Photo Coverage: Guild Hall Honors Sheldon Harnick

by BWW News Desk Mar. 18, 2005

Guild Hall of East Hampton, the premier cultural institution of its kind on Long Island's East End, celebrated the 20th Anniversary of its prestigious Academy of the Arts Awards with a glittering fete for the leading lights of performing, visual and literary arts that was more a family affair than stodgy award show.

The 200 member Guild Hall Academy of the Arts - a veritable who's who in arts & letters chose to honor with Lifetime Achievement Awards composer/lyricist Sheldon Harnick for Performing Arts, novelist Louis Begley for Literary Arts, photographer/artist Cindy Sherman for Visual Arts and real estate developer and philanthropist Marshall Rose for Lifelong Patron of the Arts.

The gala not only paid tribute to this year's honorees but also to the over 60 artists who have been singled out over the past 19 years for sustained excellence in their field. Members of an extraordinary collective of talent on the East End, previous award recipients include such luminaries as Robert A. M. Stern, Chuck Close, Steven Spielberg, George Plimpton, Edward Albee, Lauren Bacall, Itzhak Perlman, Jerome Robbins, Sidney Lumet, Cy Coleman, Betty Friedan, Larry Rivers, Jane Freilicher, Kurt Vonnegut and Willem de Kooning.

The over 230 painters and playwrights, actors and authors, sculptors and storytellers and of course their patrons and fans transformed the Art Deco Rainbow Room into a glittering almost turn of the century salon for an evening to honor their neighbors from the vibrant artistic community in the Hamptons.

Under the dynamic leadership of gala Co-chairs Leila and Melville (Mickey) Straus, Chairman, Board of Trustees Guild Hall, Pamela and Edward Pantzer, Peggy and Henry Schleiff, Claude and Bruce Wasserstein, as well as, Roy Furman, President of the Academy of the Arts and, Ruth Appelhof, Guild Hall Executive Director, the gathering was a festive celebration of world-class artistic talent.

One of Guild Hall's and ABC TV The View's favorite funny ladies, six-time MAC Award winner and comedian Angela LaGreca, kept the evening moving at a fast and funny pace.

Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Marsha Norman presented to Sheldon Harnick, 60 Minutes creator Don Hewitt (Lifetime Achievement Honoree. 2002) presented to his old pal, Marshall Rose; internationally acclaimed artist Robert Longo to best friend Cindy Sherman and Knopf Publishing senior editor George Andreou to his star author Louis Begley.

Broadway producer Roy Furman, President of the Academy of the Arts, commenting on the rich artistic heritage of the community noted "For the past two decades the Academy has recognized world-class talent in the performing, visual and literary arts and all of this talent hails from our own backyard".

Photos by Barry Gordin