New York City - "If I Were a Rich Man," "Little Tin Box," "'Til Tomorrow," "She Loves Me," "Will He Like Me" and "Sunrise, Sunset" are just a few of the tunes that will be brought to life on May 16, 2011- at New York's legendary National Arts Club as The Theatre Museum pays tribute to legendary Broadway lyricist Sheldon Harnick - the Museum's 2011 Career Achievement Award recipient.

"I have known and loved Sheldon and his work since the late 1950s and am thrilled, beyond words, at this opportunity to celebrate his magnificently witty and singularly moving lyrical gifts," says film, television and Broadway veteran Tony Walton, who is directing the evening's musical gala with an assist by musical director Mary-Mitchell Campbell.

Harnick, whose career spans six decades and features numerous honors including three Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, is best known for his collaboration with composer Jerry Bock. Bock's passing last November weighed on Walton's mind as he began creating the Museum's tribute.

"The recent memorial for Jerry Bock featured many highlights of the long and remarkable Bock/Harnick collaboration," continues Walton. "Many in our audience - for the Museum's honoring of Sheldon - are likely to have been at that memorial, and so our challenge has been to find a way of presenting songs of Sheldon's that were either not featured at that memorial or will focus more on the extraordinarily variegated brilliance of Sheldon's lyrics - no matter with whom he is collaborating."

Harnick's lyrics will be celebrated by an array of top Broadway talent including Jim Brochu, Gregg Edelman, Tovah Feldshuh, Jenny Fellner, Anita Gillette, Jessica Grove, Elizabeth Inghram and Howard McGillin. Master of Ceremonies duties will be deftly handled by John Bolton, best known to Broadway audiences for "Curtains" and Monty Python's "Spamalot."

And in what certainly will be an evening highlight, after receiving the award from longtime colleague Hal Prince, Harnick will take to the stage and perform "In My Own Lifetime" from "The Rothchilds."

The night's other honorees include Tony Award winning producer Bonnie Comley, who'll be presented The Theatre Museum's Service to the Theatre Award, Frank Cullen and Donald McNeilly, who are receiving The Theatre History Preservation Award, and The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, which is being honored with The Theatre Museum's Theatre Arts Education Award.

The Theatre Museum's 2011 Awards Gala will kick off at 6 p.m. with a cocktail reception featuring a silent auction hosted by Judith Ripka. The Awards Presentation will begin at 7 p.m., culminating in a sponsors' toast to the honorees at 8:30 p.m.

Tickets opportunities are available through The Theatre Museum website, by calling the office (212-764-4112), or by emailing awards@thetheatremuseum.org.