Jerry Herman's Best Score
Jerry Herman's Best Score
#0Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 8/21/05 at 1:05am
I'm torn between Mack and Mabel and Dear World.
What is your favorite Jerry Herman score?
timote316
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/04
#1re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 8/21/05 at 1:09amI can't say I've heard many of his scores, but Mack and Mabel is great.
lvpblues
Broadway Star Joined: 2/18/04
#2re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 8/21/05 at 1:12amAs much as I like "Mack and Mabel", I think his best is "Mame"
GypsyRoseLee
Broadway Star Joined: 7/5/04
#3re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 8/21/05 at 1:28amI'm giving my vote to La Cage aux Folles. There isn't a song on that score I don't love. Mame is great too, but I've never liked St.Bridget or We Need a Little Christmas. However, I'm not a very informed voter, I admit I haven't heard Mack and Mabel.
"This is what I trained to do, and this is what I love about theater. What I love about being an actress is being able to really look into myself and understand another human being. And out my own self, to shape and form and fashion a real human being--and to present that in such a way that people see something of themselves or their own understanding in that human being."
--Phylicia Rashad
#5re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 8/21/05 at 3:00amI vote for 'Dear World' although I like 'Hello, Dolly!' a lot
'Our whole family shouts. It comes from us livin' so close to the railroad tracks'
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#6re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 8/21/05 at 10:34amMack & Mabel - not nominated for a Tony
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Dolly_Levi
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/8/04
#7re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 8/21/05 at 12:54pmHELLO, DOLLY!
Laughter is much more important than applause. Applause is almost a duty. Laughter is a reward.
Carol Channing
MusicalDirector109
Leading Actor Joined: 5/16/03
#8re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 8/21/05 at 12:57pmI love "Mack and Mabel" because its not "typical" Herman. In second place; a tie between "Mame" and 'La Cage"
#9re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 8/21/05 at 1:27pmLa Cage is the only score of his I can even remotely stand to listen to - and even that isn't THAT great a score to me. Still, Song on the Sand helps make up for a lot of weaknesses
Hi, Shirley Temple Pudding.
wickedrentq
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/6/04
#10re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 8/21/05 at 1:59pmI may be a little unfair in saying La Cage b/c other than Hello Dolly, it's the only full score I know, but I do really love it, and "I Am What I Am" and the message within is one of my absolute favorite songs of all time.
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli
grizzabella
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/05
#11re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 8/21/05 at 2:14pmI have to admit I'm not terribly familiar with Mack & Mabel, but I have to throw my vote in with La Cage Aux Folles. I love this score, even Masculinity, which makes me laugh every time I hear it. And I think the little counterpoint song Herman added to "Ann On My Arm" in the revival was clever. I'm also crazy about "Look Over There" and "I Am What I Am," both powerful messages. I just find the whole score consistently strong.
"And the postman sighed as he scratched his head, you really rather thought she ought to be dead..."
Albin
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#12re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 8/21/05 at 2:52pmAlthough La Cage is my favorite show, I would say his best score is "Mame." Every song is a gem.
#13re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 8/21/05 at 5:06pmDear World..."The Tea Party" is absolutely brilliant!
ConvinceMe2
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/7/05
#14re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 8/21/05 at 5:38pmI like all of his scores. Don't think I can pick a favorite. Well, perhaps MAME.
ConvinceMe2 is dead. Long live BrendanStryker!
#15re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 3/20/08 at 7:44pm
Thought I'd resurrect this thread.
I don't think I can choose, but if I had to, I'd say a tie between Mack and Mabel, Mame, and Dear World.
"Light the candles! Get the ice out! Roll the rug up, it's today!"
#16re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 3/20/08 at 7:53pmIt's like asking me to choose between my children!
PLEASE! Do not post anything negative or dramatic! DidYouReallyHearMe has LOST the ability to ignore such posts and he will comment! Please, help him.
With Clay Aiken in Spamalot, all of Broadway is singing a collective "There! Right! There!" -Me-
"Not Barker, Todd is the only person I've ever known who could imitate Katherine Hepburn...in print." -nmartin-
With Clay Aiken in Spamalot, all of Broadway is singing a collective "There! Right! There!" -Me-
"Not Barker, Todd is the only person I've ever known who could imitate Katherine Hepburn...in print." -nmartin-
#18re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 3/20/08 at 9:23pmNo love for Grand Tour?
....but the world goes 'round
#19re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 3/20/08 at 9:40pm
"No love for Grand Tour?"
That's what I was thinking.
PLEASE! Do not post anything negative or dramatic! DidYouReallyHearMe has LOST the ability to ignore such posts and he will comment! Please, help him.
With Clay Aiken in Spamalot, all of Broadway is singing a collective "There! Right! There!" -Me-
"Not Barker, Todd is the only person I've ever known who could imitate Katherine Hepburn...in print." -nmartin-
With Clay Aiken in Spamalot, all of Broadway is singing a collective "There! Right! There!" -Me-
"Not Barker, Todd is the only person I've ever known who could imitate Katherine Hepburn...in print." -nmartin-
husk_charmer
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#20re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 3/20/08 at 9:42pm
Mame. Followed closely by La Cage.
Grand Tour is ok, Joel Grey made that show though.
http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer
#21re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 3/20/08 at 10:52pm
I love all of Jerry Herman's scores. What can I say? I just do.
That said, I think "Mack and Mabel" is probably his best. My favorite, though, is "La Cage aux Folles."
JohnBoy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/21/06
#22re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 3/20/08 at 11:16pmNext to Richard Rodgers, Jerry Herman wrote the best scores of anyone. I love them all, but if I had to chose just one, it would be Mame.
#23re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 3/21/08 at 6:03am
Mack and Mabel first and then The Grand Tour.
I think La Cage and Dolly each have a handful of good songs but are way below the standards of the above two. Song on the Sand is so banal it could have been written by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Mame and Dear World are almost as good as The Grand Tour and I would agree that The Tea Party (from Dear World) is brilliant.
#24re: Jerry Herman's Best Score
Posted: 3/21/08 at 7:13am
"I Am What I Am" is the only song from LA CAGE that I can stand, I dislike all the other songs from that show, ugh.
My favorite Jerry Herman score is MACK & MABEL, I can't get enough of it, but his best is HELLO, DOLLY! MACK & MABEL starts incredibly strong, but after "Wherever He Ain't" there isn't a good song until "Time Heals Everything." I still can't believe he didn't write a decent duet for the couple. HELLO, DOLLY! is strong from start to finish.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
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