BWW Exclusive Day 2: Preview of Margery & Sheldon Harnick's OUTDOOR MUSEUM- Questions

The Outdoor Museum (not your usual images of New York) is a book of photographs and verse created as a tribute to the iconic city of New York. Presenting it as its own exhibit, the book includes more than 100 stunning images, 11 sage and witty poems (read by Sheldon Harnick on an accompanying CD), and a reverential foreword by renowned director, Mike Nichols.

BroadwayWorld brings you a preview of one of the pieces from the book below, entitled 'Questions.'

As museum enthusiasts, the Harnicks began to construct their own virtual museum while regularly walking the city streets. Looking past the landmarks and cultural icons, they came upon more fascinating and less regarded urban marvels—puddle reflections, subway tiles, sleeping swans, fireworks, public sculpture, store mannequins, and so much more that can be enjoyed without a ticket or a reservation. Margery snapped pictures and Sheldon scribbled verses on a pad. Together, this influential couple brought their abundant talents to The Outdoor Museum as homage to New York. The Outdoor Museum is a singular trophy by two New Yorkers who have contributed to and been deeply touched by the city’s magic.

Margery Gray Harnick and her husband Sheldon Harnick have been fixtures in the New York theater scene for decades—she as an actress-singer-dancer, he as a lyricist for such smash-hit musicals like Fiddler on the Roof. More recently, the couple have turned their eye on the less-documented corners of their beloved metropolis. The result is The Outdoor Museum: Not Your Usual Images of New York (Beaufort Books, $29.95; ISBN 978-0-8253-0675-4), which brings together Margery’s artist’s-eye-view of the city and Sheldon’s knack for narrative verse to produce a uniquely sublime souvenir. To purchase the book, click here.

 QUESTIONS
 

Who are they…
these castoff men and women…
these silent shapes
sleeping on sidewalks…
in doorways…
anywhere and everywhere?
Who are they?
Where did they come from?
Did they have a childhood?
Did they show their first crude drawings
to their proud, smiling parents?
Did they have skates? A bike?
A pencil box?
A best friend?
Were they in the high-school band?
The school play?
Did they have a college sweetheart?
A husband, a wife,
a partner?
Children?
Did they have a home?
An apartment?
A furnished room?
A bed, a desk,
a closet?
A telephone number?
Did they have a job?
A bank account?
Dreams?
What happened?
Did they fall through a hole in life?When did they became castaways?
Human snails?
Debris?
Could this happen to me?
Who are they?