Tag Archives: Marc Shaiman

Marc Shaiman on “Mary Poppins Returns”

Composer-songwriter Marc Shaiman earned his sixth and seventh Oscar nominations for music in the long-awaited Mary Poppins Returns: for original score, and original song (“The Place Where Lost Things Go” with his co-lyricist Scott Wittman). It was a long odyssey, involving months developing the storyline, writing and rewriting the songs, flying to London to rehearse with the actors, and finally recording the dramatic score. We discussed all of this in a video interview for SoundWorks Collection — interestingly, at Shaiman’s former Los Angeles studio where he had written the music and songs for his earlier Oscar nominees. (A few days later, I was able to interview both Marc and Scott at a SAG-AFTRA screening of the film in Beverly Hills.)

The music of “Mary Poppins Returns”

Make no mistake, Mary Poppins Returns — the long-awaited sequel to one of the most beloved Disney films of all time — will be among this year’s biggest Christmas movies. I was lucky enough to see it several weeks ago in anticipation of writing at length about the songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and the score by Shaiman. Variety published it this week, and it includes not only the thoughts of Shaiman and Wittman but also comments from director Rob Marshall and star Emily Blunt. My longer, more general story about the film that incorporates even more of my interviews — including co-star Lin-Manuel Miranda, was posted a few days later, and that is here.

Marc Shaiman profile for Variety

This was one of my early “Billion Dollar Composer” profiles for Variety, an opportunity to profile a versatile (and well-loved) composer for film, TV and Broadway. Marc Shaiman is the funniest composer to come along since Vic Mizzy (and in fact adapted Mizzy’s classic TV theme for the movie version of The Addams Family). Here’s the main story about Marc’s career, including comments from Billy Crystal, Rob Reiner and Martin Short. Sidebars include more of Crystal on Shaiman and 10 fascinating facts chronicling landmark moments in his career.