Tuesday, September 07, 2010

It's today: Jerry Herman is a 2010 Kennedy Center Honoree!

It's today: Broadway composer Jerry Herman became a Kennedy Center Honoree!   I love that we're on the cusp of a Jerry Herman renaissance that I hope will grow into a full fledged Age of Herman.  La Cage aux Folles won the 2010 Tony for Best Revival of a Musical.  Now, how about a Mame revival?  Dear WorldMack & MabelHello, Dolly!?  I also love Ben Franklin in Paris (Hello, Robert Preston!) and Mrs. Santa Clause. 

The first big "Broadway" musical I saw was Hello, Dolly! - with the original Dolly herself, Carol Channing at the Performing Arts Center in Austin.  The first show I saw at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. was Mame.  Oh, they were thrilling!   I'll never forget how exciting the 2004 revival of La Cage aux Folles was at the Marquis on Broadway, while the current revival is so beautiful that I actually cried. 

Jerry Herman's music evokes so much emotion.  It can make you cry from heart break or cry from joy.  His shows are big and beautiful with sparkles everywhere, but they are very human too.  So many of the characters are larger than life but it's easy to relate to them.   This Kennedy Center Honor - the highest honor for lifetime achievement in the performing arts - is much deserved by Jerry.   I saw bravo and welcome to the Age of Herman!

2 comments:

Steve On Broadway (SOB) said...

Great to see a long overdue honor of this magnitude for the man who has always given us hummable showtunes!

Esther said...

I definitely agree. You know what a fan I've become of Jerry Herman's gorgeous score for La Cage aux Folles and I'm up for more Broadway revivals of his work.