If I Were a Rich Man, Little Tin Box, Til Tomorrow, She Loves Me, Will He Like Me and Sunrise, Sunset are just a few of the tunes that will be brought to life next Monday -- May 16, 2011-- at New Yorks legendary National Arts Club as The Theatre Museum pays tribute to legendary Broadway lyricist Sheldon Harnick -- the Museums 2011 Career Achievement Award recipient.
I have known and loved Sheldon and his work since the late 50's and am thrilled, beyond words, at this opportunity to celebrate his magnificently witty and singularly moving lyrical gifts," says film, television and Broadway veteran
Tony Walton, who is directing the evenings musical gala with an assist by musical director
Mary-Mitchell Campbell.
Harnick, whose career spans six decades and features numerous honors including three Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, is best known for his collaboration with composer
Jerry Bock. Bocks passing last November weighed on Waltons mind as he began creating the Museums tribute.
The recent memorial for
Jerry Bock featured many highlights of the long and remarkable Bock/Harnick collaboration, continues Walton. Many in our audience - for the Museum's honoring of Sheldon - are likely to have been at that memorial, and so our challenge has been to find a way of presenting songs of Sheldon's that were either not featured at that memorial or will focus more on the extraordinarily variegated brilliance of Sheldon's lyrics - no matter with whom he is collaborating.
Harnicks lyrics will be celebrated by an array of top Broadway talent including
Jim Brochu,
Gregg Edelman,
Tovah Feldshuh,
Jenny Fellner,
Anita Gillette, Jessica Grove,
Elizabeth Inghram and
Howard McGillin. Master of Ceremonies duties will be deftly handled by
John Bolton, best known to Broadway audiences for Curtains and Monty Pythons Spamalot.
And in what certainly will be an evening highlight, after receiving the award from longtime colleague
Hal Prince, Harnick will take to the stage and perform In My Own Lifetime from The Rothchilds.
The nights other honorees include Tony Award winning producer
Bonnie Comley, wholl be presented The Theatre Museums Service to the Theatre Award,
Frank Cullen and Donald McNeilly, who are receiving The Theatre History Preservation Award, and The
Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, which is being honored with The Theatre Museums Theatre Arts Education Award.
The Theatre Museums 2011 Awards Gala will kick off at 6:00 pm with a cocktail reception featuring a silent auction hosted by Judith Ripka. The Awards Presentation will begin at 7:00 pm, culminating in a sponsors toast to the honorees at 8:30 pm.
Tickets opportunities are available through The Theatre Museum website, by calling the office (212 764-4112), or by emailing awards@thetheatremuseum.org.
