SAY HELLO, JERRY TO "JERRY'S GIRLS" COURTESY OF CENTER STAGE IN SHELTON

Composer and lyricist Jerry Herman is known for being one of the most successful composers on Broadway starting in the 1960’s. His upbeat and optimistic hit musicals, characterized by Herman for their “simple hummable show tunes” like “Hello, Dolly!,” “Mame,” and “La Cage aux Folles” won him the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors. His 1964 hit “Hello, Dolly!” was at one time the longest-running musical in Broadway history. He is the only composer to have a trio of musicals that ran for more than 1500 consecutive performances. In 1983 he wrote the first musial about a gay couple, “La Cage aux Folles.” In 2009, he received the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.

To marvel in Jerry Herman’s parade of hits, skip on over to the Center Stage in Shelton for a musical visit with a trio of delightful singers as “Jerry Girls” until Sunday, April 19. Come hear Sandra Fernandes, Mackensie Massey and Emerson Raymond belt out thirty-six tunes that mark Herman’s genius and tribute as a composer and testify how and why Herman won so many Tonys, Grammies, Olivier, Dram Desk, Johnny Mercer, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Frederick Loewe, Songwriters of Fame, Theater Hall of Fame and Kennedy Center Honors.

For example, “Hello, Dolly!” was based on Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker.” The title song by Jerry Herman became a hit for Louis Armstrong when he recorded it to publicize the play and it became his biggest hit when it climbed the charts as a “natural” in 1963. His fans made it the number one hit, so successful it pushed the Beatles off the top of the charts.Satchmo and his trumpet made it the biggest seller of his lifetime when it went gold.

Come hear some immortal tunes like "‘Put on Your Sunday Clothes,” “Before the Parade Passes By,” “It Only Takes a Moment” from “Hello, Dolly!” and “We Need A Little Christmas,” “If He Walked Into My Life,” “It’s Today” and “Bosom Buddies” from “Mame.” From “La Cage aux Folles.” delight in “I Am What I Am,” and “The Best of Times,” and from “Mack and Mabel “ such favorites as “Time Heals Everything,” and “Movies Were Movies.” Pianist and Music Director Jane Best performed on a revolving stage while Sandra Fernandes and Liz Muller created a colorful fashion show, Brandy Bailey and Michael “Beetle” Bailey kept the ladies on their dancing toes and Liz Muller served as a merry musical director and stage director. My personal regret was the lack of stories about the composer himself.

For tickets ($20-50), call Center Stage, 54 Grove Street, Shelton at 203-225-6079 or online at https://go-event.com/3570448-0. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Come enjoy the music of Gerald Sheldon Herman, better known as Jerry, famous for “upbeat and optimistic outlook and his simple, hummable show tunes.” And what hummable tunes they are.