Bock and Harnick Receive Hammerstein Award Nov. 23; Cook, Kuhn, Kudisch and More Will Sing

By Adam Hetrick
23 Nov 2009

Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway songwriters Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick are presented with the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre Nov. 23.

The York Theatre Company celebrates the songwriting team on the 50th anniversary of the opening night of their Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Fiorello!

Alice Hammerstein Mathias presents the honor at The Racquet & Tennis Club.

Tony Award winner Tom Bosley, who originated the title role of Bock and Harnick's Fiorello! on Broadway, leads a lineup of artists saluting the duo. Expected are Tony Award-winning She Loves Me star Barbara Cook, Jason Graae (A Grand Night for Singing), Marc Kudisch (2006 revival of The Apple Tree, 9 to 5), Judy Kuhn (1993 She Loves Me revival, Chess), Christine Pedi (Forbidden Broadway), Howard McGillin (Phantom of the Opera), Josh Grisetti (Broadway Bound, Enter Laughing), Emily Skinner (Side Show, Full Monty), Laura Marie Duncan (The Body Beautiful), Stephen Mo Hanan (Cats) and the Honeybees of the Savannah College of Art & Design.

Bock and Harnick are best known for writing the score to the hit 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof, which earned 10 Tony Awards and an Oscar for the 1971 film. Their work also includes The Body Beautiful (1956), the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fiorello! (1959), as well as Tenderloin (1960), She Loves Me (1963), The Apple Tree (1966) and The Rothschilds (1970).

The evening begins with cocktails at 5:30 PM, followed by the concert and awards ceremony at 8 PM. For tickets phone (212) 935-5824 ext. 15, or visit YorkTheatre.

The Racquet & Tennis Club is located at 370 Park Avenue, between 52 & 53 Streets.