VIDEOS: A Look Back at Jerry Herman's DEAR WORLD and MILK AND HONEY, Next In The York's MUFTI Series

As reported by BroadwayWorld, The York Theatre Company's 2016-17 season will include staged concerts of two Jerry Herman musicals, presented as part of their acclaimed Musicals in Mufti Series.

"Mufti," as The York explains, means "in street clothes, without the trappings associated with a full production."

The first will be the 1961 musical MILK AND HONEY, which was the first New York book musical by the composer/lyricist most noted for "catchy tunes."

Herman had earned a reputation for writing clever songs for the Off-Broadway revues, I FEEL WONDERFUL, NIGHTCAP and PARADE. His Broadway debut came in 1960, contributing material to another revue, FROM A TO Z, starring Hermione Gingold. Other contributors included Fred Ebb, Mary Rodgers and Woody Allen.

It was producer Gerard Oestreicher who approachEd Herman and playwright Don Appell to write a musical set in the still-emerging state of Israel. He even flew them out there to get a feel for the atmosphere and culture.

The popular Jewish comic actress Molly Picon starred as one of a busload of American widows husband-hunting in Israel. The more serious love story involved two more Americans, played by opera stars Mimi Benzell and Robert Weede, who fall in love with both each other and the pioneer spirit of the new nation.

MILK AND HONEY ran for well over a year, earning Herman his first Tony nomination. Its title song and the ballad "Shalom" both were popular outside the musical. The recordings below are by Eddie Fisher and Robert Goulet.

MILK AND HONEY was a hit, but Jerry Herman's next two musicals, HELLO, DOLLY! and MAME were career-changing smashes. Herman was now among the elite of 1960s musical comedy composer/lyricists with his name synonymous with big fun shows that climaxed in a rousing title song.

So for his next musical, he was looking for something different. Along with his MAME bookwriters, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, he began adapting Jean Giraudoux's popular play THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT. The story concerns an eccentric Frenchwoman who calls herself Countesses Aurelia, who plots against greedy businessmen who wish to drill for oil beneath her quaint Parisian neighborhood.

Originally envisioned as an intimate musical, producer Alexander H. Cohen preferred a typically large and boisterous Jerry Herman affair, which led to friction during the rehearsal and preview period. As the mad countess, Angela Lansbury won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical, but the show itself never caught on and closed within four months.

The score, however, with lovely ballads like "And I Was Beautiful" and "I've Never Said 'I Love You,'" the optimistic "Each Tomorrow Morning" and its madcap Tea Party Sequence, is a gem.

The rehearsal footage below was filmed by conductor Don Pippin. It's followed by a soundboard recording of Angela Lansbury singing the show-stopping "I Don't Want To Know."

The York Theatre Company is the only theater in New York City - and one of very few in the world - dedicated to developing and fully producing new musicals and preserving neglected, notable shows from the past. For over four decades, York's intimate, imaginative style of producing both original and classic musicals has resulted in critical acclaim and recognition from artists and audiences alike. Under the guidance of Producing Artistic Director James Morgan since 1997, the York has focused on new musicals in its Mainstage Series - most of them world, American, or New York premieres - by some of the field's most esteemed creators, and has also helped launch the careers of many talented new writers. Over 35 cast recordings fromYork Theatre Company productions are now available on CD, including its acclaimed revival of Closer Than Ever (2013 Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Revival); commercial transfers of such York premieres as The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!), Souvenir (Tony Award Nomination for actress Judy Kaye), and Jolson & Company, and revivals of Pacific Overtures and Sweeney Todd (four Tony Nominations including Best Revival) have all showcased the importance of the York and its programs. Recent hits have included Rothschild and Sons, Plaid Tidings and Cagney, starring Robert Creighton as James Cagney and the original York Cast, currently playing to sold-out houses at the Westside Theatre. Visit yorktheatre.org.