Harold Prince, a Broadway director and producer who pushed the boundaries of musical theater with such groundbreaking shows as “The Phantom of the Opera,” ’'Cabaret,” ’'Company” and “Sweeney Todd” and won a staggering 21 Tony Awards, has died. He was 91.
Hal Prince, a Broadway director and producer who pushed the boundaries of musical theater with such groundbreaking shows as “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Cabaret,” “Company” and “Sweeney Todd,” and won a staggering 21 Tony Awards, has died. He was 91.
Lloyd Webber recalled that, as a young man, he had written the music for the flop “Jeeves” and was feeling low. Prince wrote him a letter urging him not to be discouraged. The two men later met and Lloyd Webber said he was thinking of next doing a musical about Evita Peron. Prince told him to bring it to him first.
He earned a reputation as a detail-heavy director. Barbara Cook in her memoir “Then & Now” wrote: “I admire him greatly, but he also did not always make things easy, for one basic reason: he wants to direct every detail of your performance down to the way you crook your pinky finger.” Their work together stopped in 1981 after the short-lived “Merrily We Roll Along,” which lasted only 16 performances. It wasn’t to resume until 2003 when Prince and Sondheim collaborated on “Bounce,” a musical about the adventure-seeking Mizner brothers that had a troubled birth and finally made it to Broadway as “Road Show.”
“I’ve had theater ambitions all of my life,” he said in his memoir. “I cannot go back so far that I don’t remember where I wanted to work.” Prince had gotten his first opportunity to direct on Broadway in 1962. The musical was “A Family Affair,” a little-remembered show about the travails of a Jewish wedding. Its Broadway run was short — only 65 performances — but “A Family Affair” gave Prince a chance to work with composer Kander.
He was a champion of imagination in the theater and tried never to rely on technology to give his shows pop, preferring canvas to LEDs.
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Towering Broadway Director and Producer Hal Prince Dies at 91Harold Prince, a Broadway director and producer who pushed the boundaries of musical theater with such groundbreaking shows as “The Phantom of the Opera,” ‘‘Cabaret,” ‘‘Company” and “Sweeney Todd” and won a staggering 21 Tony Awards, has died. Mr. Prince was 91.
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Towering Broadway director and producer Hal Prince deadNEW YORK (AP) — Harold Prince, a Broadway director and producer who pushed the boundaries of musical theater with such groundbreaking shows as 'The Phantom of the Opera,' ''Cabaret,' ''Company'...
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Towering Broadway director and producer Hal Prince deadHarold Prince, a Broadway director and producer who pushed the boundaries of musical theater with such groundbreaking shows as 'The Phantom of the Opera' and 'Sweeney Todd' and won a staggering 21 Tony Awards, has died at 91.
Read more »