Broadway legend Jerry Herman, composer-lyricist of Hello, Dolly!, Mame and La Cage aux Folles, visited campus to discuss musical theater with students as part of the three-day Jerry Herman Legacy Series, sponsored by the Pittsburgh CLO-Carnegie Mellon New Works Project and the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Foundation.
“I can’t believe I shook Jerry Herman’s hand!” said Lottie Green, a second-year graduate student in playwriting. Green said her love for musical theater stems from the time her father took her to see “Hello, Dolly!” when she was a child. She remembers being introduced to “the whole magical experience of musical theater.”
Herman was accompanied by Broadway veterans Jason Graae (Falsettos and HBO’s Six Feet Under), Karen Morrow (The Mystery of Edwin Drood), Paige O’Hara (Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast) and musical director Donald Pippin (A Chorus Line). ASCAP holds three Jerry Herman Legacy Series a year to give young people a chance to work with musical theater professionals.
Morrow, Pippin and Graae gave a series of master classes in which students performed and were critiqued. “This is a time when you can work on technique,” said senior Pilar Millhollen, who has performed with the Pittsburgh CLO.
“I think it was really time well spent; it was so individual,” said Gary Kline, assistant professor of musical theater.
The five professionals capped the forum with “Hello, Jerry!” a performance of Herman compositions. Herman, who accompanied himself on the piano, sang “Mame” and “I Won’t Send Roses” from “Mack and Mabel” to a standing ovation.
“I was somewhat familiar with Herman’s work—particularly ‘Hello, Dolly!’—but to spend the weekend with him and learn so much from his colleagues was truly an invaluable experience,” said senior Jonathan “J.D.” Goldblatt.
Before closing the forum Herman presented six Carnegie Mellon students with $500 scholarships to continue their musical theater education. Recipients were Millhollen, Goldblatt, Elizabeth DeRosa, Sara Ford, Megan Hilty and Michael Scott.
