NEW YORK – Sheldon Harnick, who with composer Jerry Bock formed the premier musical-theater songwriting duos of the 1950s and 1960s with productions including “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Fiorello!” and “The Apple Tree,” has died. He was 99.
Harnick, known for his sharp, nuanced humor and precise wordplay, died in his sleep Friday in New York City of natural causes, according to Harnick’s publicist, Sean Katz.
Broadway stars paid tribute to him on social media, with ‘Schmigadoon!’ writer Cinco Paul calling him ‘one of the all-time great musical theatre lyricists’ and actress Jackie Hoffman fondly commenting, ‘Like all brilliant persnickety lyricists he was a pain in the tuchus’.
Bock and Harnick’s first great breakthrough came with the music and lyrics to “Fiorello!,” which earned them Tony Awards and a rare Pulitzer Prize in 1960. In addition, Harnick received Tony nominations for “The Apple Tree” in 1967, “The Rothschilds” in 1971, and “Cyrano — The Musical” in 1994. Their masterwork, though, was “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Bock and Harnick met for the first time at a restaurant by actor Jack Cassidy during the opening-night performance of “Shangri-La,” a musical in which Harnick contributed lyrics. In 1958, “The Body Beautiful” was the first Harnick-Bock musical.
“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 said in a 2010 interview with The Associated Press. “Once we got past that, he was wonderful to work with.”
They would go on to forge one of the most powerful collaborations in Broadway history. Producers Robert E. Griffith and Hal Prince enjoyed the songs from “The Body Beautiful,” so they hired Bock and Harnick to write the score for their next show, “Fiorello!,” a musical about New York City’s reformist mayor.
Harnick, known for his sharp, nuanced humor and precise wordplay, died in his sleep Friday in New York City of natural causes.
Bock and Harnick then worked together on “Tenderloin” in 1960, followed by “She Loves Me” three years later. Neither was a smash, though “She Loves Me” won a Grammy for best score from a cast CD, but their next hit was a monster still played across the world: “Fiddler on the Roof.” In 1965, it won two Tony Awards.
“Fiddler on the Roof,” based on stories by Sholom Aleichem and translated into a libretto by Stein, dealt with the experience of Eastern European Orthodox Jews in the Russian hamlet of Anatevka in 1905. It starred Zero Mostel as Tevye, ran for over eight years and gave the world songs like “Sunrise, Sunset,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” and “Matchmaker, Matchmaker.” The most recent Broadway production starred Danny Burstein as Tevye and received a Tony nomination for outstanding revival.
Harnick’s lyrics were heartbreaking and honest in a masterwork of hilarity and tenderness, like 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?”
In 1966, Bock and Harnick wrote the book and the score for “The Apple Tree,” in 1970, they wrote the score for “The Rothschilds,” with a book by Sherman Yellen. It was their final collaboration: Bock thought it was time for him to be his lyricist, and he released two experimental albums in the early 1970s.
Harnick later worked with Michel Legrand on “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” in 1979 and a musical version of “A Christmas Carol” in 1981; Mary Rodgers on a version of “Pinocchio” in 1973; Arnold Black on a musical version of “The Phantom Tollbooth;” and Richard Rodgers on the score to “Rex” in 1976, a Broadway musical about Henry VIII.
He also composed lyrics for Marlo Thomas’ TV special “Free to Be… You and Me” song “William Wants a Doll” and several original opera librettos, including “Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines” and “Love in Two Countries.” He earned a Grammy for his libretto for “The Merry Widow,” which starred Beverly Sills.
Harnick, known for his sharp, nuanced humor and precise wordplay, died in his sleep Friday in New York City of natural causes.
From songs for the HBO animated film “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” with music by Stephen Lawrence in 1991 to lyrics for the opening number of the 1988 Academy Awards show, his work for television and film spanned from songs for the HBO animated film “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” with music by Stephen Lawrence. He wrote the theme songs for two films, “The Heartbreak Kid” in 1972 and “Blame it on Rio” in 1984, both with music by Cy Coleman.
The York Theatre Company recreated some of Harnick’s early works, including “Malpractice Makes Perfect,” “Dragons,” and “Tenderloin,” off-Broadway in 2014. “She Loves Me” was last seen on Broadway in a Tony-nominated revival 2016 starring Zachary Levi.
Harnick was born and raised in Chicago, and after serving in the army during WWII, he got a bachelor’s degree in music from Northwestern University School of Music. After studying the violin, he chose to try his luck as a songwriter in New York.
“The Ballad of the Shape of Things,” later recorded by the Kingston Trio, was one of his early compositions, as was the Cole Porter spoof “Boston Beguine,” from the revue “New Faces of 1952.”
His wife, artist Margery Grey Harnick, and he had two children, Beth and Matthew, and four grandkids. Harnick previously married actress Elaine May. He had been a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Songwriters Guild for many years.
SOURCE – (AP)
