Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman are masters of music for stage and screen. Their songs for Disney’s “Mary Poppins Returns” are on their way to enter the Disney canon to be sung by generations to come.
Note: One of the big questions being asked now is, will the success of Mary Poppins Returns be enough to continue the story with a new film? We have some talk about that after sharing these songs.
Disney has now shared two new videos with the complete versions of two of my favorite songs from the movie. “The place where Lost Things Go” is a heart-warming lullaby meant to sooth the grief of the banks children sang by Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins. Shaiman said the following about the song on his Facebook account:
When we sat down to write this song, our job was to write a lullaby of sorts, one that soothes the children while addressing loss, in this case, the loss of their mother. Scott remembered one of the Mary Poppins stories from one of the books was about how Mary Poppins takes the kids to visit her uncle, who just happens to be The Man In The Moon. He explains to them that the dark side of the moon (Pink Floyd owes P.L. Travers a royalty!) is where all the things people have misplaced are.
We thought this was a great way to address the situation in terms a child could take in. And so, we wrote this song, which was the only song written for the film that we weren’t “encouraged” to go back to the drawing board to try again. All other song slots in the movie had 1 or 2 songs along the way to the ones that are in the film, but this one stuck to the wall on the first time at bat (pardon my mixed metaphors).
“The Place Where Lost Things Go” just received an Oscar nod for Best Song. So that’s another feather in Disney’s cap.
The place where Lost Things Go (audio only):
For me, this song is one one of the key moments that provide the emotional core of the movie, and one of the songs that makes me feel like that is my Mary Poppins up their on the screen.
Another song from Mary Poppins Returns was recently made available on YouTube. “Trip a little light Fantastic” is more lively
Watch the entire 8 minute plus song and dance number here:
I just love how Lin-Manuel Miranda has the world’s biggest grin throughout the whole thing, like he can’t believe how lucky he is to be part of something like this, and he knows it.
More Poppins?
If you want more Mary Poppins, and who doesn’t, director Rob Marshall and producer John DeLuca have confirmed that Disney has already started working on a follow-up to Returns.
“It is early stages but I will say right now that there were eight books, so there’s a lot of great material still to mine,” Marshall told The Sun. “That’s what we worked from, those incredible eight books of P.L. Travers. So, you know… If there’s a great character and story to tell, why not?”
According to DeLuca Emily Blunt is ready to return as the magical nanny too, adding: “Emily does light up when she speaks to me about it. And if the people want it, I think it will happen.”
Can’t get enough Mary Poppins Returns, Disney has also released two short clips from near the end of the film:
Mr Dawes Jr. (aka Dick Van Dyke) dancing during the “Trip A Light Light Fantastic” reprise:
and the very special cameo by Angela Lansbury for the movie ending uplifting song “Nowhere to go but up”
Mary Poppins Returns is still pulling in decent numbers at the box office and has now brought in $160 million domestic and $307 million worldwide. But it now looks like 2nd on the all-time musical list might be out of reach unless Disney figures out a way to get people back into seats.