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Broadway composer Jerry Herman, famous for “Hello, Dolly!”, is dead at 88

The musical mastermind behind beloved Broadway blockbusters such as Hello, Dolly! and La Cage aux Folles has died at the age of 88.

Merryn Johns and AP
4 min read
December 28, 2019 - 9:24AM
News Corp Australia Network
Jerry Herman on composing for La Cage aux Folles

Grammy and Tony Award-winning composer Jerry Herman, who wrote the upbeat, foot-stamping, life-affirming music and lyrics for such classic stage shows as “Mame,” “Hello, Dolly!” and “La Cage aux Folles” has died. He was 88.

Herman’s goddaughter Jane Dorian confirmed his death to The Associated Press early on Friday.

His official Twitter account also posted the sad news:

Herman died of pulmonary complications in Miami, South Florida where he had been living with his long-term partner, real estate broker Terry Marler, who he met in 1999.

Marler would later say he had been in love with Herman and with his music since he was a kid.

The creator of 10 Broadway shows and a contributor to several more, Herman won two Tony Awards for best musical: Hello, Dolly! in 1964 and La Cage aux Folles in 1983.

He also won two Grammys – for the Mame cast album and he was a Kennedy Center honoree, which is a special recognition of performing artists who are considered to have made a lifetime of contributions to American culture.

Carole Channing (left), Jerry Herman (centre) and television personality Barbara Walters at the theatre on Broadway. Herman has died, aged 88. Picture: AP Photo/ David Gould
Carole Channing (left), Jerry Herman (centre) and television personality Barbara Walters at the theatre on Broadway. Herman has died, aged 88. Picture: AP Photo/ David Gould
Composer Jerry Herman and Lucille Ball, who starred in “Mame”. Picture: Supplied
Composer Jerry Herman and Lucille Ball, who starred in “Mame”. Picture: Supplied

Indeed, Herman was so successful that he had three original Broadway productions playing at the same time between February 1969 and May 1969.

Tributes poured in on Friday for the “poet of the showtune”, from Broadway royalty, including from Harvey Fierstein, who wrote the libretto for La Cage aux Folles paired with Herman’s songbook.

“We lost one of the greats,” Fierstein tweeted. “A collaborator and friend for almost 40 years. I cannot thank him enough for his love, trust, encouragement, support and laughter.”

The 2014 Australian production of La Cage Aux Folles starring Todd McKenney and Simon Burke, music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. Picture: Jake Nowakowski
The 2014 Australian production of La Cage Aux Folles starring Todd McKenney and Simon Burke, music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. Picture: Jake Nowakowski
Todd McKenney and Simon Burke in La Cage Aux Folles, music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, who has died age 88. Picture: The Production Company/Arts Centre Melbourne
Todd McKenney and Simon Burke in La Cage Aux Folles, music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, who has died age 88. Picture: The Production Company/Arts Centre Melbourne

In 1983, La Cage aux Folles, became an international success and plea for gay acceptance, decades before the fight for marriage equality.

A campy and joyful adaptation of the successful French film about two gay men who own a flamboyant drag nightclub on the Riviera but need to hide their identities for acceptance, it contained the gay anthem “I Am What I Am” and ran for 1760 performances.

“I Am What I Am” was both a hit and a vindication of gay people everywhere at the height of the AIDS crisis — long before “Born This Way”.

In accepting the Tony in 1984 for La Cage Aux Folles, Herman said, “This award forever shatters a myth about the musical theatre. There’s been a rumour around for a couple of years that the simple, hummable show tune was no longer welcome on Broadway. Well, it’s alive and well at the Palace” Theatre.

Playwright Paul Rudnick on Friday praised Herman for providing “such joy.”

And director and choreographer Matthew Bourne said Herman’s “feel-good shows full of melody and joy will live forever.”

Herman was born in New York in 1931 and raised in Jersey City, which is today just a short ride from Manhattan, but then was perhaps a world away from the bright lights of Broadway.

His parents ran a children’s summer camp in the Catskills mountains, a few hours north of the city.

The young Gerald Sheldon Herman was a musical prodigy and taught himself how to play the piano.

He attributed his love of theatre to the fact that his mother had a view of Broadway’s prominent Winter Garden Theatre marquee from her hospital bed.

Herman fell in love with musical theatre after his parents took him to see Annie Get Your Gun and he went home and played five of Irving Berlin’s songs on the piano.

After graduating from the University of Miami, Herman returned to New York, writing songs and playing piano in a jazz club.

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It was the music to Hello, Dolly! that put Jerry Herman on the musical map. Picture: Supplied
It was the music to Hello, Dolly! that put Jerry Herman on the musical map. Picture: Supplied

After four off-Broadway shows, and two successful but largely forgotten Broadway outings, he made a huge splash with Hello, Dolly! starring Carol Channing in 1964.

That show ran for 2844 performances, becoming Broadway’s longest-running musical at the time.

It won 10 Tonys, has been revived numerous times, most recently starring Bette Midler in the title role playing Dolly Levi, a 19th-century widowed matchmaker who learns to live again. The film version starred Barbra Streisand.

Mame followed in 1966, starring Angela Lansbury, and went on to run for over 1500 performances. It was adapted into a film starring Lucille Ball.

When Lansbury handed Herman his Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2009, she described his songs, and him as “bouncy, buoyant and optimistic.”

Herman’s music was used as a signature in Wall-E. Picture: Supplied
Herman’s music was used as a signature in Wall-E. Picture: Supplied
British world champion ice dancers skaters Torvill and Dean used harman’s music. Picture: Supplied
British world champion ice dancers skaters Torvill and Dean used harman’s music. Picture: Supplied

Jerry’s Girls, a 1985 musical revue based on Herman’s body of work, was also a success and has been performed in Australia, first in 1987 with Debbie Byrne, Judi Connelli, Marcia Hines and Jeanne Little, and most recently in 2015 starring eleven actresses including Rhonda Burchmore and Nancye Hayes.

Jerry's Girls, by The Production Company, Arts Centre Melbourne, 2015. Picture: Jeff Busby
Jerry's Girls, by The Production Company, Arts Centre Melbourne, 2015. Picture: Jeff Busby

Many of Herman’s songs have outlasted their original showcases: British ice skaters Torvill and Dean used the overture from the uncharacteristic Herman flop Mack and Mabel to accompany a gold medal-winning routine in 1982.

Writer-director Andrew Stanton used the tunes “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” and “It Only Takes a Moment” in the film WALL-E.

Later in life, Herman contributed music to TV, and he wrote his autobiography, Showtune.

Composer Jerry Herman with his autobiography. He has died, aged 88. Picture: AP Photo/Jim Cooper
Composer Jerry Herman with his autobiography. He has died, aged 88. Picture: AP Photo/Jim Cooper

He is survived by his partner, Marler, and his goddaughters – Dorian and Dorian’s own daughter, Sarah Haspel. Dorian said plans for a memorial service are still in the works for the man whose songs she said “are always on our lips and in our hearts.”

According to the biography Jerry Herman: Poet of the Showtune, he was “a major force in the American musical theatre” and was remarkable in that he showed “big-heartedness” in a profession often known for its acrimony.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/broadway-composer-jerry-herman-famous-for-hello-dolly-is-dead-at-88/news-story/c376ea4d2882913d584b43c7488b6693