Lyricist helped adapt ‘ Les Miz’
Herbert Kretzmer, 95, was instrumental in bringing Victor Hugo tale to the stage.
Herbert Kretzmer, the journalist and lyricist best known for his Englishlanguage adaptation of the musical “Les Misérables,” has died at his home in London.
His family confirmed Wednesday that Kretzmer died after a long illness with Parkinson’s disease at the home he shared with his second wife, Sybil Sever. He was 95.
Tributes poured in from giants of the London stage, including theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh, singer Elaine Paige and lyricist Tim Rice.
“Les Misérables” producer Mackintosh said Kretzmer was instrumental in bringing Victor Hugo’s classic tale of defiance and redemption in early 19th century France to the stage in English in October 1985, five years after it had opened in Paris.
“His wonderful words for ‘ Les Misérables’ will live on in his memory forever more,” Mackintosh said in a statement.
For Paige, he was a “masterful wordsmith” while Rice described Kretzmer a “great lyricist and man of theatre” and a “giant of his trade.”
Kretzmer, known as Herbie to his friends, was born in Kroonstad, a small town south of Johannesburg, South Africa, on Oct. 5, 1925. He was one of four sons of Jewish Lithuanian immigrants who ran a grocery shop and later a prosperous furniture store.
Though his childhood under the vast expanse of South African sky was “blissful,” he wanted by the
age of 11 to become a “newspaper man” — so he could get closer to his heroes on screen.
From Johannesburg, he moved to Paris in 1953, playing the piano by night in a bar in return for a meal. A year later, he moved to London and fulfilled his dream of being at the heart of the movie action, in an awardwinning journalistic career that included stints at the Daily Express and Daily Mail.
His catalog of interviews reads like a who’s who of 20th century entertainment, including Muhammad Ali, Judy Garland, Groucho Marx, David Niven and Frank Sinatra. Some interviewees, such as Peter Sellers and Terence Stamp, became close friends.
Though the expanded English version of “Les Misérables” had mixed reviews at the start, it would soon become one of the biggest successes of 20th century theater.
Kretzmer is survived by his wife; two children, Danielle and Matthew; and two grandchildren.