'[Hal] Prince succeeded as only he could — with pioneering vision, volcanic ardor and unprecedented artistry,' writes critic Charles McNulty of the late director and producer.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Broadway director and producer Hal Prince made the musical modern. When the Golden Age was in danger of losing some of its luster, he reinvigorated the art form with sex, politics and a conceptual sleekness that seized the imagination of a more liberated generation.
In the period defined by two composing titans of vastly different stripes, Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Prince was the indispensable force elevating them to new artistic heights. His work with Sondheim certified his genius. Lloyd Webber ensured a future without financial strife. This distinction is perhaps best illustrated through “Follies,” the Sondheim show that “lost all the money invested in it” but sealed his legend as a director.
In forging a new tradition, Prince acknowledged that he had to break the back of the old one. Sure-fire formulas of the past had lost their potency. His early box office flops, which would probably be disqualifying in today’s ruthless Broadway economy, paved the way for “Cabaret.” The clash of egos in the struggle to achieve something bracingly innovative wasn’t for the timorous. The phrase “control freak” might have been coined expressly for his directing style.
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