Remembering lyricist Herbert Kretzmer
Photo credit: Dave M Benett/WireImage
The theatre community are today mourning the loss of journalist and lyricist Herbert Kretzmer. It was confirmed earlier today that he had died at the age of 95 by family and friends.
Kretzmer was born in South Africa in 1925, beginning his career in journalism writing the commentary for a weekly cinema newsreel. He moved to London back in the 1950s and pursued twin careers as a journalist and a lyricist. He wrote for the Daily Express for 18 years where he became their senior drama critic. Between 1979-87, he wrote television criticism for the Daily Mail where he obtained two national press awards.
As a lyricist, he wrote weekly songs for the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) groundbreaking satire programme, That Was The Week That Was. In this role, he wrote many songs and won several prestigious awards; including the Ivor Novello Award for the Peter Sellers - Sophia Loren comedy song, Goodness Gracious Me. He went on to write the book and lyrics for the West End musical, Our Man Crichton, and the lyrics for The Four Musketeers, which had a run at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane for over a year.
Kretzmer is best known for his English language version of the Boubil-Schonberg musical, Les Miserables. His iconic lyrics formed the official version of the show and have been translated into over 22 languages for performances during the last 28 years and counting that its been on the stage. Kretzmer received Tony and Grammy awards for his contributions to the musical. He was later nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe for 2012 tune "Suddenly", added into the Les Miserables film.
More recently, Kretzmer worked on musicals such as Marguerite , which was nominated for an Evening Standard Award, as well as Kristina, which was seen at Carnegie Hall in 2009.
The theatre community has been flooding in with their tributes to Kretzmer including one from Les Miserables producer, Cameron Mackintosh. "It is terribly sad to hear that the great Herbert Kretzmer passed away last night after a period of illness. His wonderful words for Les Misérables will live on in his memory forever more and the Christmas season at the Sondheim will be all the more poignant for all of us as we hear the people sing without having him there. God bless you, Herbie."
Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg said: "Thanks to him, Les Misérables found its English voice - Herbie embraced our original version and turned it into a work that speaks to the rest of the world. On his 90th birthday, he stood on the stage of the Queen's Theatre, by then already frail, to receive a standing ovation! There is no doubt that we, along with the public, will continue to clap for him again and again, thankful for his talent. Herbie may no longer be present, but he will always be here with us as there is more than a little bit of Jean Valjean in him."
The West End Best Friend team send their condolences to Kretzmer’s friends and family at this difficult time.
