Herbert Kretzmer
Encyclopedia
Herbert Kretzmer OBE
(born 5 October 1925) is a South Africa
n-born English
journalist
and lyric writer
. He is perhaps best known as the lyricist for the English-language musical adaptation of Les Misérables
.
. However, he soon moved on to print journalism, initially as a reporter and feature writer for the Johannesburg Sunday Express. He relocated to London
in the mid-1950s and pursued twin careers as journalist and lyric writer.
After several years as a feature writer on the Daily Sketch
, Kretzmer became a profile writer on the Sunday Dispatch
and the Daily Express
, interviewing John Steinbeck
, Truman Capote
, Tennessee Williams
, Sugar Ray Robinson
, Louis Armstrong
, Henry Miller
, Cary Grant
and Duke Ellington
. In 1962, he became senior drama critic of the Daily Express: a post he held for 18 years, covering about 3,000 first nights.
From 1979 to 1987, he wrote television criticism for the Daily Mail
, winning in this capacity two national press awards, including TV Critic Of The Year.
, "In the Summer of His Years", written and performed by Millicent Martin
within hours of his assassination
.
Kretzmer won an Ivor Novello
Award for the Peter Sellers
and Sophia Loren
comedy hit “Goodness Gracious Me
”, composed by David Lee. Other award-winning Kretzmer lyrics include “Yesterday When I Was Young” and the chart-topping “She
”, both written with and for the French singer Charles Aznavour
..
Kretzmer wrote the lyrics for Anthony Newley’s cult musical film Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness, whose score included “When You Gotta Go”, often used as a closing song by singers including Barbra Streisand
.
Kretzmer wrote the book and lyrics of the West End
musical, Our Man Crichton, composed by David Lee and based on J M Barrie’s satirical play The Admirable Crichton
. The musical starred Kenneth More
and Millicent Martin. Kretzmer later wrote (with composer Laurie Johnson
) the lyrics for a large-scale comedy spoof, “The Four Musketeers”, which ran for more than a year at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
, starring Harry Secombe
as the swordsman D’Artagnan.
In 1985, Kretzmer’s songs for Aznavour came to the attention of producer Cameron Mackintosh
, who invited him to write an English version of a French musical Les Misérables
(by Alain Boublil
and Claude-Michel Schonberg
). Kretzmer’s lyrics extended the two-hour Paris original into a three-hour show. The all-sung “Les Mis” opened at the Barbican Theatre on 8 October 1985 and is still running in the West End
, the longest running West End
musical in history. The score includes such well-covered ballads as "I Dreamed a Dream
", "Bring Him Home", "On My Own" and "Empty Chairs At Empty Tables". For his work on the Les Misérables lyrics, Kretzmer received Tony and Grammy awards.
In 2008 Kretzmer wrote the lyrics for Marguerite
from an original text by Alain Boublil, a musical set in Nazi-occupied Paris, to music by Michel Legrand
. The show was part of a Jonathan Kent
Season at the Haymarket Theatre
before moving on to a season in Japan. Marguerite was shortlisted in the Best Musical category in the Evening Standard Drama Awards 2008.
Kretzmer’s most recent musical project is Kristina, based on Vilhelm Moberg’s epic suite of novels about Swedish emigrants to Minnesota in the 19th century. The show, originally conceived and written by lyricist Bjorn Ulvaeus
and composer Benny Andersson
from ABBA
. It was presented and recorded in a concert version over two nights at Carnegie Hall
, New York in September 2009.
in 1925. He is one of four brothers born to Lithuanian-born William and Tilly Kretzmer, who fled the racist pogroms of Czarist Russia to settle in small-town South Africa early in the 20th century. Elliot, the oldest of the brothers, flew as part of a bomber crew in the South African Air Force
during the second World War
, eventually becoming the Mayor of Johannesburg
in 1991.
Kretsmer married Elisabeth Margaret Wilson and they had one son and one daughter. After this marriage dissolved he married Sybil Sever.
On 8 April 2011, Kretzmer received an Honorary Doctorate from Rhodes University in South Africa.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 5 October 1925) is a South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n-born English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and lyric writer
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
. He is perhaps best known as the lyricist for the English-language musical adaptation of Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
.
Journalist
Kretzmer began his professional career writing documentary films and the commentary for a weekly cinema newsreelNewsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
. However, he soon moved on to print journalism, initially as a reporter and feature writer for the Johannesburg Sunday Express. He relocated to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in the mid-1950s and pursued twin careers as journalist and lyric writer.
After several years as a feature writer on the Daily Sketch
Daily Sketch
The Daily Sketch was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton.It was bought in 1920 by Lord Rothermere's Daily Mirror Newspapers but in 1925 Rothermere offloaded it to William and Gomer Berry The Daily Sketch was a British national tabloid newspaper,...
, Kretzmer became a profile writer on the Sunday Dispatch
Sunday Dispatch
The Sunday Dispatch was a British newspaper, published between 27 September 1801 and 1961. Until 1928, it was called the Weekly Dispatch.-History:...
and the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
, interviewing John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
, Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...
, Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
, Sugar Ray Robinson
Sugar Ray Robinson
Sugar Ray Robinson was an African-American professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, Robinson's performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight...
, Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Henry Miller
Henry Miller
Henry Valentine Miller was an American novelist and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of 'novel' that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is...
, Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
and Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
. In 1962, he became senior drama critic of the Daily Express: a post he held for 18 years, covering about 3,000 first nights.
From 1979 to 1987, he wrote television criticism for the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
, winning in this capacity two national press awards, including TV Critic Of The Year.
Lyricist
Kretzmer wrote lyrics for the BBC's satire That Was The Week That Was, including the racial satire "Song of Nostalgia For an American State" and the much-recorded tribute to John F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, "In the Summer of His Years", written and performed by Millicent Martin
Millicent Martin
Millicent Mary Lillian Martin is an English actress, singer and comedienne.Martin was born in Romford, England. She made her Broadway debut opposite Julie Andrews in The Boy Friend in 1954...
within hours of his assassination
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
.
Kretzmer won an Ivor Novello
Ivor Novello
David Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a musical family, his first successes were as a songwriter...
Award for the Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
and Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
comedy hit “Goodness Gracious Me
Goodness Gracious Me (song)
"Goodness Gracious Me" is a comedy song recorded by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren, and was a top 5 UK single in 1960. It features Sellers acting the role of an Indian doctor, and Loren of his wealthy Italian patient – who fall in love....
”, composed by David Lee. Other award-winning Kretzmer lyrics include “Yesterday When I Was Young” and the chart-topping “She
She (Charles Aznavour song)
"She" is the title of a song written, recorded and released by Charles Aznavour and Herbert Kretzmer.It reached number 1 in the UK single charts in 1974, but was not successful in the USA or France...
”, both written with and for the French singer Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour, OC is an Armenian-French singer, songwriter, actor, public activist and diplomat. Besides being one of France's most popular and enduring singers, he is also one of the best-known singers in the world...
..
Kretzmer wrote the lyrics for Anthony Newley’s cult musical film Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness, whose score included “When You Gotta Go”, often used as a closing song by singers including Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
.
Kretzmer wrote the book and lyrics of the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
musical, Our Man Crichton, composed by David Lee and based on J M Barrie’s satirical play The Admirable Crichton
The Admirable Crichton
The Admirable Crichton is a comic stage play written in 1902 by J. M. Barrie. It was produced by Charles Frohman and opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in London on 4 November 1902, running for an extremely successful 828 performances. It starred H. B. Irving and Irene Vanbrugh...
. The musical starred Kenneth More
Kenneth More
Kenneth Gilbert More CBE was a highly successful English film actor during the post-World War II era and starred in many feature films, often in the role of an archetypal carefree and happy-go-lucky middle-class gentleman.-Early life:Kenneth More was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the...
and Millicent Martin. Kretzmer later wrote (with composer Laurie Johnson
Laurie Johnson
Laurie Johnson is an English film and television composer, and bandleader.-Career:...
) the lyrics for a large-scale comedy spoof, “The Four Musketeers”, which ran for more than a year at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....
, starring Harry Secombe
Harry Secombe
Sir Harry Donald Secombe CBE was a Welsh entertainer with a talent for comedy and a noted fine tenor singing voice. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show...
as the swordsman D’Artagnan.
In 1985, Kretzmer’s songs for Aznavour came to the attention of producer Cameron Mackintosh
Cameron Mackintosh
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York...
, who invited him to write an English version of a French musical Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
(by Alain Boublil
Alain Boublil
Alain Boublil is a musical theatre lyricist and librettist, best known for his collaborations with the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg for musicals on Broadway and London's West End...
and Claude-Michel Schonberg
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Claude-Michel Schönberg is a French record producer, actor, singer, songwriter, and musical theatre composer, best known for his collaborations with the lyricist Alain Boublil.These include the musicals:...
). Kretzmer’s lyrics extended the two-hour Paris original into a three-hour show. The all-sung “Les Mis” opened at the Barbican Theatre on 8 October 1985 and is still running in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, the longest running West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
musical in history. The score includes such well-covered ballads as "I Dreamed a Dream
I Dreamed a Dream
"I Dreamed a Dream" is a song from the musical Les Misérables. It is a solo that is sung by the character Fantine during the first act. The music is by Claude-Michel Schönberg, with orchestrations by John Cameron...
", "Bring Him Home", "On My Own" and "Empty Chairs At Empty Tables". For his work on the Les Misérables lyrics, Kretzmer received Tony and Grammy awards.
In 2008 Kretzmer wrote the lyrics for Marguerite
Marguerite
Marguerite is the French form of a female given name which derives from the Greek Μαργαρίτης meaning "pearl")...
from an original text by Alain Boublil, a musical set in Nazi-occupied Paris, to music by Michel Legrand
Michel Legrand
Michel Jean Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist...
. The show was part of a Jonathan Kent
Jonathan Kent (director)
Jonathan Kent is an English theatre director and opera director. He is best known as a director/producer partner of Ian McDiarmid at the Almeida Theatre from 1990 to 2002.-Early life:...
Season at the Haymarket Theatre
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...
before moving on to a season in Japan. Marguerite was shortlisted in the Best Musical category in the Evening Standard Drama Awards 2008.
Kretzmer’s most recent musical project is Kristina, based on Vilhelm Moberg’s epic suite of novels about Swedish emigrants to Minnesota in the 19th century. The show, originally conceived and written by lyricist Bjorn Ulvaeus
Björn Ulvaeus
Björn Kristian Ulvaeus is a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, writer, producer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
and composer Benny Andersson
Benny Andersson
Göran Bror "Benny" Andersson is a Swedish musician, composer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
from ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
. It was presented and recorded in a concert version over two nights at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, New York in September 2009.
Honours
In 1988, Kretzmer was elected a Chevalier of L’Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres. He received the Jimmy Kennedy Award (a division of the Ivor Novello Awards) for services to songwriting. In 1996, he was elected an Honorary Doctor of Letters at Richmond College. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to music.Personal Life
Kretzmer was born in South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in 1925. He is one of four brothers born to Lithuanian-born William and Tilly Kretzmer, who fled the racist pogroms of Czarist Russia to settle in small-town South Africa early in the 20th century. Elliot, the oldest of the brothers, flew as part of a bomber crew in the South African Air Force
South African Air Force
The South African Air Force is the air force of South Africa, with headquarters in Pretoria. It is the world's second oldest independent air force, and its motto is Per Aspera Ad Astra...
during the second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, eventually becoming the Mayor of Johannesburg
Mayor of Johannesburg
The Mayor of Johannesburg is the chief executive of the City Council and the highest elected position in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. The current mayor of the city is Parks Tau.- List of Mayors :* Parks Tau * Amos Masondo...
in 1991.
Kretsmer married Elisabeth Margaret Wilson and they had one son and one daughter. After this marriage dissolved he married Sybil Sever.
On 8 April 2011, Kretzmer received an Honorary Doctorate from Rhodes University in South Africa.
External links
- Herbert Kretzmer official website
- [ Allmusic discography - songs]