52 | NOVEMBER 14 • 2019
‘Still Goin’ Strong’
Actress playing the ingenue role in Hello, Dolly!
says iconic musical is still full of life.
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
L
aura Sky Herman has
some priority interests
in common with Jerry
Herman, but shared family
ties do not enter into that.
Both share a love of the
musical Hello,
Dolly! — which
has his music and
lyrics, and has her
taking the role
of Ermangarde
in a touring
production
being staged
Nov. 19-Dec. 1 at the Fisher
Theatre in Detroit.
Both have a commitment
to visual arts, which he stud-
ied as an architecture student
and kept as a hobby while
advancing his musical theater
projects. She studies as an art
history major on leave from
Harvard University.
Both can link to Woodward
Avenue traffic, which inspired
his Hello, Dolly! song “Before
the Parade Passes By,” written
as the original production was
having its Detroit tryouts. And
she will experience the traf-
fic when visiting the Detroit
Institute of Arts for research
on her senior thesis about
American museums.
And both are Jewish, which
motivated him to write the
score for the Israel-based play
Milk and Honey, and which
she celebrated during her bat
mitzvah at Miami’
s Temple
Beth Ahm and is at the heart
of her thinking the last name
of the play’
s main character,
Dolly Gallagher Levi, suggests
Jewish ties.
“I love so much to be part of
this amazing production, and
it’
s an honor to be a namesake
in this show,” says the actress,
23, single and on her first
national tour.
“Hello, Dolly!, produced
by Eric Falkenstein, is one of
the most iconic musicals of
all time — a quintessential
manifestation of
what a musical
comedy is. It’
s so
full of life and love
and so opulent and
luxurious that it’
s a
dream to get to be
in this show.”
Herman, who
demonstrates sing-
ing and dancing
talents through
her ingénue role in
the play about a matchmaker,
performs “Put on Your Sunday
Clothes” and “It Only Takes a
Moment.”
“When I’
m backstage watch-
ing the waiters doing their big
walk because Dolly’
s back at
the Harmonia Gardens, I can’
t
help but cheer,” Herman says
of the number spotlighting the
show’
s title song.
Numbers she watched in
a touring production of The
Sound of Music activated her
enduring career interest when
she was 10.
“Right after the perfor-
mance, I looked over at my
mom and said I wanted to do
that,” Herman recalls. “I would
circle local auditions in the
newspaper, and I got to play
Gretl in a local production of
The Sound of Music. I studied
classical ballet, took voice
lessons and did shows at my
school.”
Special studies outside of
high school
brought her to
the University
of Michigan,
where she
participated
in the MPulse
Summer
Performing Arts
Institutes. She
recalls going to
Detroit to watch
stage produc-
tions and eating at Zingerman’
s.
Other scholarly programs
took her to Texas State
University for more musical
theater training and the Royal
Academy of Dramatic Art in
the United Kingdom for coach-
ing in classical acting.
During summers while
enrolled at Harvard, she
appeared in professional
summer stock productions.
Her favorite parts included
Polly Baker in Crazy for You
at the New London Barn
Playhouse in New Hampshire
and Vivian in Oklahoma at the
North Shore Music Theatre in
Massachusetts.
At Harvard, Herman was
among those changing a long-
time theater tradition.
“Hasty Pudding Theatricals
is America’
s oldest theater
group,
” Herman explains. “For
nearly 200 years, the cast has
been all male. Half of the cast
would dress in drag as women.
“It was debated for many
years if women should join the
cast or whether Hasty Pudding
would maintain its signature
feature of cross-dressing.
“This past year, we’
ve finally
been able to be cast as women.
Six other girls and I got to be
in a show. Some played male
parts, and some
played women.
I played a male pirate, and it
was such a joy. Hasty Pudding
has helped me grow and pre-
pare for slapstick and over-the-
top musical comedy.
”
The Tony Award-winning
revival of Hello, Dolly! has
Herman working with famed
director Jerry Zaks.
“Jerry was with us for
rehearsals in New York, and we
were still adding little jokes,
”
Herman says. “The show is
very much alive.”
Laura Sky
Herman
JUILETA CERVANTES
The touring cast of Hello, Dolly!
Laura Sky Herman is the young
woman in the train car.
details
Hello, Dolly! runs Nov.
19-Dec. 1 at the Fisher
Theatre in Detroit.
Tickets start at $39.
(313) 872-1000, ext.0.
broadwayindetroit.com.
Arts&Life
theater