that composers, especially composer-
lyricists like I am, bring an interpreta-
tion to the song that nobody else real-
ly can bring because it's exactly the
way the songwriter intended it to be.

JN: How did you decide which
songs to include?
JH: I knew I had to do all the songs
that the public wanted to hear so there
was no question that we would do
"Hello, Dolly," "Mame," "If He
Walked Into My Life" and "The Best
of Times." The only thing I had to do
was choose some of the more obscure
songs to pepper the evening. I chose,
for example, "Penny in My Pocket,"
which was cut from Hello, Dolly!, and
"Mrs. S. L. Jacobowsky," which is
from The Grand Tour and very funny.
It's an interesting mixture of songs,
and in some cases, audiences have
actually sung along with us. When I
hear a little chorus in the audience,_ it's
really kind of wonderful.

JN: Is there one song — or more
than one song — that you especially
relate to on a personal basis, one
that expresses your general outlook
or attitudes?
JH: In the middle of Act II, I sing a
song from The Grand Tour — it's one
of the few things I sing myself—
called "I'll. Be Here Tomorrow." It
really is my personal theme song
because I've gone through two major
illnesses that I've conquered, shows
that didn't run and were disappoint-
ments to me and the personal
tragedies that we all go through in life.
The philosophy in "I'll Be Here
Tomorrow" is my own personal phi-
losophy even thou
't write it
with myself in min

-

JN: Is there one character, or more
than one, that you especially
enjoyed writing songs for?
JH: Mame was my favorite character
because she reminded me so much of
my mother. Mame was glamorous, -
funny, charming, witty, liberal and all
the things that my mother was. It was
very easy for me to write for her
because I knew that lady personally.

JN: What will audiences know
about you after seeing this show
that they might not have known
before?
JH: I tell a lot of backstage anecdotes
— little stories (such as) how I got the
job of writing Hello, Dolly and how I
switched careers from architecture to
music and lyrics — and the audience

definitely goes home knowing much
more about Jerry.

JN: Would you tell us any of the
Jewish stories?
JH: The whole Milk and Honey expe-
rience was delightful for me because
here was this very American boy, even
though I grew up in a Jewish home
with parents extremely active in Jewish
causes, being offered this show which
was to be set in Israel. When the pro-
ducer asked if I knew
anything about -Israeli
music, I said, "Of
course I do," but I did-
n't know the first thing
about it. I just wanted
the job. What I did was
use the feelings of the
Hebrew songs I heard
my mother teach at the
Jewish Community
Center in Jersey City. It
was a very personal
experience to be able to
write my first Broadway
musical with an Israeli
theme.

fascinating starting with Gershwin and
going on to Bernstein and Sondheim
and Kander and Ebb and Charles
Strouse. It goes on and on, and they're
all Jewish. You can't tell me that's an
accident. I definitely think it's genetic,
kind of a miracle that gives people like
me the ability to do that. My second
cousin is Jerry-Bock, who wrote
Fiddler on the Roof, now, that has to
tell you something.

JN: Do you think the
songs from Milk and
Honey have a message
in the year of Israel's
50th anniversary?
JH: The title song says:

"What if the earth is dry
and barren?
What if the morning sun
is mean to us?
This is a state of mind
we live in;
We wanted green, and so
its green to us."
Those words say that
the perseverance and
Composer Jerry Herman at the keyboard.
the dedication that those
people had in those early
years, pulling the country together,
JN: Do you have a writing routine
was just a singular experience, and I
— sitting at the piano or sitting at
think that should be celebrated 50
the computer?
years later because we wouldn't have a
JH: I'm very flexible. When an idea
country without those feelings. I was a
hits me, I run to the piano and some-
very young man when I wrote that
times stay for hours. Sometimes, I
song, and I'm very proud of those
take a long, long walk and get the
words.
lyric part. It's very complicated
because I write both [the music and
JN: Can you point to Jewish influ-
lyrics] simultaneously. I walked the
ences in your other. shows?
streets of New York for 35 years writ-
JH: This will sound sort of chauvinis-
ing lyrics. I think it's been my most
tic, Jewishly chauvinistic. But I think
satisfactory way of writing because I
that the reason I know how to do
get lost in what I'm doing. I hardly
what I do is because I'm Jewish. I
know where I'm going to end up. I
don't know of any more than one or
don't even look at the street signs. The
two names of successful Broadway
exercise is stimulating, and it allows
songwriters who are not Jewish. It's
my brain to just feel very free and

assimilate ideas and thoughts. And
then, of course, I get in a cab and
[hurry] home to the piano and try
everything out to see if I like what I
have written in my head.

JN: Do you have any recollections of
visiting Detroit in connection with
your shows?
JH: Hello, Dolly! opened in Detroit,
and I did a lot of my work on Dolly in
a Detroit hotel room. I wrote "Before
the Parade Passes By" at the Park
Shelton. I was in the Fisher Theatre or
inside those four walls [of my hotel
room] the entire time I was [in
Detroit] because we had so much
work to do.

JN: What do you like to do when
you're not composing?

JH: I like to go to other people's
musicals. I'm an ardent swimmer,
and I have a swimming pool at my
home in Palm Springs and my home
in Bel Air. The other hobby I have
was the original career I was going to
have, which is designing and archi-
tecture. Every year or two, I buy a
piece of property, redo it and sell it. I
really love the variety of all the dif-
ferent styles that I've done, and I
purposely try to do something that I
haven't done before. The last one
that I did was an extremely modern
home in Palm Springs, all glass and
stone. The one I did before that was
a French Normandy house in Bel
Air.

JN: Do you plan to take your revue
on tour?
JH: There are no tour plans. It's a
show that I want to pick up every
once in a while when these two great
singers I've brought with me are avail-
able. We will certainly do this at dif-
ferent theaters in different states and
in different countries. A long tour is
very exhausting. The limited run that
I'm doing in New York is just going to
knock me out. By September, I'm
going to need a nice vacation. El

"An Evening With Jerry Herman"
plays 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays,
2 p.m. Saturdays and 3 p.111. Sundays
through August at the Booth
Theatre, 222 West 45th Street, New
York. There will be a special perfor-
mance July 21, and there will be no
matinee performances July 26 and
29. (212) 239-6200.

7/2
199

Detroit Jewish News