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Tony- and Grammy Award-winning lyricist Sheldon Harnick, who with composer Jerry Bock made up the premier musical-theater songwriting duos of the 1950s and 1960s with shows such as Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello! and The Apple Tree, has died. He was 99.
Known for his wry, subtle humor and deft wordplay, Harnick died in his sleep Friday (June 23) in New York City of natural causes, said Sean Katz, Harnick’s publicist.
Broadway artists paid their respects on social media, with Schmigadoon! writer Cinco Paul calling him “one of the all-time great musical theater lyricists” and actor Jackie Hoffman lovingly writing: “Like all brilliant persnickety lyricists he was a pain in the tuchus.”
Bock and Harnick first hit success for the music and lyrics to Fiorello!, which earned them each Tonys and a rare Pulitzer Prize in 1960. In addition, Harnick was nominated for Tonys in 1967 for The Apple Tree, in 1971 for The Rothschilds and in 1994 for Cyrano — The Musical. But their masterpiece was Fiddler on the Roof.
Bock and Harnick were first introduced at a restaurant by actor Jack Cassidy after the opening-night performance of Shangri-La, a musical in which Harnick had helped with the lyrics. The first Harnick-Bock musical was The Body Beautiful in 1958.
“I think in all of the years that we worked together, I only remember one or two arguments — and those were at the beginning of the collaboration when we were still feeling each other out,” Harnick, who collaborated with Bock for 13 years, recalled in an interview with The Associated Press in 2010. “Once we got past that, he was wonderful to work with.”
They would form one of the most influential partnerships in Broadway history. Producers Robert E. Griffith and Hal Prince had liked the songs from The Body Beautiful, and they contracted Bock and Harnick to write the score for their next production, Fiorello!, a musical about the reformist mayor of New York City.
Bock and Harnick then collaborated on Tenderloin in 1960 and She Loves Me three years later. Neither was a hit — although She Loves Me won a Grammy for best score from a cast album — but their next one was a monster that continues to be performed worldwide: Fiddler on the Roof. It earned two Tony Awards in 1965.
Based on stories by Sholom Aleichem that were adapted into a libretto by Stein, Fiddler dealt with the experience of Eastern European Orthodox Jews in the Russian village of Anatevka in the year 1905. It starred Zero Mostel as Teyve, had an almost eight year run and offered the world such stunning songs as “Sunrise, Sunset,” “If I Were a Rich Man” and “Matchmaker, Matchmaker.” The most recent Broadway revival starred Danny Burstein as Tevye and earned a best revival Tony nomination.
In a masterpiece of laughter and tenderness, Harnick’s lyrics were poignant and honest, as when the hero Tevye sings, “Lord who made the lion and the lamb/ You decreed I should be what I am/ Would it spoil some vast eternal plan/If I were a wealthy man?”
Harvey Fierstein, who played Tevye in a Broadway revival starting in 2004 said in a statement that Harnick’s “lyrics were clear and purposeful and never lapsed into cliche. You’d never catch him relying on easy rhymes or ‘lists’ to fill a musical phrase. He always sought and told the truth for the character and so made acting his songs a joy.”
Bock and Harnick next wrote the book as well as the score for The Apple Tree, in 1966, and the score for The Rothschilds, with a book by Sherman Yellen, in 1970. It was the last collaboration between the two: Bock decided that the time had come for him to be his own lyricist and he put out two experimental albums in the early 1970s.
Harnick went on to collaborate with Michel Legrand on The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in 1979 and a musical of A Christmas Carol in 1981; Mary Rodgers on a version of Pinocchio in 1973; Arnold Black on a musical of The Phantom Tollbooth; and Richard Rodgers on the score to Rex in 1976, a Broadway musical about Henry VIII.
He also wrote lyrics for the song “William Wants a Doll” for Marlo Thomas’ TV special Free to Be… You and Me and several original opera librettos, including Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines and Love in Two Countries. He won a Grammy for writing the libretto for The Merry Widow featuring Beverly Sills.
His work for television and film ranged from songs for the HBO animated film The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1991 with music by Stephen Lawrence, to lyrics for the opening number of the 1988 Academy Awards telecast. He wrote the theme songs for two films, both with music by Cy Coleman: The Heartbreak Kid in 1972 and Blame it On Rio in 1984.
In 2014, off-Broadway’s The York Theatre Company revived some of Harnick’s early works, including Malpractice Makes Perfect, Dragons and Tenderloin. She Loves Me was last revived on Broadway in 2016 in a Tony-nominated show starring Zachary Levi.
Harnick was born and raised in Chicago and earned a bachelor’s degree in music from the Northwestern University School of Music after serving in the army during World War II. Trained in the violin, he decided to try his luck as a songwriter in New York.
His early songs included “The Ballad of the Shape of Things,” later recorded by the Kingston Trio, and the Cole Porter spoof, “Boston Beguine,” from the revue New Faces of 1952.
He and his wife, artist Margery Gray Harnick, had two children, Beth and Matthew, and four grandchildren. Harnick had an earlier marriage to actress Elaine May. He was a longtime member of the Dramatists Guild and Songwriters Guild.
Kristin Chenoweth, who starred in a 2006 revival of The Apple Tree, on Twitter called it “one of my favorite professional experiences of my career,” adding about Harnick: “I loved his musings. His writings. His soul.”
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The 2023 Tony Awards will feature several musical numbers in addition to performances from all of the nominees for best musical and best revival of a musical – long a Tony tradition.
The Neil Diamond musical A Beautiful Noise didn’t receive a single nomination, but will still get a featured slot on the show. Will Swenson stars in the jukebox musical built around the hits of the durable star. The 2022 revival of Funny Girl fared just a little better with Tony voters – it received one nomination for Jared Grimes as best featured actor in a musical. Lea Michele replaced Beanie Feldstein, the original star of the revival, but, as a replacement, Michele wasn’t eligible for a Tony nomination. That show will also be featured on this year’s show (which it wasn’t last year).
In addition, the show will feature a performance by Joaquina Kalukango, last year’s Tony winner for best performance by a leading actress in a musical for Paradise Square. The performance of two songs from the score, “Paradise Square” and “Let It Burn,” was a highlight of last year’s show. Even so, an encore booking is highly unusual.
The show will also feature special performances to honor Joel Grey and John Kander, 2023 recipients of special Tony awards for lifetime achievement in the theatre.
The 76th Annual Tony Awards will of course feature performances from the casts of the five Tony nominees for best musical (& Juliet, Kimberly Akimbo, New York, New York, Shucked and Some Like It Hot) and the four nominees for best revival of a musical (Camelot, Into the Woods, Parade and Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street).
The 76th Annual Tony Awards, hosted by Oscar winner and Tony nominee Ariana DeBose, will air live from the historic United Palace in New York City’s Washington Heights, Sunday, June 11 from 8:00-11:00 p.m. ET/5:00-8:00 p.m. PT on the CBS Television Network, and streaming live and on demand on Paramount+.
Julianne Hough and Skylar Astin will co-host The Tony Awards: Act One, a live pre-show on Pluto TV from 6:30-8:00 p.m. ET/3:30-5:00 p.m. PT. Viewers can access The Tony Awards: Act One on their smart TV, streaming device, mobile app or online by going to Pluto TV and clicking on the “Pluto TV Celebrity” channel (no payment, registration or sign-in required).
The Tony Awards is produced in collaboration with Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, and White Cherry Entertainment. Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss are executive producers for White Cherry Entertainment. Weiss will serve as director.
The Tony Awards has been broadcast nationally since 1967 and has been on CBS since 1978.
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Fifty-six years after they each won Tony Awards for the Broadway smash Cabaret, actor Joel Grey and composer John Kander will receive 2023 Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. The awards will be presented at the 76th Annual Tony Awards, which will air live on Sunday, June 11.
The award may soften the disappointment Kander may have felt on Tuesday, May 2, when his score for New York, New York, on which he teamed with Lin-Manuel Miranda, was passed over for a Tony nomination for best original score.
Grey won featured actor in a musical for his role as the Emcee in Cabaret at the 21st annual Tony Awards on March 26, 1967. (It was the first Tony ceremony to be nationally televised). Kander and his late collaborator, lyricist Fred Ebb, won two Tonys on the night, for best musical and best original musical score.
Kander and Ebb went on to win two additional Tonys for best original score for Woman of the Year and Kiss of the Spider Woman: The Musical.
They also shared a Grammy for the Cabaret cast album and two Emmys, for Singer Presents Liza With a Z (1973) and Liza Minnelli Live From Radio City Music Hall (1993), both starring Liza Minnelli, the star of Cabaret. (Kander and Ebb would have become EGOT winners had they also earned an Oscar.) They were nominated for best original song twice, for “How Lucky Can You Get” from Funny Lady (1975) and “I Move On” from the screen adaptation of Chicago (2002).
Ebb, who died in 2004, did not receive a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, nor has Minnelli, though the star did receive a special Tony in 1974 “for adding lustre to the Broadway season.”
Kander and Ebb also received two Grammy nominations for song of the year, for “My Coloring Book” (1962) and “Theme From New York, New York” (1980). Minnelli introduced the latter song in the 1977 film of the same name, but it didn’t become a standard until Frank Sinatra covered it in 1980.
In addition to his Tony for Cabaret, Grey won an Oscar for reprising the role in the 1972 film adaptation. He is one of only nine actors in history to win a Tony and an Oscar for the same role. He has also received Grammy and Primetime Emmy nominations, for Anything Goes and Brooklyn Bridge, respectively.
“Mr. Grey and Mr. Kander are true giants of the theatre, and we are honored to say ‘Wilkommen’ as the recipients of the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Awards,” Heather Hitchens, president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing, said in a statement.
“We are immensely thrilled to honor two legends in their own rights,” added Charlotte St. Martin, president of The Broadway League.
Hosted by Ariana DeBose, the 76th Annual Tony Awards will air live on Sunday, June 11, from the historic United Palace in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City from 8 to 11 p.m. ET/ 5 to 8 p.m. PT on CBS. The show will also stream live and on demand on Paramount+.