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Harold Prince

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Harold Smith Prince (born January 30, 1928) is an American theatrical producer and director associated with many of the best-known Broadway musical productions of the past half-century. He has garnered twenty-one Tony Awards, more than any other individual, including eight for directing, eight for producing the year's Best Musical, two as Best Producer of a Musical, and three special awards. His shows are known for their political context, new approach to romance, and characters who sing and dance with thematic import.

Biography

Early years

Prince was born in New York City to Milton A. Prince, a stockbroker, and Blanche Stern. He entered the University of Pennsylvania at sixteen, where he followed a liberal arts curriculum and graduated at the age of nineteen. He later served two years in the US Army in Germany.

Career

Prince began work in the theatre as an assistant stage manager to theatrical producer and director George Abbott. Along with Abbott, he co-produced The Pajama Game, which won the 1955 Tony Award for Best Musical. He went on to direct his own productions in 1962 beginning with A Family Affair and hit a series of unsuccessful productions.

He almost gave up the musical theater right before he hit success with Cabaret in 1966. 1970 marked the start of his greatest collaboration, with composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim. They had previously worked on West Side Story and at this point decided to embark on their own project. Their association spawned a long string of productions, including Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Pacific Overtures (1976), and Sweeney Todd (1979). Following Merrily We Roll Along (1981), which was not successful, they parted ways until Bounce (2003), which also flopped.

Prince has directed operas including Ashmedai, Willie Stark, Madame Butterfly, and a revival of Candide. In 1983 Prince staged Turandot for the Vienna State Opera (conductor: Lorin Maazel; with José Carreras, Éva Marton). He directed two of Andrew Lloyd Webber's successes, Evita and The Phantom of the Opera. He was offered the job of directing Cats by Webber but turned it down.

Despite creating a number of hugely popular musicals in the late 1970s and 1980s such as The Phantom of the Opera, Sweeney Todd, and Evita, Prince had his first artistic failure with Stephen Sondheim in 1981 with Merrily We Roll Along. Determined to bounce back, he started working on a new musical A Doll's Life with lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green that would be continue the story of Nora Helmer past what Henrik Ibsen had written in A Doll's House. It was also badly received. Other commercially unsuccessful musicals includes Roza and Grind. Prince himself stopped producing and directing concurrently during this period because the process of financing a show had become so difficult.

Prince was the inspiration for John Lithgow's character in Bob Fosse's film All That Jazz. He was also the basis of a character in Richard Bissell's novel Say, Darling, which chronicled Bissell's own experience turning his novel 7½ Cents into The Pajama Game.

Harold Prince currently serves as president of the National Institute for Musical Theater. On May 20, 2007, he gave the commencement address at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In 2000, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.

In 2006, Prince was awarded a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. The Harold Prince Theatre at the Annenberg Center of the University of Pennsylvania is named in his honor. In 2008 Prince was the key note speaker at Elon University's Convocation for Honors celebration.

Prince co-directed, with Susan Stroman, the new musical Paradise Found. The musical features the music of Johann Strauss II as adapted by Jonathan Tunick with lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh. The book has been written by Richard Nelson, based on Joseph Roth’s novel The Tale of the 1002nd Night. The musical premiered at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London on May 19, 2010 and starred Mandy Patinkin.

Personal life

Prince married Judy Chaplin, daughter of Saul Chaplin on 26 October 1962. They are parents of Daisy Prince, a director, and Charles Prince, a conductor. Alexander Chaplin, the actor best known for his role as James Hobert on the sitcom Spin City is his son-in-law.

Work

Stage productions

Filmography

• Something for Everyone (1970) - director
• A Little Night Music (1977) - director

Awards and nominations

Bibliography

• Prince, Harold, Contradictions: Notes on twenty-six years in the theatre, Dodd, Mead ISBN 0396070191 (1974 autobiography)
• Prince, Harold (1993), Grandchild of Kings, Samuel French,
• Hirsch, Foster (1989, rev 2005), Harold Prince and the American Musical Theatre, Applause Books, (with Prince providing extensive interviews and the foreword)
• Ilson, Carol (1989), Harold Prince: From Pajama Game To Phantom of the Opera And Beyond, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0835719618
• Ilson, Carol (2000), Harold Prince: A Director's Journey, Limelight Editions,
• Napoleon, Davi, Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater, Iowa State University Press, (Includes a preface by Prince and a full chapter about the production of Candide.) .
• Brunet, Daniel; Angel Esquivel Rios, Miguel; and Geraths, Armin (2006), Creating the "New Musical": Harold Prince in Berlin, Peter Lang Publishing,
• Thelen, Lawrence (1999), The Show Makers: Great Directors of the American Musical Theatre, Routledge,
• Guernsey, Otis L. (Editor) (1985), Broadway Song and Story: Playwrights/Lyricists/Composers Discuss Their Hits, Dodd Mead,

References

External links

• Harold Prince at the Internet Broadway Database
• Harold Prince at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Harold Prince at the Internet Movie Database
• Harold Prince Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org, May 2008