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Jerry Herman is an American composer.
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He was born Gerald Herman on July 10, 1933 in New York City. Raised by musically-inclined parents, he learned to play piano at an early age, and the three frequently attended Broadway shows, particularly musicals. His summers were spent in the Berkshire Mountains at Stissing Lake Camp, which was run by his parents, both teachers, for additional income, and it was there that he first became involved in a theatrical production, as director of Finian's Rainbow.
At the age of seventeen, he was introduced to Frank Loesser who, after hearing material he had written, urged him to continue composing. He left the Parsons School of Design to attend the University of Miami in order to take advantage of their avant garde theater department. After graduation, Herman moved into musical theatre when he produced the off-Broadway revue I Feel Wonderful, which was comprised of material he had written for college shows. It opened at the Theatre de Lys in Greenwich Village on October 18, 1954 and ran for forty-eight performances. It was his only show his mother got 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, seriously depressed.
In order to break loose from his grief, he moved into Manhattan and eventually collected enough original material to put together a revue called Nightcap (1958). Choreographed by friend Phyllis Newman, and with a cast that included Charles Nelson Reilly (who later co-starred in Hello Dolly!), it opened at a tiny jazz club called the Showplace. Critical raves and glowing word-of-mouth kept it running for two years.
In 1960, producer Gerard Oestreicher approached him after seeing a performance of his revue 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 Broadway production, Milk and Honey (1961), with a book by Don Appell and starring Molly Picon. 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 most successful - Hello Dolly!. The original production ran for 2,844 performances and was later revived three times. Although facing stiff competition from Funny Girl, it swept the Tony Awards that season.
Herman went on to compose several shows, some successful, others not, but all interesting in their concepts and notable for their melodic and memorable scores. (A complete listing appears below.) His songs and lyrics are well known and have been presented on television, in film, and on the stage, and many of his tunes have become popular standards. Three of Herman's musical plays ran on Broadway for more than 1500 performances each.
His most famous song, "Hello Dolly!", was a #1 hit on the US charts for Louis Armstrong, and a French recording by Petula Clark charted in the Top Ten in both Canada and France. Another tune, "If He Walked into My Life" from Mame, was recorded by Eydie Gormé and became a popular standard.
Off-Broadway Revues
- I Feel Wonderful (1954)
- Nightcap (1958)
- Parade (1960)
- From A to Z (1960)
Broadway Musicals
Films
Television
- Mrs. Santa Claus (with Lansbury) (1996)
Other shows
- Miss Spectacular - recorded but unproduced (2002)
- Barbara Cook's Broadway - 2004 concert included songs by Herman
Awards and Nominations
- 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)
Reference
Showtime: A Memoir by Jerry Herman (with Marilyn Stasio), published by Donald I. Fine Books, an imprint of Penguin Books, 1996.
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