You could argue that director/producer Harold “Hal” Prince had the most impressive resume of anyone in American musical theatre history. After all, who else can claim The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, West Side Story, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, She Loves Me, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Evita, The Phantom of the Opera, Kiss of the Spider Woman and Parade on their resume? Prince could as either producer, director or both.
Hal Prince passed away today in Iceland a the age of 91. His last show on Broadway was The Prince of Broadway, a show that celebrated his legendary career. It only ran for 76 performances, but gave audiences a look into the career of a man who made the theatre his home.
Prince collaborated with everybody. That’s no exaggeration. Bob Fosse, Leonard Bernstein, Kander & Ebb, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jerome Robbins, Cy Coleman, Tim Rice, Terrence McNally, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Jason Robert Brown and perhaps most famously, Stephen Sondheim.
Prince was the producer of West Side Story and A Funny Thing Happened… before adding director for Sondheim’s shows from Company through to Merrily We Roll Along. He also produced all those shows along the way with the exception of Sweeney Todd.
Simply put, Hal Prince was theatre royalty. And he kept working. His philosophy was always keep an eye on the future . He once said, “I don’t look back. I look forward and plan new shows. That’s really feeding the most important part of working in the theater.”
I never met Hal Prince. I saw many of his shows. As readers might know, when I saw Sweeney Todd it was like finding religion. I did, however, sit next time him once at a performance of David Mamet’s The Old Neighborhood in 1997. He wasn’t involved in the show. I assumed he was there to support Patti LuPone who played Evita.
The play was not particularly memorable. In fact, I remember finding it dull and uninspired. I don’t know what Prince thought of the play. I do firmly recall that when the cast came out for a third curtain call he said to his guest, “Oh Christ, they are coming out again!!!!” That made the entire evening for me.
Hal Prince, for better or for worse, gave us musicals as events. As spectacles. Some of them much better than others. What sets him apart from most producers today in the theatre is that he actually was passionate about it for artistic reasons, not just financial. He was a creature of the theatre. The likes of him are unlikely to be seen ever again.
“I always had a good time in theatre, even when shows don’t turn out as well as I’d like.” – Harold Prince
So did we, sir. So did we. Thank you..
Photo of Harold Prince during a rehearsal of Merrily We Roll Along by Martha Swope/Courtesy of New York Public Library Archives.