From Amazon.com
This 1993 tribute to Jerry Herman collects numbers from the songwriter's Broadway shows, performed by a wide variety of stars, many with strong ties to Herman. You've got Carol Channing, of course (the original and forever Dolly), Leslie Uggams (
Jerry's Girls), George Hearn (
La Cage aux Folles), Bea Arthur (with her trademark "Man in the Moon" from
Mame), Lee Roy Reams and Karen Morrow (
An Evening with Jerry Herman), Florence Lacey (
The Grand Tour), Lorna Luft (Judy Garland's daughter), Davis Gaines, Michael Feinstein, and Rita Moreno, all backed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Don Pippin (Herman's longtime musical director) before a live audience at the Hollywood Bowl. Pippin leads the orchestra in instrumental medleys of waltzes and marches, Liza Minnelli, Paul and Linda McCartney, and Angela Lansbury offered prerecorded greetings, and humorous moments are provided by Luft's grouchy "Put It Back On" response to the dance team's "Take It All Off" (the producers make it up to her later by giving her
Mack & Mabel's great ballad "Time Heals Everything"). There's also Reams's impressions of Channing, Pearl Bailey, and Louis Armstrong performing "Hello, Dolly"; and Arthur, who explains that
Mame was not named after her character simply because nothing would rhyme with "Vera"--though "Sondheim could have done it." The guest of honor laughs right along with the crowd, and then takes the stage himself for the finale--for Jerry Herman fans, this concert is the best of times indeed.
--David Horiuchi
Video Details
The program:
1. Introduction--Liza Minnelli
2. Overture--L.A. Philharmonic
3. Welcome--Carol Channing
4. It's Today (from Mame)--Leslie Uggams
5. Movies Were Movies (Mack & Mabel)--George Hearn
6. It Only Takes a Moment (Hello, Dolly)--Florence Lacey
7. Put On Your Sunday Clothes/Before the Parade Passes By (Hello, Dolly)--Lee Roy Reams
8. The Waltzes--L.A. Philharmonic
9. Wherever He Ain't (Mack & Mabel)--Lorna Luft, Leslie Uggams, Florence Lacey
10. Song on the Sand (La Cage aux Folles)--Davis Gaines
11. Take It All Off (Jerry's Girls)--Lorna Luft and the Girls
12. We Need a Little Christmas (Mame)--Karen Morrow
13. If He Walked Into My Life (Mame)--Leslie Uggams
14. Greetings--Paul and Linda McCartney
15. Hello Dolly (Hello, Dolly)--Lee Roy Reams, Leslie Uggams, Lorna Luft, International Dollies, Carol Channing
16. The Marches--L.A. Philharmonic
17. The Man in the Moon (Mame)--Bea Arthur
18. Bosom Buddies (Mame)--Leslie Uggams, Rita Moreno
19. Time Heals Everything (Mack & Mabel)--Lorna Luft
20. Greetings--Angela Lansbury
21. Mame (Mame)--L.A. Philharmonic
22. I Won't Send Roses (Mack & Mabel)--Michael Feinstein
23. I Don't Want to Know (Dear World)--Karen Morrow
24. Tap Your Troubles Away (Mack & Mabel)--Rita Moreno
25. Kiss Her Now (Dear World)--Leslie Uggams, Florence Lacey
26. La Cage aux Folles (La Cage aux Folles)--Lee Roy Reams
27. I Am What I Am (La Cage aux Folles)--George Hearn
28. The Best of Times (La Cage aux Folles)--Jerry Herman, the entire cast, and fireworks
