run

The York Theatre Company will present a one-night only benefit performance of Busker Alley--starring Jim Dale and Glenn Close--on November 13th at 8:00 p.m. at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College

Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, artistic director; Barry Grove, executive producer) is pleased to announce full casting for the American premiere of Simon Mendes da Costa's LOSING LOUIE at the Biltmore Theatre. Previews for LOSING LOUIE begin Thursday, September 21 for a Thursday, October 12 opening.

Borrowing a line from A Chorus Line, I saw the red shoes' at seven years old and I fell in love with dance.

In 1987, a British actress in a shabby brown trenchcoat, newsboy cap and with a dirt-smudged face, sang of her solitude. Breaking all but the stoniest hearts of the Imperial Theatre's audiences, she scored numerous awards--including the Tony--before returning to the UK. Two decades later, Frances Ruffelle has come back to New York to perform a cabaret show