(Michael Paulson’s article appeared in The New York Times, 11/20; via Pam Green.)
“Doing what?” Sheldon Harnick asked, seemingly startled by the suggestion.
The 91-year-old lyricist, a musical theater luminary best known for “Fiddler on the Roof,” was sitting on his couch at the Beresford, the stately Upper West Side apartment building where he has lived since 1965, and trying to explain why, after more than six decades working in New York theater, including 31 Broadway productions, he is not interested in retirement.
“Writing is too much fun,” he said. “What comes after you write can be agonizing — getting things on, or having them done badly, or not getting them done at all — but the writing is fun.”