Wake Up With BroadwayWorld July 10, 2024

Rise and shine, BroadwayWorld! It is July 10, 2024 and it's time to catch up on all of the theatrical happenings you may have missed in the last 24 hours: 

But first...

Exclusive: First Listen to Music From THE STATIONMASTER; Album to Be Released This Month
by Stephi Wild
The new British musical THE STATIONMASTER has recorded an album of The Complete Work with top West End talent, to be released on Friday 26 July 2024. BroadwayWorld has an exclusive first listen to the song 'Run Away' from the musical. Check out the video here!. (more...) 

Chilina Kennedy to Step in as Myrtle in THE GREAT GATSBY This Summer
by Chloe Rabinowitz
Chilina Kennedy (Beautiful, Paradise Square) will play the role of Myrtle beginning July 15 in the Broadway musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s landmark novel The Great Gatsby. Learn more about the show and see how to purchase tickets.. (more...) 

Daisy Edgar-Jones Exits BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL Film
by Josh Sharpe
According to a new interview, Daisy Edgar-Jones will no longer be playing Carole King in the upcoming film adaptation of Beautiful: The Carol King Musical. She was originally announced to play the role in December of 2022.. (more...) 

ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME Will Soon Be Available for Licensing
by Nicole Rosky
Theatrical licensor Music Theatre International announced that Once Upon a One More Time has joined the MTI catalogue. Licensing information will be available soon.. (more...)

Review Roundup: Critics Sound Off On MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL at Goodman Theatre
by Joshua Wright
What did the critics think of Goodman Theatre's world-premiere musical Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil? (more...) 

Video: Vanessa Williams Shares THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA Musical Borrows Dialogue From the Film
by Stephi Wild
Vanessa Williams is now playing the iconic role of Miranda Priestly in the musical adaptation of the film The Devil Wears Prada. Check out a video of her discussing the show here!. (more...)

Jerry Herman

Herman is known for his work on Broadway classics such as Hello, Dolly!, Mame, La Cage Aux Folles, Dear World, Mack & Mabel, The Grand Tour, Milk & Honey and many more. He has been nominated for five Tony Awards, and won twice, for Hello, Dolly! and La Cage Aux Folles. He received a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2009, and a Kennedy Center Honors in 2010.

At age 17, Herman 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. While an undergraduate student at the University of Miami Herman produced, wrote and directed a college musical called Sketchbook. It was scheduled to run for three performances, but the show created an instant patron demand and ran for an additional 17 performances

After graduation from the University of Miami, Herman moved to New York City, where he produced the Off-Broadway revue I Feel Wonderful, which was made up of material he had written at the University.

In 1957, Herman approached the owner of a West Fourth Street jazz club called the Showplace and asked to put on a revue. As well as supplying the music, Herman wrote the book and directed the one-hour revue, called Nightcap. He asked his friend, Phyllis Newman, to do movement and dance and it featured Charles Nelson Reilly (who later co-starred in Hello Dolly!). The show opened in May 1958 and ran for two years.

Herman next collected enough original material to put together an Off-Broadway revue called Parade in 1960. Herman directed with choreography by Richard Tone. The cast included Charles Nelson Reilly and Dody Goodman. It first opened at the Showplace and, expanded, moved to The Players Theatre in January 1960.

In 1960, Herman made his Broadway debut with the revue From A to Z, which featured contributions from newcomers Woody Allen and Fred Ebb 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 Israel. The result was his first full-fledged Broadway musical, Milk and Honey in 1961. The show, about American tourists in Israel, starred Robert Weede, Mimi Benzil and Molly Picon.

Herman met playwright Tad Mosel in 1960 and they collaborated on an Off-Broadway musical adaptation of Mosel's 1953 television play, Madame Aphrodite. The musical of the same name, which starred Nancy Andrews in the title role, opened at the Orpheum Theater in December 1961 but closed after 13 performances.

In 1964, producer David Merrick united Herman with musical actress Carol Channing and Michael Stewart for a project that was to become one of his more successful, Hello Dolly!. The original production ran for 2,844 performances, the longest running musical for its time, and was later revived three times. Hello, Dolly! swept the Tony Awards that season, winning 10, a record that remained unbroken for 37 years.

In 1966, Herman's next musical was the hit Mame starring Angela Lansbury, 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 World (1969) also starring Angela Lansbury, Mack & Mabel (1974) starring Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters, and The Grand Tour (1979) starring Joel Grey, are noted for their interesting concepts and their melodic, memorable scores.

In 1983, Herman had his third hit with La Cage aux Folles starring George Hern and Gene Barry, a show that was notable for being one of the first hit Broadway musicals centered around a gay couple. The show broke box-office records at the Palace Theater and earned Herman yet another Tony Award for Best Musical. From its score came the gay anthem "I Am What I Am" and the sing-a-long "The Best of Times." La Cage aux Folles won the Tony Award for Best Musical (1983), and became the only musical to win the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical twice (2005 and 2010).

The revue Jerry's Girls, "a pastiche" of his work, featured Dorothy Loudon, Leslie Uggams and Chita Rivera and ran on Broadway from December 1985 to April 1986.

Herman is the only composer/lyricist to have had 3 original productions open on Broadway at the same time from February to May 1969. He was the first (of two) composers/lyricists to have three musicals run more than 1500 consecutive performances on Broadway. Herman is honored by a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at the 7000 block of Hollywood Boulevard.

Other honors include the Jerry Herman Ring Theatre, named after him by the University of Miami. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1982.

A 90-minute documentary about his life and career, Words and Music by Jerry Herman by filmmaker Amber Edwards, was screened in 2007 and then broadcast on PBS. In the 2008 the animated film WALL-E, Herman's music from Hello, Dolly! is a theme for the character WALL-E.

In 1989, American-playwright Natalie Gaupp 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 2012, Jason Graae and Faith Prince collaborated on The Prince and the Showboy, a show which pays tribute to Herman; Graae worked extensively with Herman and described him as "a survivor of the highest degree lives his life as an eternal optimist."

Herman's memoir, Showtune, was published in 1996, with additional books published including Jerry Herman: The Lyrics and Jerry Herman: Poet of the Showtune.

Other birthdays on this date include:

Emily Skeggs
Erika Jayne
Fiona Shaw
Sofia Vergara

See you bright and early tomorrow, BroadwayWorld!