News

Robert B. Sherman, half of the team of songwriting brothers who created the scores for Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, together with numerous other film songs and scores has died at the age of 86.

Together with his brother, Richard M. Sherman, Robert Sherman won two Oscars — for the song Chim Chim Cher-ee from Mary Poppins, and for the score of the same film, created with Walt Disney, whose studios they worked at as staff composers from 1960 to 1973.

Lucy Graham reports on the challenge of staging a show open to the elements.

Wondering whether to cancel your planned barbecue tonight? Spare a thought for Glenn Elston, for whom theatre productions over the past 25 years have included recalcitrant possums, a cast member falling into a lake, and many cancellations.

Australia’s production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies, filmed for Blu-rayTM and DVD, will have 900 screenings in the U.S. next week before it is released globally. ‘This is a terrific ‘thumbs up’ for us,’ Tim McFarlane, Producer of the Australian production of Love Never Dies and Managing Director of The Really Useful Company, responsible for The Really Useful Group’s activities in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, said in Sydney today.

Howard Panter is one of the biggest name in theatre in the UK. His Ambassador Theatre Group owns 39 venues, including the Savoy and Piccadilly theatres. The company also  co-produces hit musicals and plays by the bucket load. The biggest hits include Ghost the Musical and the latest production of West Side Story which also toured Australia.

But in Sydney for another visit, his latest gala announcement was dashed by the leadership challenge in Canberra.