While the majority of leading ladies in American musical theater are cast as ingenues, there is one composer who found success writing many of his early shows for women over 40, some of which were in titular roles. This was Jerry Herman (1931-2019).
Following the failed off-Broadway Madame Aphrodite in 1961, Herman wrote Milk and Honey about Jewish widows touring Israel in search of new husbands. The show was nominated for multiple Tony awards, including Best Original Score, Best Musical, and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Molly Picon).
A few years later, in 1964, Herman premiered Hello, Dolly! That show swept the Tonys, winning 11 of its 12 nominations (sorry, Charles Nelson Reilly). Leading actress Carol Channing, at the age of 43, won her first Tony, after two previous nominations when she was only in her 30s. Herman also received his first Tony for best composer and lyricist.
Two years later, Mame was nominated for 8 Tonys, winning 3, including one for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for 44-year-old Angela Lansbury, her first of six Tonys. It also featured Jane Connell (41) in the supporting role of Agnes Gooch, which she reprised in the ill-fated 1975 movie version. Also featured in a supporting role was Bea Arthur as Vera Charles (44), for which she also won her first Tony.
Dear World, in 1968, wasn’t quite as successful, but featured not one but three leading ladies over 40. A musical version of The Madwoman of Chaillot, this garnered Angela Lansbury her second Tony, and also starred Jane Connell and Carmen Matthews. The show has a veritable plethora of wonderful songs for the three Madwomen, including:
- Dear world
- And I was beautiful
- I don’t want to know (below)
- Memories
- Dickie
All of these and other songs from the show are available on both Sheet Music Direct and Musicnotes (as of this writing).
Later Works
Following Dear World, Herman’s shows turned toward featuring mature men in the leads, including Mack and Mabel, The Grand Tour, and La Cage aux Folles.
In 1981, a revue of his work, Jerry’s Girls, was mounted in a nightclub in Manhattan, and moved to Broadway in 1985, featuring Chita Rivera (52), who won the Tony for Best Performance for a Leading Actress in a Musical. Perhaps a more fitting title for that show would be …
Miss Spectacular – the last lost show
Herman’s final show, Miss Spectacular, was written in 2000 (with additional lyrics by Steve Lawrence and Michael Feinstein) for a production at The Mirage in Las Vegas but was never produced. Stylistically, it owes a great deal to Hello Dolly! and Mame, according to Wikipedia.
A concept album featuring veteran actresses Faith Prince, Karen Morrow, and Christine Baranski was released in 2002. It is very difficult to find – I was able to locate it on Spotify, but I couldn’t get it to play. It is not available on Apple Music. It is available for purchase (but not to download) on Amazon. There is a wonderful song that is sung on the album by Faith Prince, and I found a YouTube video of it. It would be a great audition piece for a legit soprano with a a belt mix. Unfortunately, there had been a vocal selections sheet music book available through Hal Leonard, but it is out of print.
There are other composers who wrote wonderful leading roles for women and I’ll cover a few of them in posts to come – but I’ll save most of them for the book!
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