The Best of Broadway Belt it Out at ASU

April 10, 2006

TEMPE, Ariz. – Join a special ASU Herberger College of Fine Arts Lyric Opera Theatre benefit and experience one night of Broadway music by some of the biggest legends and stars ever to grace the Great White Way. Famed Broadway composer/lyricist Jerry Herman brings hisHello, Jerry! show to the Tempe campus Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the Evelyn Smith Music Theatre in the School of Music building. In addition to the show, a FREE seminar and Q&A session with Herman and his cast members take place two days before the performance.

“I am delighted to bring our musical theatre program to Arizona State University,” says Jerry Herman. “Our program helps to pass on the tradition of the American musical to the next generation of musical theatre creators and performers.”

Herman, from Hello, Dolly!, Mame and La Cage Aux Folles fame, is the only composer/lyricist ever to have had three musicals run more than 1,500 consecutive performances on Broadway.

“The talents of Jerry Herman and his fellow cast members not only bring a bit of Broadway to the desert, but also take these energetic actors off the stage and makes them available to fans in a free, public seminar – a special treat for anyone interested in musical theatre,” says JoAnn Yeoman-Tongret, lecturer in the School of Music.

The seminar and Q&A session about Broadway, musical theatre and Herman’s hits include Herman and fellow performers: Jason Graae; Karen Morrow; Paige O’Hara; musical director Donald Pippin, and Michael Kerker from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). The seminar is Thursday, Oct. 26 from 2-4 p.m. in the Evelyn Smith Music Theatre.

Hello, Jerry! no doubt will bring down the house with the following award-winning performers:

  • Jason Graae has performed numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway shows including A Grand Night For Singing and Stardust. His solo show, Coup de Graae! won the 2006 New York Nightlife Award.
  • Karen Morrow has starred in several Broadway shows including, I Had A Ball, The Grass Harp and most recently in the national tour of Showboat.
  • Paige O’Hara, who is widely known as Belle, from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, also has appeared in several Broadway shows including Showboat andLes Miserables.
  • Donald Pippin, from Cabaret and La Cage Aux Folles fame, is one of Broadway's most honored conductors and served 14 years as musical director of New York's famed Radio City Music Hall.

Hello, Jerry! is sponsored by the ASCAP Foundation/Jerry Herman Legacy Series.

Tickets for Hello, Jerry! are $15 for students, $35 and up for the public. Contact the Herberger College Box Office, 480-965-6447, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays.

The School of Music in the Herberger College of Fine Arts at Arizona State University is ranked 19th in the country and eighth among public institutions by U.S.News & World Report. More than 100 music faculty artists and scholars work with approximately 800 music majors each year in research, performance and scholarly activities. It presents approximately 700 concerts and recitals each year. To learn more about the School of Music, visit http://music.asu.edu.