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When it comes to musicals, I guess you could say I’m something of a purist, having been raised on musical recordings and Hollywood films of Broadway shows from the genre’s ‘Golden Era’ originally penned by Rogers and Hammerstein in the 1940’s and ‘50’s (Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music), and Lerner and Lowe in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, (Brigadoon, My Fair Lady, Camelot and Gigi). From there, it was an unnatural, but nonetheless exciting progression to the more daring West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein, with lyrics by young Stephen Sondheim, the film of which premiered in 1961. At the time, that particular show was preferred by my older, teenage siblings rather than my mother who thereafter, lingered on a bridge of sorts between the aforementioned classics and more experimental musicals to come, beginning with the more traditionally melodic Hello Dolly, (1964) written by none other than Jerry Herman. Herman is the composer who is also known for creating some of the greatest musical theatre heroines of all time such as Dolly, Mame and perhaps, his most spectacular creation of all – Albin, a.k.a. ‘Zaza’, the acclaimed transvestite diva of the fabulous show La Cage aux Folles which won the Tony award for Best Musical in 1984.
