Wow. I'm still coming down from an amazing evening at the Academy of Motion Pictures theater in Beverly Hills. The program was The Sherman Brothers: A Hollywood Songbook, a salute to Richard and Robert Sherman, songwriters extraordinaire. Robert passed away in 2012 but Richard — who just celebrated turning 90 — was there to receive a bombardment of love.
The event was packed and many were turned away. John Stamos was the host and along with many, many film clips, there were live musical performances by Dick Van Dyke, Hayley Mills, Richard Allen, Tommy Emmanuel, Jordan Fisher, Anthony Gonzalez, Kenny Loggins, Maude Maggart, LeAnn Rimes, Keala Settle, Lesley Ann Warren and Michael-Leon Wooley. Dick and his back-up group The Vantastix sang a medley from Mary Poppins. Hayley Mills sang "Let's Get Together" from The Parent Trap. Kenny Loggins sang "Your Heart Will Lead You Home" from The Tigger Movie. And so on.
Speakers included composer John Debney, Oscar-winning director Pete Docter, actress Karen Dotrice, Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino, film critic Leonard Maltin, Disney artist Floyd Norman, actor B.J. Novak, writer-director Bob Peterson, Oscar-winning producer Jonas Rivera, writer-producers Gregory V. and Jeffrey C. Sherman, and a surprise appearance by Alan Menken who spoke and performed a parody he wrote of one of the Shermans' songs.
I lost track of the standing ovations. It seemed like there was one about every three minutes…and they were all deserving. At the end when Richard Sherman took the stage to thank everyone (and to play "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,") he — of course — got the biggest one. It may still be going on about a mile from me but I have my windows closed so I'm not sure.
I wish I could convey to you the sheer love in that room…and the sincere emotion. It isn't just that the Sherman Brothers wrote great songs. They wrote great songs that were integral parts of so many childhoods. At the end, the audience stood while on the stage, Richard and all the performers and speakers led us in singing "Let's Go Fly A Kite!" Present in the building were people of all ages…but for that finale, we were all about nine years old. And sorry it was over.