Jerry Herman

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Jerry Herman (born July 10, 1931) is an American composer and lyricist best known for his appearances in Broadway musical theater.

He composed the scores for the hit Broadway musicals Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage aux Folles.

He has been nominated for the Tony Award five times and twice for Hello, Dolly! and La Cage aux Folles.

Herman was Laurel Award in 2009 for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.

He is a recipient of the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors.

Early life

Herman was born in Manhattan and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey, as the only child of a musically gifted, middle-class Jewish parents. He learned to play piano at an early age and was a regular attender of Broadway musicals.

Harry, Herman's father, worked in the Catskill Mountains hotels in the summer. Ruth (Sachs) grew up in the hotels as a guitarist, pianist, and children's tutor, before becoming an English teacher. In 1986, Herman told People Magazine that his mother, who died in 1954, was "glamoresque like Mame and witty like Dolly."

His parents spent time in Jersey City and then spent the summers in various camps until they became head counselors and then ran Stissing Lake Camp in the Taconic Mountains. Herman spent all of his summers there, from age 6 to 23. He first became involved in theatrical performances as director of Oklahoma!, Finian's Rainbow, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Herman graduated from Henry Snyder High School in Jersey City.

Herman was introduced to Frank Loesser at the age of 17. He was encouraged to write more. He left Parsons School of Design to attend the University of Miami, which has one of the country's most avant garde theater departments. Herman, a student at the University of Miami, produced Sketchbook, a college musical. It was supposed to run for three performances, but the show was so popular that it sold for an additional 17 performances. Herman belonged to the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity.

Herman graduated from the University of Miami in 1953 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama and then went on to earn a Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 1980.

Personal life and death

Herman, who had a flair for decorating in the 1970s, took a break from composition following Mack and Mabel's demise. Architectural Digest featured the firehouse he renovated, as well as redecorating other houses and selling them. Herman decorated three dozen houses, according to The Washington Post. Herman's 4,000-square-foot (379.8 m2) West Hollywood condominium apartment was up for auction early in 2013.

Herman, who was openly gay, was working with Terry Marler, a real estate broker, at the time of his death.

In 1985, Herman was diagnosed HIV-positive. "He is one of the lucky ones who lived to see experimental drug therapies flourish," advocate author John Keene said, "alive and well, prospering" over a quarter of a century ago," he said.

Showtune, Herman's memoir, was first published in 1996.

He died in a Miami hospital on December 26, 2019, at the age of 88.

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Early career

Herman graduated from the University of Miami in 1953 and he produced The Off-Broadway revue I Feel Wonderful, which was based on student papers. On October 18, 1954, it opened at the Theatre de Lys in Greenwich Village and went on for 48 performances. It was his first show his mother ever saw; she died of cancer at the age of forty-four in December 1954. "I went into serious mourning," Herman said.

In 1957, Herman confronted the owner of a West Fourth Street jazz club and asked to put on a revue. Herman wrote the book and directed the one-hour revue called Nightcap, as well as providing the music. Phyllis Newman, his friend, was asked to do movement and dance, and it starred Charles Nelson Reilly (who later appeared in Hello, Dolly!). The show opened in May 1958 and lasted for two years.

Herman gathered enough original information to put together a Parade revue in 1960. Richard Tone's choreography led Herman's performance. Charles Nelson Reilly and Dody Goodman were among the cast members. It opened at the Showplace and then grew to the Players Theatre in January 1960.

Broadway career

Herman made his Broadway debut with the film From A to Z, which also featured contributions from Woody Allen and Fred Ebb. After seeing a show on the founding of Israel, producer Gerard Oestreicher approached him and asked if he'd be interested in composing the score for a documentary about the state of Israel's founding. In 1961, Milk and Honey, his first full-fledged Broadway musical, was born. Robert Weede, Mimi Benzell, and Molly Picon appeared on the show, which was dedicated to American tourists in Israel. It received favorable feedback, was nominated for a Tony award, and ran for 543 times.

In 1960, Herman met playwright Tad Mosel, and the pair collaborated on an Off-Broadway musical adaptation of Mosel's 1953 television play Madame Aphrodite. In December 1961, the Orpheum Theatre of the same name, which starred Nancy Andrews in the title role, opened but only after 13 performances. The performance has never been seen before. Herman, who felt that the direction and casting had not worked, was hurt, but he said it was a "very brave thing for me to do," and that it was "more suited to early Sondheim than me."

Hello, Dolly!, producer David Merrick's collaboration with musical actress Carol Channing and librettist Michael Stewart in 1964 was to be one of his most popular projects. The original production, which was the longest-running musical for its time, lasted for 2,844 performances, and was revived three times. Despite being up for scrapes from Funny Girl and Hello, Dolly! The Producers swept the Tony Awards this season, winning 10, a record that remained unbroken for 37 years until The Producers won 12 Tony Awards in 2001.

Angela Lansbury, Herman's next musical, introduced a string of Herman standards, most notable the ballad "If He Walked Into My Life," holiday favourite "We Need a Little Christmas", as well as the title tune.

Despite not commercial success, Dear World (1969), starring Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters, and The Grand Tour (1979) starring Joel Grey are notable for their inventive designs and memorable scores. Mack & Mabel is considered by Herman as his personal favorite score in his later work, La Cage aux Folles, who came in second place. Both Dear World and Mack & Mabel have a cult following among Broadway aficionados.

Herman had his third hit with La Cage aux Folles, starring George Hearn and Gene Barry in 1983, in what was considered to be one of the first hit Broadway musicals centered around a gay couple. The musical was staged out in Boston, where Herman was concerned: Herman's fear was the real thing:

The Boston ticket sales were strong for the second week in a row; a two-week extension forced the box office to remain open for 36 hours straight to satisfy the demand. The Palace Theatre's debut at the Palace Theatre had been described as "something approximating outright pandemonium." In 1983, La Cage aux Folles received the Tony Award for Best Musical (1983), but later became the only musical to win the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical twice (2005 and 2010).

Jerry's Girls, "a pastiche" of his art, starred Dorothy Loudon, Leslie Uggams, and Chita Rivera, and appeared on Broadway from December 1985 to April 1986.

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Awards and honors

• 2010 Kennedy Center Honoree
• 1999 Theatre World Special Award (An Evening with Jerry Herman)
• 1999 New York University Musical Theater Hall of Fame
• 1980 Doctor of Fine Arts, May 4, 1980, University of Miami