Book by JOSEPH STEIN
Music by JERRY BOCK
Lyrics by SHELDON HARNICK
JOSEPH STEIN (b.1912)
Joseph Stein won the Tony Award and the Drama Critics' Circle Award for Fiddler on the Roof. His other musicals include Zorba (Tony nomination, Drama Critics' Circle Award; Rags (Tony nomination); The Baker's Wife (Laurence Olivier Award, London); Juno; Take Me Along; Irene (starring Debbie Reynolds); The King of Hearts; and So Long, 174th Street. He also co-authored, with Alan Jay Lerner, the musical Carmelina, and with Will Glickman, Mr. Wonderful (starring Sammy Davis Jr.) and Plain and Fancy. His plays are Enter Laughing, Before the Dawn and Mrs. Gibbons' Boys. Mr. Stein began his career in television and radio, writing for the Sid Caesar Show, Your Show of Shows, The Henry Morgan Show, and many others, and for personalities including Tallulah Bankhead, Phil Silvers, Jackie Gleason, and Zero Mostel. He wrote the screenplays of Enter Laughing and Fiddler on the Roof, for which he won the Screen Writers; Guidl Award. He is currently working on All About Us, a musical version of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth. He is a member of the Dramatists' Guild Council and is married to Elisa Stein, a psychotherapist.
- - - - - - - - -
JERRY BOCK (b.1928)
Jerry Bock as born in New Haven, in 1928. He wrote the score for a high school musical Big as Life, 1948; songs for TV show Admiral Broadway Revue, also Show of Shows, 1949-51; composed songs, Camp Tamiment, summers 1950, 51, 52, writer: continuity sketches Mel Torme Show, CBS, 1951, 52; writing staff: Katie Smith Hour, 1953-54; writer: original songs for night club performers; including night club revue Confetti; wrote: songs for Wonders of Manhattan (honourable mention Cannes Film Festival 1956); composer: music for Broadway show Catch a Star, 1955, Mr. Wonderful, 1956; collaborated with Sheldon Harnick on The Body Beautiful, 1958, Fiorello!, 1959 (Pullitzer prize, Drama Critics' award, Antionette Perry award), Tenderloin 1960, She Loves Me, 1963, Fiddler on the Roof, 1964. The Apple Tree, 1966, The Rothschilds, 1972, London production of She Loves Me, 1964, off-Broadway 1982; Fiddler on the Roof, 1964 (nine Tonys - best musical of the year). London production of Fiddler on the Roof, 1964 (Tony award), Warsaw production , 1985, Fiorello!, Goodspeed Opera House, summer 1985; wrote series of children's songs now published under title Sing Somthing Special; also recorded album, N.Y. Board of Education, radio broadcasts, 1961. Recipient Johnny Mercer award Songwriters' Hall of Fame, 1990; named to Theatre Hall of Fame, 1990. Member Broadcast Music Inc. 1989-1990 - Silver Anniversary production of Fiddler on the Roof - national tour ending in New York revival; 1989 - Jerome Robbins' Broadway; 1990 - The Rothschilds revival. Member of an endowment group at the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Member of the advisory panel for the BMI Foundation. Composed the score for the film, A Stranger Among Us, wrote words and music for The Magic Journey, Danny and the Dragon, Brandon Finds His Star, Pinocchio and Land of Broken Toys for the Children's Theatre Festival, University of Houston, 2000-2003.
- - - - - - - - -
SHELDON HARNICK (b.1924)
Sheldon Harncik was born in Chicago. Whilst at school, he began to write parodies, sketches and some original songs with collaborator Stanley Orzey. In the army, while stationed at Robins Field, Georgia, he worked as a performer and wrote songs for shows put on by the volunteer Special Service Group. He went to New York in 1950 to be a theatrical songwriter. His first song in a Broadway show was 'The Boston Beguine' in New Faces of 1952. In the next few years he contributed songs to revues (with music either by himself, David Baker or Lloyd B. Norlin); Two's Company, John Murray Anderson's Almanac, The Shoestring Revue, Shoestring '57, Kaleidoscope, The Littlest Revue, Vintage '60 and had songs in several cabaret shows. He wrote the lyrics for his first book show, Horatio (book by Ira Wallach, music by David Baker), which was produced at Margo Jones' Theatre, Dallas, and then Off-Broadway, under the title Smiling the Boy Fell Dead. He met Jerry Bock in 1956, with whom he wrote: The Body Beautiful, Fiorello, Tenderloin, Man in the Moon, She Loves Me, To Broadway with Love, Fiddler on the Roof, Baker Street, The Apple Tree, The Canterville Ghost and The Rothschilds, with Mary Rodgers: Pinocchio, the song 'William's Doll' for the TV special Free to Be You and Me, with Michael Legrand: A Song for a King (unproduced film), A Christmas Carol, Aaron's Magic Village (an animated film); with Joe Raposo: theme for television series We'll Get By, Alice in Wonderland, Sutter's Gold, a Cantana, A Wonderful Life, a musical based on the film It's A Wonderful Life. Operas include: with Jack Beeson: Captain Jinks of the House Marines, Dr. Heidegger's Foundation of Youth, Cyrano; with Thomas Z. Shepard: Love in Two Countries, comprising two one-act operas - That Pig of a Molette and A Question of Faith; with Henry Mollicone: Coyote Tales; without a collaborator: Frustration, a 'mini-opera' in one brief act, which was one of several short comedic operas included in a presentation called Fantasies Take Flight. He has written miscellaneous film and television songs: theme (music and lyrics) for Dumont Cavalcade of Stars, a weekly TV variety show starring Jackie Gleason; theme for the films The Heartbreak Kid and Blame it on Rio - both with mucis by Cy Coleman; theme for TV film, Marriage is Alive and Well, music by Fred Karlin; theme for Northwestern University TV special The Way They Were, music by Larry Grossman; new lyrics for Sousa's The Stars and Stripes Forever for the Norman Lear TV special I Love Liberty; adapted opening number from A Chorus Line for use in the 1988 Academy Award telecast; songs for the HBO animated film The Tale of Peter Rabbit, music by Stephen Lawrence. Miscellaneous musicals include: Rex, music by Richard Rodgers; The Phantom Tollbooth, music by Arnold Black, book by Norton Juster and Sheldon Harnick; Dragons for which he wrote the book, lyrics and music; Good Company (Songs That Made It From Shows That Didn't). Mr. Harnick is a member of The Dramatists' Guild and the Songwriters Guild of America.
- - - - - - - - -
