■ Openly gay composer/lyricist Jerry Herman coaching the cast of Showtune in New York City, 2002 Photocourtesy New Jersey Network.

TRENTON, December 29, 2007  –  At around the time that La Cage aux Folles opened on Broadway, cast members of a number of Broadway shows began dying of a mysterious illness.

Aids had entered the world, and it swept through the theatre community.  And half of the original La Cage chorus didn’t live to finish the run.

The show’s composer and lyricist Jerry Herman, openly gay, himself was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1985.  He is one of the fortunate ones who survived to see experimental drug therapies take hold and is still, as one of his lyrics proclaims, “alive and well and thriving.”

La Cage was not only a critical and commercial smash, but a political and social turning point.  Never before had two men held hands in a musical, or sung a love ballad to one another.

George Hearn’s star turn as Za Za, belting out what is probably the most dramatic Act One closer ever written, I Am What I Am, still brings audiences to their feet with its forceful call for tolerance and dignity – a surpassingly powerful statement from a composer/lyricist who declared all along that he wanted only to entertain people.

And entertain people he has done.  From Hello Dolly! and Mame to the written-for-television musical Mrs. Santa Claus, Jerry Herman has produced a string of tuneful songs that are known the world over.

“When they passed out talent, Jerry stood in line twice,” Carol Channing, the original Dolly Levi, is fond of observing.

A new television documentary, Words and Music by Jerry Herman, by award-winning filmmaker Amber Edwards takes you backstage through insightful interviews, behind-the-scenes rehearsal sessions, rare photographs, and never-before-seen archival footage of original Broadway performances to create a warm, humorous, and moving portrait of a living theatre legend.

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■ Openly gay composer/lyricist Jerry Herman with Carol Channing on the set of the 1978 revival of Hello, Dolly! Photo: Photofest, courtesy New Jersey Network.

Five years in the making, this 90-minute ‘special’ from New Jersey Network Public Television chronicles Herman’s rapid rise from witty, topical off-Broadway revues during the 1950s, to his first Broadway hits in the 1960s (Milk and Honey, followed quickly by the record-breaking Dolly and then Mame) through the less successful shows from the 1970s (Dear World, Mack & Mabel and The Grand Tour) to his triumphant return in 1983 with La Cage aux Folles, which made social and political history.

The “supporting cast” is truly a Who’s Who of Broadway: Carol Channing, Angela Lansbury, Charles Nelson Reilly, Marge Champion, Arthur Laurents, Charles Strouse, Fred Ebb, George Hearn, Phyllis Newman, Michael Feinstein, musical director Donald Pippin, singers Leslie Uggams and Jason Graae, author Francine Pascal, and historians Miles Kreuger and Ken Bloom.

And theater aficionados will marvel at the collection of archival motion picture footage.  There is Carol Channing and the original Broadway Hello, Dolly! company performing the title song; Angela Lansbury in the only known footage of Mame and Dear World; film of the 1955 college musical Jerry wrote at the University of Miami; Robert Preston and a bevy of showgirls from Mack & Mabel; and other material which captures these original, ephemeral theatre performances that, until now, existed only in the memories of those lucky enough to have seen them on stage.

Naturally, the film is filled with music, with original cast recordings and live performances, while the piano underscoring is played by Jerry Herman himself.

True to the spirit of its subject, who describes himself as “a builder,” the documentary creates a dramatic arc that honestly examines a career of hits and flops and highs and lows.

With his ebullient, hummable songs that personify the “show tune,” Jerry Herman extended the Golden Age of Broadway almost single-handedly, as new generations keep discovering his tuneful, optimistic, and deceptively simple songs.

Yet, as Michael Feinstein says in the film, “Jerry has succeeded so well in his mission, that people don’t give him credit...because to be simple without being cliche is nearly impossible.”

Words and Music by Jerry Herman premiers on PBS in the USA on January 1, 2008 at 9.30pm (but check local listings).  This screening is also webcast via the NJN website

While most major PBS programmes find their way to the BBC, there is no transmission date scheduled as yet for a UK transmission. 

Viewers in New Jersey can see a special preview at 8pm tonight (December 30) on the New Jersey Network.  This screening is also webcast via the NJN website

■ A DVD of the programme is released on January 2, 2008, and can be obtained from the PBS Store for $24.99 (USA and Canada only)

■ Angela Lansbury in "It's Today" from Jerry Herman's Mame. Photo: Frank Vlastnik, courtesy New Jersey Network.