Thanks to all for the birthday wishes. No, I don't feel like I'm 68 but I also don't deny it. I just deny that 68 is as old as some people think it is.
Last night, a friend of mine and I went out to Vitello's, a fine Italian eatery in Studio City. Upstairs there, there's a showroom operated by Michael Feinstein's company that features great cabaret-style entertainment. Last night, for one night only, my pal Bruce Kimmel was hosting a tribute to the late Jerry Herman — six performers of fine voice singing his well-known hits and some that were not so well-known but should be.
The six were Daniel Thomas Bellusci, Brittney Bertier, Jason Graae, Kim Huber, Kerry O'Malley and Robert Yacko, with Jeff Rizzo at the piano. Great songs, great talk, great response. Jerry Herman wrote the most optimistic songs of any major Broadway composer. Even his sad ones have an underscore of survival and persistence about them. But it was fun and at the end, everyone in the room sang "Hello, Dolly!" because you can't sing anything else after you sing "Hello, Dolly!."
I got to talk with a lot of great people and one of them was a great composer who was not Jerry Herman but was, in fact, Richard Sherman, who with his late brother Robert gave us all the songs in Mary Poppins, all the songs in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, all the songs in many other films and shows, and about half the songs in Disneyland. We always enjoy running into Richard and reminding him of some song of his that no one else ever mentions…like "Miracles from Molecules" or "Pineapple Princess."
Apart from his musical accomplishments, Richard's an inspiration. He's 91 and he's still writing songs. I want to be writing something when I'm his age even if it's only notes to my gardener to cut the grass in front of Lydia's house in the backyard.