Newspaper Article

WEEKEND JOURNAL; BEHIND THE SCENES: Julian Fellowes, Book Writer, 'Mary Poppins'

Hughes, Robert J

2006

Overview

Mr. [FELLOWES], who won an Academy Award for his screenplay to Robert Altman's 2001 film \"Gosford Park,\" says he feels that with \"Mary Poppins\" he has joined the American musical tradition. And, he says, he considers that tradition one of this country's great gifts to the arts. While \"Mary Poppins\" is a product of both U.K. and American talent -- it's a co-production of Walt Disney Co. and British producer Cameron Mackintosh -- it won't lack for Broadway razzle-dazzle, Mr. Fellowes says. (Ms. Poppins arrives aerially, of course.) His initial exposure to such spectacle came in the late 1970s when he saw his first big Broadway musical, \"On the Twentieth Century,\" a show that cleverly recreated a train onstage. That special effect blew him away because British musical scenery of the time \"usually would have painted flats,\" Mr. Fellowes says.

• Publisher: Dow Jones & Company Inc
• Subject: Broadway theater / Composers / Fellowes, Julian / Mary Poppins / Motion pictures / Musical theater / Theater