With Broadway hits like "Hello, Dolly!" Jerry Herman became known - at the age of 88 the US composer died on Thursday. Herman's goddaughter Jane Dorian confirmed this to several media on Friday.
Manhattan-born Herman wrote about a dozen Broadway musicals throughout his career. The Grammy and Tony Award winner celebrated his greatest successes between the 1960s and 1980s with shows such as "Hello, Dolly!", "Mame" and "A Cage Full of Fools". According to his own website, Herman became the only composer with these musicals to be the only composer to do three pieces, each with more than 1500 appearances on Broadway. "Hello, Dolly!" received ten tones, the most important award in the industry in the United States.
"We lost one of the greats," said actor Harvey Fierstein, who wrote the template for "A Cage Full of Fools".
Herman relied on happy stories with positive messages. He always wanted to compose a "simple tune to hum", he once said. With the "A cage full of fools" premiered in 1983, Herman created the first "gay musical", as SPIEGEL wrote at the time. The play had promised new life to Broadway after a previously devastating season.
Herman now died in a Miami hospital, according to the New York Times. No information about the cause of death was given. Herman had been in a civil partnership with Terry Marler for years.
