Sheldon Harnick & Margery Gray Harnick Release 'The Outdoor Museum'; Related Events Announced Thru 7/10

The Outdoor Museum (not your usual images of New York) is a book of photographs and verse created as a tribute to the iconic city of New York.

Presenting it as its own exhibit, the book includes more than 100 stunning images, 11 poems (read by Sheldon Harnick on an accompanying CD), and a reverential foreword by director, Mike Nichols.

As museum enthusiasts, the Harnicks began to construct their own virtual museum while regularly walking the city streets. Looking past the landmarks and cultural icons, they came upon more fascinating and less regarded urban marvels—puddle reflections, subway tiles, sleeping swans, fireworks, public sculpture, store mannequins, and so much more that can be enjoyed without a ticket or a reservation. Margery snapped pictures and Sheldon scribbled verses on a pad. Together, this couple brought their talents to The Outdoor Museum as homage to New York.

The Outdoor Museum is a singular trophy by two New Yorkers who have contributed to and been deeply touched by the city’s magic.

"The Outdoor Museum is an irresistible game of show and tell between hard covers. In her acute, off-beat glimpses of the New York cityscape, Margery Gray Harnick’s photographs do the showing. The telling is done by her husband, Sheldon Harnick, one of Broadway’s great lyricists, whose playful vivid poems put the images in equally wry and illuminating counterpoint. Together, this play of light and shadow, form and space conjures Manhattan—like the song says—into an isle of joy." —John Lahr (Senior Drama Critic, The New Yorker)

Sheldon Harnick is an acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway lyricist for such beloved musicals as Fiorello!, Fiddler on the Roof, and She Loves Me. Margery Gray Harnick is an accomplished actress, painter, and photographer who has been exhibited in New York City and East Hampton.

The Outdoor Museum (not your usual images of New York)

By Sheldon Harnick and Margery Gray Harnick

Foreword by Mike Nichols

May, 2012

128 pp; 9x12 hardcover; $29.95

Beaufort Books (www.beaufortbooks.com)

Scheduled Events

April 30, 2012 – The Museum of the City of New York celebrates the book’s publication on this day, Sheldon Harnick’s birthday. He will read from the book accompanied by projections of Margery’s photographs.

May 5, 2012 – An exhibition drawn from The Outdoor Museum will run at Guild Hall in East Hampton, NY, with a signing from 4:00–6:00PM.

May 15, 2012 – Rizzoli book signing, reception, and celebration on Mezzanine Level, 5:30–7:00PM

June 20, 2012 – A book signing, slideshow, read-aloud, and reception at the Arsenal at Central Park as part of their Uncommon Ground Lecture Series, 5:30–7:00PM

July 10, 2012 – Sheldon and Margery will be presenting the images and verse in an invitation-only event in the art gallery for the Lyrics and Lyricists program at the 92nd Street Y, starting at 7:30PM