Harnick at 91

There was a wonderful article the other day in the New York Times about lyricist Sheldon Harnick, written by
Michael Paulson. You can read it here.

The focus of the article is how active he is at age 91, working on five different shows, including a new Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof, following its 50th anniversary.

I knew he’d been doing a lot of rewriting on earlier shows and writing new things, but I’m intrigued about the new version of the Rothschilds that is being done, a show whose score I quite like.  It's apparently being trimmed down significantly with him writing some new material and retitled, Rothschild and Sons.  My guess is that they're focusing more on the family's growth in the Jewish ghetto rather than as much of what happened when the boys were sent out to the world to deal with kings and ministers.  I also hope that they can pull off a good production of the show he wrote with Joe Raposo (of Sesame Street) titled A Wonderful Life, based on the Jimmy Stewart film. (I posted a song from it here.)
 
When the article mentions that Harnick is finally doing a recording of Dragons, that holds the most-dear thoughts from me.  My mother actually saw the first workshop production of that done at Northwestern probably 40 years ago.  In fact, I have a program for it that she got Sheldon Harnnick to sign to me (he was at all of the performances).
 
I’ve mentioned here, I believe, that he and my Aunt Joan grew up together and also went to Northwestern.  A famous family story is that when Harnick made the decision to give up the violin and go to New York, my aunt’s mother asked him, “Sheldon, do you really think there’s a career for writing lyrics in New York??” 

(The article also discusses his friendship with the actress Charlotte Rae, who he met at Northwestern and had a strong impact on him going to New York.  I finally had occasion to run into Charlotte Rae a few years ago and mentioned not only Harnick, but my aunt to her – they were in the same sorority -- with the actress Cloris Leachman, as well.  And also Jo Baskin...the mother the oft-mentioned here Nell Minow.  the later wife of FCC Chairman Newton Minow.  That's quite a fine sorority.  A lot of that group stayed in touch, in fact they’d seen each other maybe a decade earlier, so Charlotte Rae well-remembered my aunt.)

The article also includes nice little minute-and-a-half video that includes some of the interview with Harnick and also rehearsals from the new production of ​Fiddler on the Roof.

As a bonus, here's a short video about the aforementioned new version of The Rothschilds, which is now called Rothschild & Sons.  It includes interviews with the two surviving creators, Sheldon Harnick and librettist Sherman Yellin, along with several of the actors and the director, and a few clips of musical numbers.