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PEOPLE & ARTS Thursday 1 augusT 2019
Towering Broadway director and producer Hal Prince dead

NEW YORK (AP) — Harold version of "Romeo and Ju-
Prince, a Broadway director liet" told against the back-
and producer who pushed drop of New York gang
the boundaries of musical warfare. Directed and
theater with such ground- choreographed by Jerome
breaking shows as "The Robbins and with a score
Phantom of the Opera," by Bernstein and Sondheim,
''Cabaret," ''Company" and it, too, was acclaimed.
"Sweeney Todd" and won a Yet even its success was
staggering 21 Tony Awards, dwarfed by "Fiddler on
has died. Prince was 91. the Roof" (1964), which
Prince's publicist Rick Mi- Prince produced and Rob-
ramontez said Prince died bins directed and choreo-
Wednesday after a brief graphed. Set in Czarist Rus-
illness in Reykjavik, Iceland. sia, the Bock-Harnick musi-
Prince was known for his cal starred Zero Mostel as
fluid, cinematic director's the Jewish milkman forced
touch and was unpredict- to confront challenges to
able and uncompromising his way of life.
in his choice of stage mate- Prince had gotten his first
rial. He often picked chal- opportunity to direct on
lenging, offbeat subjects to Broadway in 1962. The mu-
musicalize, such as a mur- sical was "A Family Affair,"
derous, knife-wielding bar- a little-remembered show
ber who baked his victims about the travails of a Jew-
in pies or the 19th-century ish wedding. Its Broadway
opening of Japan to the In this June 4, 1995 file photo, Harold Prince holds his Tony award for best director in a musical for run was short — only 65
West. "Show Boat," at Broadway's Minskoff Theater in New York. performances — but "A
Along the way, he helped Associated Press Family Affair" gave Prince a
create some of Broadway's chance to work with com-
most enduring musical when "Fiddler" became that followed the travails office. I was rehired the fol- poser John Kander.
hits, first as a producer of Broadway's longest running of Bobby, a perpetual New lowing Monday, and I've Four years later, Kander
such shows as "The Pajama musical then, and another York bachelor ever search- never been out of work would provide the music for
Game," ''Damn Yankees," in 1974 for a revival of "Can- ing for the right woman. since." one of Prince's biggest suc-
''West Side Story," ''A Funny dide." He also was a recipi- "Company" was followed Born in New York on Jan. 30, cesses, "Cabaret," based
Thing Happened on the ent of a Kennedy Center in quick succession by "Fol- 1928, Prince was the son of on Christopher Isherwood's
Way to the Forum" and "Fid- Honor. lies" (1971), which Prince affluent parents, for whom "Berlin Stories."
dler on the Roof." He later He earned a reputation co-directed with Michael Saturday matinees in the And it was "Cabaret" that
became a director, over- as a detail-heavy director. Bennett; "A Little Night Mu- theater with their children established Prince as a di-
seeing such landmark mu- Barbara Cook in her mem- sic" (1973); "Pacific Over- were a regular occurrence. rector of first rank. With its
sicals as "Cabaret," ''Com- oir "Then & Now" wrote: "I tures" (1976); and "Sweeney A production of "Julius Cae- use of a sleazy master of
pany," ''Follies," ''Sweeney admire him greatly, but he Todd" (1979). sar" starring Orson Welles ceremonies (portrayed by
Todd," ''Evita" and "The also did not always make Their work together when he was 8 taught him Joel Grey), the musical jux-
Phantom of the Opera." things easy, for one basic stopped in 1981 after the there was something spe- taposed its raunchy night-
Prince worked with some reason: he wants to direct short-lived "Merrily We Roll cial about theater. club numbers with the sto-
of the best-known compos- every detail of your perfor- Along," which lasted only "I've had theater ambitions ries of people living in Berlin
ers and lyricists in musical mance down to the way 16 performances. It wasn't all of my life," he said in his as the Nazis rose to power
theater, including Leonard you crook your pinky fin- to resume until 2003 when memoir. "I cannot go back in the 1930s.
Bernstein, Jerry Bock and ger." Prince and Sondheim col- so far that I don't remember "I became a producer be-
Sheldon Harnick, John Kan- A musical about Prince laborated on "Bounce," a where I wanted to work." cause fate took me there,
der and Fred Ebb, Andrew called "Prince of Broad- musical about the adven- After a stint in the Army and I was delighted," Prince
Lloyd Webber and, most way" opened in Japan in ture-seeking Mizner broth- during the Korean War (he recalled in his book. "I used
notably, Stephen Sond- 2015 featuring songs from ers that had a troubled kept his dog-tags on his of- producing to become
heim. many of the shows that birth and finally made it to fice desk), he returned to what I wanted to be, a di-
"I don't do a lot of analyz- made him famous. It land- Broadway as "Road Show." Broadway, serving as stage rector. (Ultimately, I hired
ing of why I do something," ed on Broadway in 2017. Prince was mentored by manager on Abbott's 1953 myself, which is more than
Prince once told The Asso- It was with Sondheim, who two of the theater's most production of "Wonder- anyone else would do.)"
ciated Press. "It's all instinct." was the lyricist for "West experienced professionals ful Town," starring Rosalind As he became more inter-
Only rarely, he said, did he Side Story," that Prince de- — director George Abbott Russell. ested in directing, he with-
take on an idea just for the veloped his most enduring and producer Robert E. The following year, he start- drew from producing alto-
money, and they "probably creative relationship. He Griffith. ed producing with Griffith. gether.
were bad ideas in the first produced "A Funny Thing "I've had a unique life in the Their first venture, "The Pa- Among his more notable
place. Theater is not about Happened on the Way to theater, uniquely lucky," jama Game," starring John achievements: "On the
that. It is about creating the Forum" (1962), the first Prince said in his midlife au- Raitt and Janis Paige, was a Twentieth Century" (1978)
something. The fact that Broadway show for which tobiography, "Contradic- big hit, running 1,063 perfor- and two of Lloyd Webber's
some of my shows have Sondheim wrote both mu- tions: Notes on Twenty-Six mances. They followed in biggest hits, "Evita" (1979),
done so well is sheer luck." sic and lyrics. Years in the Theatre," which 1955 with another musical starring Patti LuPone as the
During his more than 50- They cemented their part- was published in 1974. "I smash, "Damn Yankees," charismatic Argentinian,
year career, Prince re- nership in 1970 with "Com- went to work for George featuring Gwen Verdon as and "The Phantom of the
ceived a record 21 Tony pany." Prince produced Abbott in 1948, and I was the seductive Lola. Opera," in London (1986),
Awards, including two spe- and directed this innova- fired on Friday that year In 1957, Prince did "West New York (1988) and
cial Tonys — one in 1972 tive, revue-like musical from a television job in his Side Story," a modern-day around the world.q