You I Like – A Musical Celebration of Jerry Herman

On Sunday Pasadena Playhouse’s PlayhouseLive debuted a newly filmed revue of the work of composer Jerry Herman called You I Like – A Musical Celebration of Jerry Herman. The show is available through February 7th.

Jerry Herman was the Tony Award-winning composer of such musicals as Hello, Dolly!, Mame, Mack and Mabel and La Cage aux Folles. He passed away in late 2019. This revue of his music was created by Andy Einhorn and had its first performance at New York’s 92nd Street Y early last year. Einhorn has reworked the show and it was filmed by Pasadena Playhouse for their PlayhouseLive programming.

Starring in You I Like are Ashley Blanchet (Frozen), Nicholas Christopher (Hamilton), Olivier Award-winner Lesli Margherita (Matilda The Musical), Andrea Ross (The Sound of Music) and Ryan Vona (Once). Einhorn serves as music director and our guide through the show.

Songs from all those musicals listed above are in the show as are some rarer songs from his early work like Parade and Milk and Honey. There are also songs from his lesser-known musicals such as The Grand Tour.

Einhorn has created a true love letter to Herman. His passion and knowledge of Herman and his work is presented lovingly. This show is filled with the unfettered joy that was the hallmark of Herman’s own view of life.

The performers are all terrific and seem to be enjoying their roles.

A few moments definitely stand out: Christopher singing “If He Walked Into My Life” from Mame and “A Little More Mascara” from La Cage Aux Folles; “Time Heals Everything” from Mack and Mabel sung by Blanchet and pretty much everything Margherita does. Someone should seriously consider putting her in a revival of Funny Girl. (I know what purists will say, “she’s a bit too old for that.” Forget it…she’s got the talent to make it work.)

My initial response after seeing the show on Sunday (as I Tweeted) was “The best of times may not be right now, but You I Like is just what the doctor ordered.”

Tickets to watch You I Like are $24.99. If you think the show was only available on Sunday, January 10th, that was just a special opening night event featuring pre-show interviews with Bernadette Peters and David Hyde Pierce. Don’t delay. Any serious musical theatre fan will want to catch this show!

Photo: Jerry Herman (Courtesy PlayhouseLive)