Jerry Herman is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and
lyricistA 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:...
, known for his work in
BroadwayBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical theater. He composed the scores for the hit Broadway musicals
Hello, Dolly!Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....
,
Mame, and
La Cage aux Folles. He has been nominated for the
Tony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
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 TheatreThe Special Tony Award category includes the Lifetime Achievement Award and Special Tony Award. These are non-competitive awards, and the titles have changed over the years...
. He is a recipient of the 2010
Kennedy Center HonorsThe Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. The Honors have been presented annually since 1978 in Washington, D.C., during gala weekend-long events which culminate in a performance for—and...
.
Early life
Raised in Jersey City by musically inclined parents, Herman learned to play
pianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
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 MountainsThe Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
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, New Jersey 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!Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
,
Finian's RainbowFinian's Rainbow is a musical with a book by E.Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Burton Lane. The 1947 Broadway production ran for 725 performances. Several revivals and a 1968 film version followed. A Broadway revival ran from October 8, 2009 until January 17, 2010...
and
A Tree Grows in BrooklynA Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a musical with a book by George Abbott and Betty Smith, lyrics by Dorothy Fields, and music by Arthur Schwartz....
. At the age of 17, Herman was introduced to
Frank LoesserFrank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote the lyrics and scores to the Broadway hits Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won separate Tony Awards for the music and lyrics in both shows, as well as sharing the Pulitzer Prize for...
who, after hearing material he had written, urged him to continue composing. He left the Parsons School of Design to attend the
University of MiamiThe University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
, which has one of the nation's most avant garde theater departments. He was also a member of the
Zeta Beta TauZeta Beta Tau was founded in 1898 as the nation's first Jewish fraternity, although it is no longer sectarian. Today the merged Zeta Beta Tau Brotherhood is one of the largest, numbering over 140,000 initiated Brothers, and over 90 chapter locations.-Founding:The Zeta Beta Tau fraternity was...
Fraternity.
Early career
After graduation from the University of Miami, Herman moved to
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where he produced the
Off-BroadwayOff-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
revueA revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
I Feel Wonderful, which was made up of material he had written at the University. It opened at the Theatre de Lys in
Greenwich VillageGreenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
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 CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
club called the Showplace he 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
Nightcap. He asked his friend,
Phyllis NewmanPhyllis Newman is an American actress and singer. She was nominated twice for the Drama Desk Award and won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.-Early life:...
, to do movement and dance and it featured
Charles Nelson ReillyCharles Nelson Reilly was an American actor, comedian, director and drama teacher known for his comedic roles in theater, movies, children's television, animated cartoons, and as a panelist on the game show Match Game....
(who later co-starred in
Hello, Dolly!Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....
). The show 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 ReillyCharles Nelson Reilly was an American actor, comedian, director and drama teacher known for his comedic roles in theater, movies, children's television, animated cartoons, and as a panelist on the game show Match Game....
and
Dody GoodmanDolores "Dody" Goodman was an American character actress known for her playing the mother of the title character Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman...
. It first opened at the Showplace and, expanded, moved to the Players Theatre in January 1960.
During 1960, Herman also met playwright
Tad MoselTad Mosel was an American playwright and one of the leading dramatists of hour-long teleplay genre for live television during the 1950s. He received the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play All the Way Home....
and the two men collaborated on an Off-Broadway musical adaptation of Mosel's 1953 television play,
Madame Aphrodite. The
musical of the same nameMadame Aphrodite was a short-lived off-Broadway musical by playwright Tad Mosel and composer/lyricist Jerry Herman, which ran for 13 performances in 1961...
, which starred
Nancy AndrewsNancy Andrews was an American stage and film actress and singer.- Biography :Nancy Andrews was born in Minneapolis on December 16, 1920. Her parents were James Currier Andrews and Grace Ella Andrews . She attended Beverley Hills High School and the Los Angeles City College...
in the title role, opened at the
Orpheum TheatreThe Orpheum Theatre, located on Second Avenue near the corner of St. Marks Place in the East Village neighborhood of lower Manhattan, New York City, is a 299-seat Off-Broadway theatre...
on December 29, 1961, but closed after only 13 performances. No cast album was recorded, and the show has never been performed since.
Broadway career
In 1960, Herman made his Broadway debut with the revue
From A to ZFrom A to Z is a musical revue with a book by Woody Allen, Herbert Farjeon, and Nina Warner Hook and songs by Jerry Herman, Fred Ebb, Mary Rodgers, Everett Sloane, Jay Thompson, Dickson Hughes, Jack Holmes, Paul Klein, Norman Martin, William Dyer, and Charles Zwar.Although a critical and commercial...
, which featured contributions from newcomers
Woody AllenWoody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
and
Fred EbbFred Ebb was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera....
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
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. The result was his first full-fledged Broadway musical,
Milk and HoneyMilk and Honey is a musical with a book by Don Appell and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. The story centers on a busload of lonely American widows hoping to catch husbands while touring Israel and is set against the background of the country's fight for recognition as an independent nation...
(starring
Molly PiconMolly Picon was an American actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a lyricist and dramatic storyteller....
), in 1961. It received respectable reviews and ran for 543 performances.
In 1964, producer
David MerrickDavid Merrick was a prolific Tony Award-winning American theatrical producer.-Life and career:Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick graduated from Washington University, then studied law at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University School of Law...
united Herman with
Carol ChanningCarol Elaine Channing is an American singer, actress, and comedienne. She is the recipient of three Tony Awards , a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination...
for a project that was to become one of his more successful,
Hello, Dolly!Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....
. 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 ProducersThe Producers is a musical adapted by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan from Brooks' 1968 film of the same name, with lyrics written by Brooks and music composed by Brooks and arranged by Glen Kelly and Doug Besterman. As in the film, the story concerns two theatrical producers who scheme to get rich...
won 12 Tonys in 2001.
In 1966, Herman's next musical was the smash hit
Mame starring
Angela LansburyAngela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
, 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 WorldDear World is a Broadway musical with a book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. With its opening, Herman became the only composer-lyricist in history to have three productions running simultaneously on Broadway...
(1969) starring
Angela LansburyAngela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
,
Mack & MabelMack & Mabel is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. The plot involves the tumultuous romantic relationship between Hollywood director Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand , who became one of his biggest stars...
(1974) starring
Robert Preston-Early life:Preston was born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Ruth L. and Frank Wesley Meservey, a garment worker and billing clerk for American Express. After attending Abraham Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, California, he studied acting at the Pasadena Community...
and
Bernadette PetersBernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...
, and
The Grand TourThe Grand Tour is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman.Based on S. N. Behrman's play Jacobowsky and the Colonel, the story concerns an unlikely pair. S.L. Jacobowsky, a Polish-Jewish intellectual, has purchased a car he cannot drive....
(1979) starring
Joel GreyJoel Grey is an American stage and screen actor, singer, and dancer, best known for his role as the Master of Ceremonies in both the stage and film adaptation of the Kander & Ebb musical Cabaret. He has won the Academy Award, Tony Award and Golden Globe Award...
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 HearnGeorge Hearn is an American actor and singer, primarily in Broadway musical theatre.-Early years:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Hearn studied philosophy at Southwestern at Memphis, now Rhodes College before he embarked on a career in the theater, training for the stage with actress turned acting...
and
Gene BarryGene Barry was an American stage, screen, and television actor. Barry is best remembered for his leading roles in the films The Atomic City and The War of The Worlds and for his portrayal of the title character in the TV series Bat Masterson, among many roles.-Personal life:Barry was born...
, which broke box-office records at the Palace Theatre and earned Herman yet another
Tony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for Best Musical. From its score came the gay anthem "
I Am What I Am"I am what I am" is a song originally introduced in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical La Cage aux Folles . The song is the finale number of the musical's first act, and performed by the character of Albin Mougeotte, first played by George Hearn...
" 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 MusicalThe Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical has been awarded since 1994. Before that time, both plays and musicals were considered together for the Tony Award for Best Revival....
twice (2004 & 2010), and therefore is the only show to win a Best Musical award for every staged Broadway production.
Impact and recognition
Many of Herman's
show tuneA show tune is a popular song originally written as part of the score of a "show" , especially if the piece in question has become a "standard", more or less detached in most people's minds from the original context...
s have become pop standards. His most famous composition, "
Hello, Dolly!"Hello, Dolly!" is the title song of the popular 1964 musical of the same name. Louis Armstrong's version was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001....
", is one of the most popular tunes to have originated in a Broadway musical, and was a #1 hit in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for
Louis ArmstrongLouis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, knocking
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
from #1 in 1964. A French recording by
Petula ClarkPetula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
charted in the Top Ten in both
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. "If He Walked into My Life" from
Mame was recorded by
Eydie GorméEydie Gormé is an American singer, specializing, with her husband, Steve Lawrence, in traditional pop music, in the form of ballads and breezy swing. She has earned numerous awards, including the Grammy and the Emmy...
, winning her a Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Female in 1967. "
I Am What I Am"I am what I am" is a song originally introduced in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical La Cage aux Folles . The song is the finale number of the musical's first act, and performed by the character of Albin Mougeotte, first played by George Hearn...
" from
La Cage aux Folles was recorded by
Gloria GaynorGloria Gaynor is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits; "I Will Survive" , "Never Can Say Goodbye" , "Let Me Know " and "I Am What I Am" .-Early career:Gaynor was a singer with the Soul...
and became a
discoDisco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
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 SchwartzStephen Schwartz may refer to:*Stephen Schwartz , American musical theater and film lyricist and composer*Stephen Suleyman Schwartz , journalist, political author, and historian...
):
Hello, Dolly!Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....
(2,844),
Mame (1,508), and
La Cage aux Folles (1,761). He is honored by a star on the
Hollywood Walk of FameThe Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
, at 7090
Hollywood Boulevard-Revitalization:In recent years successful efforts have been made at cleaning up Hollywood Blvd., as the street had gained a reputation for crime and seediness. Central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and adjacent Kodak Theatre in 2001...
. Other honors include the
Jerry Herman Ring TheatreThe Jerry Herman Ring Theatre, located on the campus of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, United States, is the student theatre of the University of Miami....
, named after him by his
alma materAlma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
. He was inducted into the
Songwriters Hall of FameThe Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...
in 1982.
Herman's work has been the subject of two popular musical revues,
Jerry's GirlsJerry's Girls is a musical revue based on the songs of composer/lyricist Jerry Herman.-Production history:Created by Herman and Larry Alford in 1981, the show originated as a modest presentation at Onstage, a nightclub located in the theatre district in midtown-Manhattan . Writing in The New York...
(1984) conceived by Larry Alford, and
ShowtuneShowtune is an internationally popular Off Broadway musical revue celebrating the words and music of Broadway composer Jerry Herman. Its title was inspired by Herman's autobiography of the same name....
(2003) conceived by
Paul GilgerPaul Gilger is an American architect, set designer, and playwright. He conceived the 2003 off-Broadway Jerry Herman musical revue Showtune....
.
A 90 minute documentary about his life and career, "Words and Music by Jerry Herman," by filmmaker Amber Edwards, was broadcast on
PBSThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
in 2008. In 1989, American-playwright
Natalie GauppNatalie Gaupp is an American playwright. Her professional production credits include theatres primarily in the Southwest US, as well as off-off-Broadway. Her plays have also been workshopped in Toronto, New York, and Chicago by the Association for Theatre in Higher Education...
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-EWALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future...
, Herman's music from
Hello, Dolly! influences WALL-E and gives him emotions.
In 2011
MagnormosMagnormos is an independent musical theatre production company based in Melbourne, Australia, that specialises in producing musicals written by Australian writers, and landmark international works....
is celebrating his career in in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
with a triptych of his works including "
Milk and HoneyMilk and Honey is a musical with a book by Don Appell and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. The story centers on a busload of lonely American widows hoping to catch husbands while touring Israel and is set against the background of the country's fight for recognition as an independent nation...
", "
Dear WorldDear World is a Broadway musical with a book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. With its opening, Herman became the only composer-lyricist in history to have three productions running simultaneously on Broadway...
" and "
Hello, Dolly!Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....
".
Personal life
Herman was diagnosed
HIVHuman immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
-positive in 1985. As noted in the "Words and Music" PBS documentary, "He is one of the fortunate ones who survived to see experimental drug therapies take hold and is still, as one of his lyrics proclaims, 'alive and well and thriving' over quarter of a century later."
Herman lives in the Los Angeles area and is completing designing his apartment there. He has been "buying, renovating and restoring properties around the country", and this apartment is the "38th home he has designed and decorated".
Stage
Off Broadway revues
- I Feel Wonderful (1954)
- Nightcap (1958)
- Parade (1960)
- Madame Aphrodite
Madame Aphrodite was a short-lived off-Broadway musical by playwright Tad Mosel and composer/lyricist Jerry Herman, which ran for 13 performances in 1961...
(1961)
- Showtune (2003)
Broadway musicals
- From A to Z
From A to Z is a musical revue with a book by Woody Allen, Herbert Farjeon, and Nina Warner Hook and songs by Jerry Herman, Fred Ebb, Mary Rodgers, Everett Sloane, Jay Thompson, Dickson Hughes, Jack Holmes, Paul Klein, Norman Martin, William Dyer, and Charles Zwar.Although a critical and commercial...
(1960)
- Milk and Honey
Milk and Honey is a musical with a book by Don Appell and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. The story centers on a busload of lonely American widows hoping to catch husbands while touring Israel and is set against the background of the country's fight for recognition as an independent nation...
(1961)
- Hello, Dolly!
Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....
(1964)
- Ben Franklin in Paris
Ben Franklin in Paris is a musical with a book and lyrics by Sidney Michaels, and music by Mark Sandrich, Jr. with two songs contributed by Jerry Herman.The story is a somewhat fictionalized account of Benjamin Franklin's adventures in the French capital...
(additional music) (1964)
- Mame (1966)
- Dear World
Dear World is a Broadway musical with a book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. With its opening, Herman became the only composer-lyricist in history to have three productions running simultaneously on Broadway...
(1969)
- Mack & Mabel (1974)
- The Grand Tour
The Grand Tour is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman.Based on S. N. Behrman's play Jacobowsky and the Colonel, the story concerns an unlikely pair. S.L. Jacobowsky, a Polish-Jewish intellectual, has purchased a car he cannot drive....
(1979)
- A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine (additional songs) (1980)
- La Cage aux Folles (1983)
- Jerry's Girls
Jerry's Girls is a musical revue based on the songs of composer/lyricist Jerry Herman.-Production history:Created by Herman and Larry Alford in 1981, the show originated as a modest presentation at Onstage, a nightclub located in the theatre district in midtown-Manhattan . Writing in The New York...
(1985)
- An Evening with Jerry Herman
An Evening with Jerry Herman is a musical revue of Jerry Herman's work and consists of songs written by him for several of his musicals and anecdotes about Herman's career. It ran on Broadway at the Booth Theatre from July 28, 1998 until August 23, 1998, after 13 previews...
(1998)
Other shows
- Miss Spectacular
Miss Spectacular is an unproduced musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and additional lyrics by Steve Lawrence and Michael Feinstein....
(2003) recorded but unproduced
Films
- Hello, Dolly! (1969)
- Mame
Mame is a 1974 musical film based on the 1966 Broadway musical of the same name, directed by Gene Saks, written by Paul Zindel, and starring Lucille Ball and Beatrice Arthur.Warner Bros...
(1974)
- Barney's Great Adventure
Barney's Great Adventure is a 1998 musical adventure film based on the children's television series Barney & Friends, featuring the character Barney the dinosaur...
(title song) (1998)
- WALL-E
WALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future...
("Put on Your Sunday Clothes" and "It Only Takes A Moment" from Hello, Dolly!Hello, Dolly! is a 1969 romantic comedy musical film, based on the Broadway production of the same name; the film follows the story of Dolly Levi, a strong-willed matchmaker who travels to Yonkers, New York, in an attempt to find a match for the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire,"...
)
Awards, nominations and honors
- 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)
External links