Remembering Jerry Herman — Page 2

I met Mr. Herman briefly and we shared a close friend in common. By all accounts and in my experience, he was as lovely a gentleman as he was talented!

The OBCR of MAME literally changed my life, engendering a love of musical theater I have never lost.

I have a friend who used to be a longtime critic for a major daily, who always said that he was grateful to Jerry Herman because he never thought he'd live to see two men sing a love song to each other on a Broadway stage.

I appreciate reading the tributes here from longtime fans of Jerry Herman's work.

My perspective is different. I grew up thinking of his musicals, and certainly Hello, Dolly!, as outdated shows that didn't really interest me. My wife happened to be a huge fan of Eydie Gorme's version of "If He Walked into My Life," which I liked too, but that's all I thought at the time.

We only saw productions of his shows in recent years. In 2017, I saw a fine local production of La Cage Aux Folles, which I enjoyed a lot more than I was expecting. Aside from its justified status in Broadway history, it was a well-crafted show that mixed comedy, pathos, determination and whole lot of fun.

In February, we saw the touring production of Hello, Dolly! on its first night in San Francisco. Many people have recently praised the Betty Buckley-led revival as one of the best touring shows they've ever seen, and I agree with that. I was struck in particular at how good the overall score is, not just the songs I knew beforehand. "Elegance" is such a charming song. "It Only Takes a Moment" is beautiful. And the hits... well, the praise for "Put on Your Sunday Clothes Are" as a song that just makes you happy is thoroughly justified. And the title song feels like a celebration not just of the show but of the power of musical theater itself. I wasn't expecting to find it as thrilling. It's really a show you need to see in person to truly appreciate.

Herman was able to write joyous musicals that found a new audience late in his life. And it's no accident that the makers of Wall-E, the animated Pixar film, borrowed from the Hello, Dolly movie. They were no dummies.

To this day, Mame is my favorite musical...not the best I have seen, but my favorite. To me, the show ws the perfect musical comedy -- great score, very funny book, solid direction and choreography, great roles for three females. I still remember that the first time I saw Mame was June 25,1966. Probably don't know the exact date for any other shows but two: I saw Annie Get your Gun revival the week after Mame (so I guess June 2,1966), and Sweet Charity three weeks before Mame (so June 4).

I was too young to fully enjoy Charity, but not Mame. I dont think Mame gets enough credit for its great score.

I listened to the Hello Dolly score for almost a year before I saw Dolly. Formany,many listenings, I got goose bumps when the vocals of Sunday Clothes and Hello Dolly reach their vocal crescendoes. They were just so joyous.

Similarly, I love the score to The Grand Tour and still consider You, I Like and I'll be Here Tomorrow be among his best songs. I listened to the score most recently about two weeks ago, and always wonder why it was such a flop...I assume that feel-good musicals were just out of style at the time.

While I love the score for Mack and Mabel, I believe there was nothing that Herman could have done to save the show. The story itself was such a downer. There is so much irony that the best thing about that mis-guided show was the score, which did not nominated for a Tony, when it received so many other nominations for less quality components.

Between Hello Dolly, Mame and La Cage, I wonder if there was any other Broadway composer, lyricist, librettist, director or choreographer who brought so much total joy into people's lives.

Jerry Herman's first full Broadway show -- Milk and Honey -- features one of his best scores.

"And even when you say goodbye,
If your voice has
'I don't want to go' in it,
Say goodbye with a little 'hello' in it,
And say goodbye with shalom."

Double post, sorry!

Updated On: 12/29/19 at 05:53 PM

I found this 1993 Hollywood Bowl tribute to Jerry Herman. It is marvelous! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXLV2Y5ucGk&list=FL2OmgVuferBboa0oQpGTKLQ&index=2&t=0s