Jerry Bock

Golden age composer

● Won a Pulitzer prize for drama with Sheldon Harnick for ‘Fiorello’ in 1959

● Won a tony award for best composer and lyricist with Sheldon Harnick for ‘fiddler on
the roof’ in 1964

Broadway debut in 1955 when he contributed songs to ‘Catch a Star’

Shows include:
● Fiorello! 1959

● Tenderloin 1960

● Man in the moon 1963

● She loves me 1963

● Fiddler on the roof 1964

● The apple tree 1966

● The Rothschilds 1970

● Never too late 1962

● Baker street 1965

● Her first roman 1968

● The madwoman of central park west 1979

Jerry Bock was the master of what Lehman Engel called the “musical costume.” He could
dress up a song in any style, from the nineteenth-century parlor song (for Tenderloin) to the
jazz shouter (in The Apple Tree). He would immerse himself in the style and culture of the
story he was helping to tell and then transport the audience there with musical references
and flavourings.
There was, in other words, no single Jerry Bock “style.” His style was simply an acute
sensitivity to the dramatic requirements of the project at hand.
He was also one of the last to extend the traditions of Rodgers and Hammerstein on the
Broadway stage.

Some examples of repertoire songs for women:

‘Will he like me’ – she loves me
‘Dear Friend’ – she loves me
‘Vanilla ice cream’ – she loves me
‘Tommy, Tommy’ – Tenderloin
‘my gentle young Johnny’ – tenderloin
‘Far from the home I love’ – fiddler on the roof
Any of Eve’s songs – the apple tree