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Date Posted: 06/23/23 10:36:16am
In reply to:
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's message, "Sheldon Harnick, ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ Lyricist" on 06/23/23 9:42:00am
A Little Same-Sex Shtetl In a New 'Sunrise, Sunset'
By ERIK PIEPENBURG
Published: October 6, 2011
The Chicken Dance. The Electric Slide. And another of the songs Most Likely to Be Played at a Wedding, at least for theater fans, is ''Sunrise, Sunset,'' a ballad from the 1964 musical ''Fiddler on the Roof.'' Sung by Tevye and Golde during their daughter Tzeitel's wedding to the tailor Motel, the song is a melancholy look back at how time flies.
But New York in 2011 is not a Russian shtetl. What if your boy is marrying a boy, or your girl is marrying a girl? Last Saturday, gay-friendly lyrics to ''Sunrise, Sunset,'' written by Sheldon Harnick, the ''Fiddler on the Roof'' lyricist, were sung at the nuptials of Richard Skipper and Daniel Sherman, in Tappan, N.Y. The actress Jana Robbins performed the number at the couple's wedding party. (Mr. Skipper and Mr. Sherman were officially married in July; Saturday's event was a reaffirmation of their vows for a larger group of family and friends.)
Mr. Harnick wrote two new versions of the song, one for gay men and one for lesbians, trading boy for girl and he for she:
Is this the little boy I carried?
Is that the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older.
When did they?
When did they get to be so handsome?
When did they grow to be this tall?
Wasn't it yesterday when they were small?
''I've already had some very touching e-mails from gay guys,'' Mr. Harnick said in an interview on Monday. ''I was very surprised at how emotional they were. I got an e-mail from a friend saying: 'Thank you. Now I know what I want sung at my wedding to my partner.' ''
The Rev. Joshua Ellis, an interfaith minister who officiated at the Skipper-Sherman wedding, and who was a theatrical press agent for 30 years before entering the ministry, approached Mr. Harnick about writing new lyrics specifically for gay couples. ''Why would a same-sex couple want to use the original lyrics?'' Mr. Ellis said. ''Even if they love the song, we can't use it at same-sex weddings.''
Mr. Ellis said Mr. Harnick conferred with Richard Ticktin, who represents Jerry Bock, the ''Fiddler on the Roof'' composer, who died last year. Mr. Ellis said Mr. Ticktin told him that Mr. Bock ''would have been delighted'' to make the changes.
Mr. Ellis said he did not want to change the lyrics without getting permission from the show's creators.
''I wanted them to be sanctioned,'' Mr. Ellis said. ''It's the professional thing to do, the ethical thing to do and the classy thing to do.''
https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9A05EEDD1530F935A35753C1A9679D8B63.html?fbclid=IwAR0npKqQ13QolVAzcwGPBNJgm0TE8Z21QBZFI2gzmP9U8asjbVGu82KstY4
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