Favorite Jerry Herman? — Page 3

Still you're a sweet little thing in your pajamas.

Me, PG2, and some friends (I'm the one in pink):

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PG's the one in the middle.

Gotta go. My Eric's new TV show is on. Trust me, it's good!

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PG, it looks like Joanne's trying to put the moves on you!

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It's from listening to all that racy music. I TOLD you my parents wouldn't approve of the Wiggles.

And I thought it wasn't just milk that Vince (the one in orange) slipped into Joanne's bottle. Always had a bit of a shifty look about him.

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I'm bumping this because I got to see The Grand Tour last month when it had its European premier at a fringe theatre in London.

I think the show's problem is simply that it doesn't know whether to treat WWII as being a dangerous and stressful time for those involved or jolly good fun. It is possible to get away with the latter as several television sitcoms have done but the book alternated between the two and this did not sit comfortably with Mr Herman's wonderful score.

Having said that I don't think the book is anywhere near as bad as Mack and Mabel's, which will have hopefully received further improving revisions by the time it reaches Chichester this Summer.

Mame, Dear World, Hello, Dolly!

Like nearly every show ever written, there are things I love and things I loathe in each Jerry Herman score.

His calliope-based ballads that shift from minor to major (SHALOM, RIBBONS DOWN MY BACK, I DON'T WANT TO KNOW, TIME HEALS EVERYTHING, SONG ON THE SAND) are the high points of nearly every show he writes. Those pick-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps numbers are usually my second favorite (MILK AND HONEY, PUT ON YOUR SUNDAY CLOTHES, OPEN A NEW WINDOW, EACH TOMORROW MORNING, TAP YOUR TROUBLES AWAY).

But then comes along those out-and-out clunkers (WE NEED A LITTLE CHRISTMAS, DEAR WORLD, LOOK OVER THERE) that just derail the show a bit for me.

The one score I can listen to with all favorites and no derailments is also the show I'd always welcome back on Broadway the most--HELLO DOLLY. A perfect creation.

Without naming a particular show, I have an old Greatest Broadway CD set from years ago. I line up the three production numbers "Hello, Dolly," "Mame," and "The Best of Times" and each is better than the next, or they are all wonderful.

Listening to them always elevates my mood.

"La Cage" is my favorite as a whole, but "Time Heals Everything" is my favorite song from him/one of my favorites of any composer.