Jerry Herman and Phyllis Newman to Be Honored at 2009 Tony Awards

Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist Jerry Herman, best known for his scores to shows such as Hello, Dolly! and La Cage aux Folles, has been named the winner of the 2009 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, the Broadway League and American Theatre Wing announced on May 4. The award, along with three additional non-competitive Tonys, will be presented at the 2009 Tony Awards on June 7.

Also recognized is Tony Award-winning actress and activist Phyllis Newman, named the 2009 recipient of the newly created Isabelle Stevenson Award, which honors an individual from the theater community who has made a substantial contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more charitable or humanitarian organizations. Additionally, the Regional Theatre Award will be given to the Signature Theatre of Arlington, Virginia, while longtime press agent Shirley Herz will receive the Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre.

Herman is the composer and lyricist of Milk and Honey, Hello, Dolly!, Mame, Dear World, Mack and Mabel, The Grand Tour, La Cage aux Folles and Jerry’s Girls. His numerous awards include 1964’s Tony for Best Musical and Best Composer and Lyricist Hello, Dolly!, 1984’s Tony Award for Best Original Score La Cage aux Folles, a Grammy Award for the Mame original cast album and the Johnny Mercer Award. He has been inducted into both the Songwriter and Theatre Halls of Fame.

Newman, who founded the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative of the Actors Fund of America in 1995, has raised more than $3.5 million dollars in the past 12 years to help serve 2,500 women in the entertainment industry. The actress, who won a Tony Award for her featured turn in 1962’s Subways Are for Sleeping, has appeared on Broadway nearly a dozen times in her long career, including in The Apple Tree, On the Town, The Prisoner of Second Avenue and Awake and Sing!

Herz has represented hundreds of Broadway and off-Broadway shows and performers in her 50-year career as a publicist, including Do Re Mi, Three Penny Opera, Jerry’s Girls, Legs Diamond, La Cage aux Folles, Gypsy, Pepter Pan and Fiddler on the Roof. She has also represented numerous theatrical organizations and dance companies.