Letter: Jerry Herman’s musical star rose at the University of Miami

Sandy Stein (now Warshaw) and I were students at the University of Miami at the same time as Jerry Herman, and we both have lasting memories of his talent, which he parlayed into musical activities for other students.

[Herman, the award-winning Broadway composer who penned musicals like “Hello, Dolly!,” “Mame” and “La Cage Aux Folles,” is one of the University of Miami’s most distinguished alumni. He graduated in 1953.]

I remember being in the chorus of “Sketchbook, 1954.” The songs and lyrics Jerry wrote for that revue, and for the next year’s revue, were prototypes for the songs and lyrics he eventually used in his well-known and masterful musical theater productions.

(Somewhere in Miami there may still be my copy of the recording of Sketchbook songs that someone borrowed from me years ago.)

Sandy and Jerry were both cast in the first musical ever produced at UM’s Ring Theater, “Finian’s Rainbow,” and thereafter remained good friends.

There’s a funny story is behind a newspaper photograph of them and other cast members digging the ground for an orchestra pit.

It seems the musical needed an orchestra to play for the show, and there had never been an orchestra pit at the Ring Theater. (Of course the cast members were fooling around; the workmen were not!)

Many UM theater students maintained contact with Jerry through the years through reunions and gatherings that were held in his honor.

Sandy and I, and I’m sure many others, can attest to Jerry’s musical leadership and his humility, humor and charm.

Debi Alexander Hoffman,

Miami