Download Jerry Herman

“I have a lot of friends who get up most mornings and go to jobs they absolutely hate. I don’t
think that’s what life is about and I’m so fortunate that I actually love what I do.”
Jerry Herman
Devin Blair
Mary Anna McFarlin
Ashton Watson
Childhood & Education
• Born July 10, 1931 in New York City
• Raised in Jersey City by Jewish parents
– Father- gym teacher
– Mother- singer, pianist and later school teacher of English
• Played piano
• Liked Broadway musicals
• Theatre camp
– parents owned
– Director
• Went to Parsons School of Design for a year studying
architecture and design but changed to Miami to get a
Bachelor of Arts.
Shows
• Hello, Dolly!
• Mame
• La Cage aux Folles
• Dear World
• Mack & Maybel
• Grand Tour
• Milk & Honey
• Kinky Boots
Songs
• It Only Takes a
Moment
• So Long Dearie
• Before the Parade
Passes By
• The Man in the Moon
• Mame
•
•
•
•
I Won’t Send Roses
It’s Today
Loving You
Hello, Dolly!
Influences & Impact
• Carol Dorian- college friend
• His mother- love of music
• Don Appell- co-wrote Milk & Honey
• Joined ASCAP in 1963
• One of the youngest composers on Broadway at
27
• University of Miami named a theatre after him.
• First to “advertize” gay lifestyle in a positive way
– “I am what I am”
Awards
• Winner
– 1964Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist (Hello, Dolly!)
– 1984 Tony Award for Best Original Score (La Cage aux Folles)
– 1999 Theatre World Special Award (An Evening with Jerry
Herman)
– 2009 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the
Theatre
– 2010 Kennedy Center Honoree
• Nominee
– 1962 Tony Award for Best Composer (Milk and Honey)
– 1966 Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist (Mame)
– 1979 Tony Award for Best Original Score (The Grand Tour)
Interesting
• Wrote the music and the lyrics for three of the
longest running musicals in Broadway history
(Hello Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage aux Folles)
• Herman wrote the score to La Cage aux Folles, a
musical about two middle-aged gay lovers. One
of the songs in the show, "I Am What I Am," has
become the gay national anthem.
• Herman met Marty Finkelstein. The two spent
the next seven and a half years together, until
Finkelstein died of AIDS. After his friend's death,
Herman learned that he was HIV-positive.