Richard Sherman salon slated at Academy for New Musical Theatre

Friday evening, February 6, Richard Sherman will host an informal salon at the Academy for New Musical Theatre. Richard will talk about his creative process and share some inside stories about the creation of some of his shows and songs. The Salon is the latest in the Academy's prestigious series featuring such musical theatre luminaries as Stephen Sondheim, Jason Robert Brown, Jeff Marx, Winnie Holzman, Arthur Kopit and Marty Panzer.

'We're honored to host one of the greatest and most beloved songwriters of all time,' says Executive Director Scott Guy, 'I mean -- Richard Sherman wrote Mary Poppins -- how supercalifraglistic is that!'

Richard will speak a little about his creative process, and show some private behind-the-scenes DVD footage of Mary Poppins, and then he'll open up the salon for questions from the audience. Generally, the Q&A section of the Academy's salons are allotted a generous hour, so many audience members get a chance to talk directly to Mr. Sherman.

'The Q&A is my favorite part of the salons,' says Associate Artistic Director Elise Dewsberry, 'Because the salons are so intimate, we've found that our guests share ideas and stories with us they might not share in a more public setting. And Richard has already been so warm and wonderful and generous to us. We can't wait!'

Richard and his brother Robert began their songwriting career at Disney, where they wrote what is perhaps their most well loved song: It's A Small World (After All), for the New York World's Fair in 1964. Since then, Small World has become the most translated and performed song on earth. In 1965, the Sherman Brothers won 2 Academy Awards for Mary Poppins, which includes the songs Feed The Birds, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and the Oscar winner, Chim Chim Cher-Ee. Since Mary Poppins' motion picture premiere, the Sherman Brothers have subsequently earned 9 Academy Award nominations, 2 Grammy Awards, 4 Grammy Award nominations and an incredible 23 gold and platinum albums.

Robert and Richard's first non-Disney assignment came with Albert R. Broccoli's motion picture production Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which garnered the brothers their third Academy Award Nomination. Their numerous other Disney and Non-Disney top box office film credits include The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, The Parent Trap, Charlotte's Web, The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh, Snoopy Come Home, Bedknobs And Broomsticks and Little Nemo: Adventures In Slumberland.

Outside of the motion picture realm, their Tony nominated smash hit, Over Here! (1974) was the biggest grossing original Broadway Musical of that year.

The Sherman Brothers have also written numerous top selling songs including You're Sixteen which holds the distinction of reaching Billboard's #1 spot twice; first with Johnny Burnette in 1960 and then with Ringo Starr fourteen years later. Other top-ten hits include, Pineapple Princess, Let's Get Together and more. In 2000 the Sherman Brothers wrote the song score for Disney's blockbuster film: The Tigger Movie. This film marked the brother's first major motion picture for the Disney company in over twenty eight years.

In 2002, Chitty hit the London stage and received rave revues. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Stage Musical as the most successful stage show ever produced at the London Palladium. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang opened on Broadway in 2005. The Sherman Brothers wrote an additional six songs specifically for the new stage productions.

The second half of the salon will be a question and answer session. The salon is limited to 80 participants.

The salon will take place at ANMT, 5628 Vineland Avenue, North Hollywood, on Friday, February 6 at 8:00pm. Tickets are $35. For more information, and to make reservations, visit the ANMT website at www.anmt.org.