The Magnificent New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

Last Monday, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, of Lincoln Center, held its fiftieth-anniversary gala at the N.Y.P.L. mothership, at Forty-second and Fifth. The gala honored the L.P.A.'s benefactors Lewis Cullman, Barbara Fleischman, and the Jerome Robbins Foundation, as well as three artists: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Angela Lansbury, and Jessye Norman. During the cocktail hour, in Astor Hall, a harpist on the landing played "Flower Duet," solo, while festively dressed celebrants--...