Jerry Herman, the award-winning composer and lyricist behind such upbeat, crowd-pleasing musicals as “Mame” and “Hello, Dolly!” has died in Miami at the age of 88. “La Cage” and “Hello, Dolly!” both won the Tony award for best musical. While some called his work schmaltzy, it was undeniably popular: each of those two musicals, along with “Mame,” ran on Broadway for more than 1,500 consecutive performances. The original show, starring Carol Channing, won 10 of the 11 Tonys for which it was nominated. Bette Midler starred in a 2017 revival, produced by Herman, that won the Tony award for best revival of a musical.

Source: Punch December 27, 2019 19:30 UTC