Saluting Jerry Herman’s Hummable Best

Years ago, someone spray-painted “Jesus Saves From Hell” on a wall near the Los Angeles Music Center, which another wag came along and amended to “Jesus Saves From ‘Hello, Dolly!’ Revivals.”

While those words--long since gone--used to amuse the neighborhood’s theater crowd, they also served to underscore that Jerry Herman, the composer of “Hello, Dolly!,” hasn’t always received the respect he deserves.

He did, however, receive it Saturday night, when a well-heeled audience packed Cal State L.A.’s Luckman Complex to hear his songs sung by a starry lineup that included his three most famous leading ladies: Carol Channing (“Dolly”), Angela Lansbury (“Mame”) and Bernadette Peters (“Mack & Mabel”). The tribute, “Tap Your Troubles Away: The Words and Music of Jerry Herman,” benefited the Actors’ Fund of America.

When Herman gets put down, it’s often for his insistence on writing jaunty, compulsively hummable tunes. But while such songs tend to be the standouts of his big hits--”Dolly,” “Mame” and “La Cage aux Folles”--he is equally capable of dry wit and psychological complexity. If such songs are lesser known, it’s because some of the best of them were written for ambitious shows that flopped: “Dear World,” “Mack & Mabel” and “The Grand Tour.”

Saturday’s three-hour show--staged by David Galligan, with musical direction by Ron Abel--climaxed with three songs that displayed Herman’s range.

Mourning a lost love that refuses to diminish with time, Peters began “Time Heals Everything,” from “Mack & Mabel,” with a weary ache that gradually intensified to full-on heartbreak.

Next up, Lansbury struck a playful note by announcing, “I’ve always wanted to do this,” then launching into the title song not from “Mame” but “Dolly.” After a verse, Channing’s distinctive voice rang out from backstage: “Somebody’s singing my song!” To prove that two could play that game, she appropriated “Mame.”

Their work capped a lineup of 31 numbers, featuring such standouts as: Leslie Uggams infusing blues into the torchy sentiments of “If He Walked Into My Life,” from “Mame”; Rita Moreno turning “I Won’t Send Roses,” from “Mack & Mabel,” into a bittersweet memory song; Lee Roy Reams, in tuxedo and red feather boa, dropping delicious impressions of Mae West and others into the title song from “La Cage aux Folles”; and Tyne Daly conjuring a French accent to deliver the haunting “And I Was Beautiful,” from the Paris-set “Dear World.”

But the most genuine performance was Herman’s own, as he played piano and sang “I’ll Be Here Tomorrow,” from “Grand Tour.” The words took on added relevance post-Sept. 11: “After the dark comes the dawn./After the night comes the day.... We’ll be here tomorrow,/Alive and well and thriving.”