Composer Marc Shaiman on the songs of "Mary Poppins Returns" – Variety

In 2014, composer-composer-songwriter Marc Shaiman came across a vinyl copy of the soundtrack of the album "Mary Poppins" and created a video on Facebook himself dropping off the album. needle on the disc, and then sit in ecstasy. He called his video "Sky".

A few months later, he learns that the Walt Disney Studios are embarking on "Mary Poppins Returns", a sequel to this 1964 classic, and he begs director Rob Marshall to compose the songs (with his co-author, Scott Wittman) .

Repeated listening to the "Poppins" soundtrack – with its iconic Oscar-winning tunes by brothers Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman – has formed the basis of "my entire musical life," says Shaiman. "I learned everything about composing, arranging, orchestrating, and writing movies with the soundtrack of" Mary Poppins. " During the first 18 years of my life, it was my school.

Shaiman and Wittman got the job and their nine new songs (mostly starring stars Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda) are part of the classic Disney tradition. "It's a completely original score," says Marshall, "but she has the same feeling as the Sherman Brothers. It was the plan and the goal since the very beginning. "

"Our love for the original film has swept away our fears," said Shaiman (five-time Academy Award nominee for such films as "Sleepless in Seattle" and "The American President" and, with Wittman, a Tony Award for the musical "Hairspray".) "We took back what we liked to be a child. There is no need for irony or snark. This is our letter of love to the original. "

We took back what we loved as a child. There is no need for irony or snark. This is our letter of love to the original. "
Composer Marc Shaiman

Working in close collaboration with Marshall and co-authors David Magee and John DeLuca, they were inspired by the book P.L. Books Travers. So while the challenge was "terrifying," concedes Wittman, returning to the original source of Poppins' adventures "was liberating and liberating, in a way." The duo wrote tunes with titles as evocative as "Can You Imagine That "," Underneath the charming sky of London "and" The place where things go ".

"You have to deserve a song, especially a ballad," adds Marshall, "because it must give the impression of going out of the story seamlessly." So, he and his collaborators designed the film as a Broadway musical, with songs advanced in history, advancing the character to offer as much depth as possible. "In juxtaposition of these fantasies and adventures, we have a very real story with real people that are important to you," says Marshall. "It was very important to me."

Much of 2016 was devoted to story writing and songwriting (many of which were not included in the final version). Later that year, Shaiman and Wittman joined Marshall and key cast members for more than two months of rehearsals at Shepperton Studios in London before recording the songs. Filming started at the end of January 2017.

Marshall was particularly concerned about the times when the actors sang a song. The classic way of making movie musicals was, in the past years, to pre-record the songs, then to have them synchronized through the lip during filming. It was not always convincing.

"When you watch the movie, you should all feel live," Marshall said. "You should never know where the actors are singing live and where they are not." The end product is therefore a combination of pre-recorded voices and voices played live on the set.

Emily Mortimer, Nathanael Saleh, Pixie Davies, Julie Walters, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Joel Dawson and Emily Blunt play in Mary Poppins Returns. Courtesy of Disney

"Rob likes to mix both," says Blunt. "You pre-record your voices, then Rob – in a very transporting way for all of us – emits buzzing loudspeakers around the board so you do not even lip sync, you sing with yourself. Then there would be that horrible moment when Rob would say, "Okay, we're going to do a concert." We'd give you a little headset and you'd be the only person on the set to be able to hear the music, so everyone is singing to you a cappella. This is never the favorite moment of anyone. But then that gives you that seamless mix of live and pre-recording. Rob still wants it to be very fluid.

What surprised Shaiman is Marshall's suggestion that, in addition to pre-recording the orchestra and voice, he writes and records about 20 minutes of additional music – of varied, light, exciting and emotional nature – before turning. "Rob is a strong supporter of the actors' good mood with music," Shaiman said. Not only was it played on the set, but all of this was found in the final version of the film.

"The little boy in me had this fantasy, this dream, to be part of the story of" Mary Poppins, "" says Shaiman. "The weeks spent marking this film were the best weeks of my life."