Spoonful of Sherman

The Sherman brothers provided the soundtrack to much of my childhood. Songwriting duo Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman penned the scores for Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and many more toe-tapping classics. Consequently, I was predisposed to enjoy A Spoonful Of Sherman – an evening celebrating the life, times and songs of Robert B. Sherman. The Sherman family’s iconic tunes are brought to life by West End performers Greg Castiglioni, Stuart Matthew Price, Charlotte Wakefield and Emma Williams. The cabaret is given the familial touch, as it is compered by Robert J. Sherman, the late Robert B. Sherman’s son, who has inherited his father’s penchant for writing musical theatre.

With musical director and arranger Colin Billing tinkling the ivories of a grand piano, the night begins with a medley of Al Sherman (MC Robert B. Sherman’s grandfather) numbers. My personal highlights of the evening included Williams’ beautiful and soaring rendition of ‘There’s a Harbour of Dreamboats’. Wakefield’s ability to mimic Julie Andrews’s annunciation and delivery during her Mary Poppins numbers should also be applauded – if you closed your eyes it was almost as if Miss Andrews was in the room. I also enjoyed Castiglioni’s animated and character-driven performance of ‘The Ugly Bug Ball’ in which he comically impersonates the various bugs from the song. The quartet are all undoubtedly talented singers that do the Sherman family’s musical legacy justice, but I thought that each time Castiglioni took to the stage he truly dazzled the audience. This was in part thanks to his fantastic ability to embody the characters behind the songs, from his Bert in ‘Chim-Chim-Cher-ee‘ to his Baloo in ‘I Wan’na be Like You‘, were all accomplished and crowd-pleasing performances.

The evening was compered by an under-prepared Robert J., who had to rely on prompt cards to navigate his way through the evening. Personally, I am not sure how much his self- deprecating quips added, and I began to question whether songs as famous as these really required any introduction at all. That said, Robert J. did showcase some of his own work in the second act, including the particularly catchy ‘Jiggery Pokery‘ which was once again brought to life by Castiglioni. It was a real pleasure to listen to work that spanned three generations of songwriters, and the Sherman cannon is certainly one that deserved to be celebrated.

I wasn’t at all surprised to read in the programme that in a BBC poll in 2003, four Sherman Brothers musicals ranked in the top 10 ‘Favourite Films Of All Time’. They are responsible for creating some of most timeless and beloved songs of our age. With the St. James Theatre packed to the rafters it is clear that there is an appetite for a whole lot more than merely just A Spoonful Of Sherman.

A Spoonful Of Sherman is no longer playing at St James Theatre, and had a limited run of just two performances on the 6 and 10 January.