Hermaniana

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Jerry Herman is a composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway musical theatre.
Herman composed the scores for the hit Broadway musicals "Hello, Dolly!", "Mame", and "La Cage aux Folles".
Herman has been nominated for the Tony Award five times, and won twice, for "Hello, Dolly!" and "La Cage aux Folles".
In 2009, Herman received the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.
He is a recipient of the 2010 Kennedy Centre Honours.

Raised in Jersey City, New Jersey by musically inclined Jewish parents, Herman learned to play piano at an early age, and the three frequently attended Broadway musicals.
His father, Harry, was a gym teacher and in the summer worked in the Catskill Mountains hotels.
His mother, Ruth, also worked in the hotels as a singer, pianist, and children's teacher, and eventually became an English teacher.
After marrying, they lived in Jersey City and continued to work in the summers in various camps until they became head counselors and finally ran Stissing Lake Camp in the Berkshire Mountains.
Herman spent all of his summers there, from age 6 to 23.
It was at camp that he first became involved in theatrical productions, as director of "Oklahoma!", "Finian's Rainbow" and "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn".
Herman graduated from Jersey City's Henry Snyder High School.
At the age of 17, Herman was introduced to Frank Loesser who, after hearing material he had written, urged him to continue composing.
Herman left the Parsons School of Design to attend the University of Miami, which has one of the nation's most avant garde theatre departments.
While an undergraduate student at the University of Miami Herman produced, wrote and directed a college musical called "Sketch Book".
It was scheduled to run for three performances, but the show created an instant massive patron demand.
Herman's "Sketch Book" attracted packed houses for an additional 17 performances before it was finally cancelled.
It was the longest running show in the history of University on Miami theatre.
He was also a member of the Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity.

After graduation from the University of Miami, Herman moved to New York City, where he produced the Off-Broadway revue "I Feel Wonderful", which was made up of material he had written at the University.
It opened at the Theatre de Lys in Greenwich Village on October 18, 1954, and ran for 48 performances.
It was his only show his mother was able to see.
Shortly after it opened, she died of cancer at the age of forty-four, and Herman spent the next year in deep mourning.
In 1957, while playing piano at a New York City jazz club called "The Show Place", Herman was asked to write a show to replace one that had transferred (that show was Little Mary Sunshine).
As well as supplying the music, Herman wrote the book and directed the one-hour revue, called "Night Cap".
He asked his friend, Phyllis Newman, to do movement and dance and it featured Charles Nelson Reilly (who later co-starred in Hello, Dolly!).
"Night Cap" opened in May 1958 and ran for two years.
Herman next collected enough original material to put together a revue called Parade in 1960. Herman directed with choreography by Richard Tone. The cast included Charles Nelson Reilly and Dody Goodman. It first opened at the Showplace and, expanded, moved to the Players Theatre in January 1960.[6][7]
During 1960, Herman also met playwright Tad Mosel and the two men collaborated on an Off-Broadway musical adaptation of Mosel's 1953 television play, Madame Aphrodite.
The musical of the same name, which starred Nancy Andrews in the title role, opened at the Orpheum Theatre on December 29, 1961, but closed after only 13 performances.
No cast album was recorded, and the show has never been performed since.

In 1960, Herman made his Broadway debut with the revue From A to Z, which featured contributions from newcomers Woody Allen and Fred Ebb as well. That same year producer Gerard Oestreicher approached him after seeing a performance of Parade, and asked if he would be interested in composing the score for a show about the founding of the state of Israel. The result was his first full-fledged Broadway musical, Milk and Honey (starring Molly Picon), in 1961. It received respectable reviews and ran for 543 performances.
In 1964, producer David Merrick united Herman with Carol Channing for a project that was to become one of his more successful, Hello, Dolly!. The original production ran for 2,844 performances, the longest running musical for its time, and was later revived three times. Although facing stiff competition from Funny Girl, Hello, Dolly! swept the Tony Awards that season, winning 10, a record that remained unbroken for 37 years, until The Producers won 12 Tonys in 2001.
In 1966, Herman's next musical was the smash hit Mame starring Angela Lansbury, which introduced a string of Herman standards, most notably the ballad "If He Walked Into My Life", the holiday favorite "We Need a Little Christmas", and the title tune.
Although not commercial successes, Dear World (1969) starring Angela Lansbury, Mack & Mabel (1974) starring Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters, and The Grand Tour (1979) starring Joel Grey are noted for their interesting concepts and their melodic, memorable scores. Herman considers Mack & Mabel his personal favorite score, with later composition La Cage aux Folles in a close second. Both Dear World and Mack & Mabel have developed a cult following among Broadway aficionados.
In 1983, Herman had his third mega-hit with La Cage aux Folles starring George Hearn and Gene Barry, which broke box-office records at the Palace Theatre and earned Herman yet another Tony Award for Best Musical. From its score came the gay anthem "I Am What I Am" and the rousing sing-a-long "The Best of Times." La Cage aux Folles won the Tony Award for Best Musical (1983), is the only musical to win the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical twice (2005 & 2010), and therefore is the only show to win a Best Musical award for every staged Broadway production.

Many of Herman's show tunes have become pop standards. His most famous composition, "Hello, Dolly!", is one of the most popular tunes to have originated in a Broadway musical, and was a #1 hit in the United States for Louis Armstrong, knocking The Beatles from #1 in 1964. A French recording by Petula Clark charted in the Top Ten in both Canada and France. "If He Walked into My Life" from Mame was recorded by Eydie Gormé, winning her a Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Female in 1967. "I Am What I Am" from La Cage aux Folles was recorded by Gloria Gaynor and became a disco favorite. Other well known Herman showtunes include "Shalom" from Milk and Honey; "Before the Parade Passes By", "Put On Your Sunday Clothes", and "It Only Takes a Moment" from Hello, Dolly!; "It's Today!", "Open a New Window", "We Need a Little Christmas," and "Bosom Buddies" from Mame; and "I Won't Send Roses" and "Time Heals Everything" from Mack & Mabel.
Herman is one of only two composers/lyricists to have three musicals run more than 1500 consecutive performances on Broadway (the other being Stephen Schwartz): Hello, Dolly! (2,844), Mame (1,508), and La Cage aux Folles (1,761). He is honored by a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 7090 Hollywood Boulevard. Other honors include the Jerry Herman Ring Theatre, named after him by his alma mater. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1982.[8]
Herman's work has been the subject of two popular musical revues, Jerry's Girls (1984) conceived by Larry Alford, and Showtune (2003) conceived by Paul Gilger.
A 90 minute documentary about his life and career, "Words and Music by Jerry Herman," by filmmaker Amber Edwards, was broadcast on PBS in 2008. In 1989, American-playwright Natalie Gaupp wrote a short play titled "The Jerry Herman Center." The play is a comedy which portrays the lives of several patients in "The Jerry Herman Center for Musical Theatre Addiction." In the 2008 film WALL-E, Herman's music from Hello, Dolly! influences WALL-E and gives him emotions.
In 2011 Magnormos is celebrating his career in Australia with a triptych of his works including "Milk and Honey", "Dear World" and "Hello, Dolly!".[9]
Herman resides in Los Angeles and Florida.
Work:
Stage[edit source]
Off Broadway revuesI Feel Wonderful (1954)
Nightcap (1958)
Parade (1960)
Madame Aphrodite (1961)
Showtune (2003)
Broadway musicalsFrom A to Z (1960)
Milk and Honey (1961)
Hello, Dolly! (1964)
Ben Franklin in Paris (additional music) (1964)
Mame (1966)
Dear World (1969)
Mack & Mabel (1974)
The Grand Tour (1979)
A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine (additional songs) (1980)
La Cage aux Folles (1983)
Jerry's Girls (1985)
An Evening with Jerry Herman (1998)
Other showsMiss Spectacular (2003) recorded but unproduced
Films[edit source]
Hello, Dolly! (1969)
Mame (1974)
Barney's Great Adventure (title song) (1998)
WALL-E ("Put on Your Sunday Clothes" and "It Only Takes A Moment" from Hello, Dolly!)
Television[edit source]
Mrs. Santa Claus (1996)
Awards, nominations and honors[edit source]
2010 Kennedy Center Honoree
2009 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre (winner)
1999 Theatre World Special Award (An Evening with Jerry Herman) (winner)
1984 Tony Award for Best Original Score (La Cage aux Folles) (winner)
1979 Tony Award for Best Original Score (The Grand Tour) (nominee)
1966 Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist (Mame) (nominee)
1964 Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist (Hello, Dolly!) (winner)
1962 Tony Award for Best Composer (Milk and Honey) (nominee)
References[edit source]
1.^ "Kennedy Center 2010 Honorees Announced" specials.msn.com
2.^ Citron, Stephen (2004). Jerry Herman: Poet of the Showtune. Yale University Press. pp. 10–14, 23. ISBN 0-300-10082-5.
3.^ Ewen, David. Popular American Composers from Revolutionary Times to the Present: A Biographical and Critical Guide, Volume 1, p. 51. Accessed June 6, 2012. "Following his graduation from Henry Snyder High School in Jersey City, he enrolled at the Parsons School of Design in New York intending to become an interior decorator."
4.^ Citron, Stephen, p. 33
5.^ Citron, Stephen. pp.39-40
6.^ jerryherman.com, Parade information
7.^ Suskin, Steven."Oh! Captain and Jerry Herman's Parade", playbill.com, November 3, 2002
8.^ Songwriters Hall of Fame, 1982
9.^ [1]>
10.^ "Words and Music by Jerry Herman" pbs.org, retrieved December 6, 2010
Showtune: A Memoir by Jerry Herman (1996) (with Marilyn Stasio), Donald I. Fine Books, an imprint of Penguin Books
Citron, Stephen. Jerry Herman: Poet of the Showtune (2004), Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-10082-5
External links[edit source]
Jerry Herman Official Web Site.
University of Miami's Jerry Herman Ring Theatre Official Web Site
Jerry Herman at the Internet Movie Database
Jerry Herman at the Internet Broadway Database
Jerry Herman at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
Jerry Herman - Downstage Center audio interview at American Theatre Wing.
TonyAwards.com Interview with Jerry Herman
Jerry Herman podcast series by Sony BMG Masterworks
http://www.wendelmusic.com/broadway.html#lacage Music available for rental at Robert Wendel Music
Mame