He may be the last of the old-time Broadway composers, but this summer Jerry Herman entered the digital age in a big way:

Two of his classic songs from Hello, Dolly! were prominently featured in the computer-animated children's hit, WALL-E; and nearly his entire catalog of cast albums has been reissued for digital download by Sony BMG Broadway Masterworks.

''Isn't that exciting? The best thing that can happen to someone like me is to know his work will go on,'' Herman, 77, said by telephone from his home in Los Angeles. ``Sony has done that for me. This is forever -- the ability to download a Broadway show and have it.'' Shows can be downloaded at sites including iTunes and Amazon.com. Burned-to-order compact discs with original cover art and liner notes are available only through ArkivMusic.com.

Herman said he wasn't sure what to expect when he and life partner Terry Marler went to see WALL-E. The theater was filled with kids whose grandparents were young when Herman composed Dolly in 1963. Everyone sang along with Herman's songs, Put on Your Sunday Clothes and It Only Takes a Moment.

''They were absolutely rapt,'' according to Herman. 'I said to my friend Terry, `This is a new life for my old songs. No one will know they are 45 years old.' ''

Herman, a University of Miami theater graduate, became a Tony nominee for his second Broadway show, Milk and Honey, in 1961. His next musical won him the award in '64: Hello, Dolly!, which became the longest-running show of its time with 2,844 performances.

In May 1964, Louis Armstrong's Hello, Dolly! recording briefly displaced The Beatles' Can't Buy Me Love as No. 1 on Billboard's Top 100 chart, later winning the Grammy for Best Male Vocalist.

RCA Victor released three Dolly cast albums: Carol Channing with the original Broadway cast (1964); Mary Martin and the original London cast (a limited distribution in 1966); and Pearl Bailey with an all-black cast featuring Cab Calloway (1967).

Other Broadway Dollys were Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye, Betty Grable, Dorothy Lamour, Phyllis Diller and Ethel Merman, whom Herman had in mind when he wrote the score. ''I had all those different and marvelous talents doing that material,'' Herman said. ``Every Dolly was different. Each Dolly brought her own persona to the role without having to change a note or a word.''

After Dolly in 1966, Herman had another huge hit: Angela Lansbury as Mame. Other shows followed, including Dear World (with Lansbury in 1969) and Herman's favorite, Mack & Mabel (with Bernadette Peters and Robert Preston in 1974).

In 1983, Herman's La Cage aux Folles opened, winning him another Tony and providing the gay community with an anthem: I Am What I Am. Surprisingly, Herman said, La Cage -- about a gay drag performer -- has become his most-performed musical.

''It's playing in more places than you would believe. Right now it's in Slovakia and Norway, Argentina, Australia. All over the globe,'' he said. ``And I thought that it had a limited appeal.''

Herman's work has universal appeal, said Vincent J. Cardinal, producing artistic director of the Jerry Herman Ring Theatre at University of Miami.

''I don't want to sound too cliché about it,'' Cardinal said. ``The truth is that he is a masterful songwriter, but it's his belief in the human spirit that makes him someone for all time. WALL-E is a testament to that. Those very hopeful songs -- and as we think about the future and what life becomes -- are what we connect to as the very best of humanity.''

Cardinal said his students love Herman as much as their parents and grandparents do.

''He writes honestly and that never goes out of style,'' he said.

Next spring, Herman's namesake theater at UM will finish its 2008-09 season with a new production of Hello, Dolly!

The young UM fans even created a Facebook group in his honor. With 72 members, it's called ``I Wish Jerry Herman Was My Grandpa.''

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