One of the top composers of twentieth century Broadway musicals was born in New Jersey and started piano lessons at an early age. His parents frequently took him to see musicals in New York City. His parents were teachers and spent their summer working in summer camps taking Jerry went with them. There, as a boy, he became involved in theatrical performances and eventually became a director. After graduating from the University of Miami, he moved to New York. In 1964, after he had written the books and music for several other shows, the producer David Merrick used him to compose the smash hit Hello Dolly which ran for 2,844 performances and garnered 10 Tony Awards.

This was soon followed by Mame. He was the personal choice of Lawrence and Lee to adapt their play as a musical. After several other projects, 1983 saw La Cage aux Folles the third of his works to run for over 1,500 consecutive performances. He was one of only two composers (with Stephen Schwartz) to achieve such a landmark. Now liveing near Los Angeles, he practices his hobby of designing apartments. He would have had fun with one of Mame's.

The producer Tom Shephard said of him:

It isn't said often enough: Jerry Herman is one of the world's greatest lyricists and composers. But Jerry has always had the uncanny ability — as did Irving Berlin — of making it all look so easy, and so inevitable that we feel as though his songs have always been here, that they practically write themselves.

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Revised August 2011
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