LEGEND: Harold Prince

This time next year, if all goes according to plan, we'll be looking forward to Prince of Broadway, a musical revue celebrating the hits (and maybe a few flops, too) of legendary producer/ director Harold Prince.  The 21 time Tony-winner is preparing to direct the revue with the help of no less than Susan Stroman (Prince collaborator on Show Boat) and Jason Robert Brown (Prince collaborator on Parade).

He has done it all his 60+ year career: assistant stage manager, stage manager, producer, director, and, briefly, even a performer!  Prince has worked with all of Broadway's best, including a legendary apprenticeship with the great George Abbott.  Jerome Robbins, Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Kander and Ebb, Bock and Harnick are all among his collaborators.  He has directed such Broadway acting legends as Angela Lansbury, Zero Mostel, Carol Lawrence, Chita Rivera, Joel Grey, Ben Vereen, Michael Crawford, Liza Minelli, Barbara Cook, Glynnis Johns, Lem Cariou, Donna Murphy and Alexis Smith.  And though the revue will feature material from his musicals, Prince has also directed plays, most recently the short-lived, but critically acclaimed Hollywood Arms.

Even his flops have proven to be a part of the enduring American Theatre canon:  Merrily We Roll Along, Baker Street and Flora, the Red Menace among them.  But it is his hits that have changed the face of musical theatre: Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Sweeney Todd and the longest-running musical in Broadway history, The Phantom of the Opera.

Below is a survey of his musicals.  A "hit" means either long-running and/or critically acclaimed.  ASM - Assistant Stage Manager; PSM - Production Stage Manager; PRO - Producer; DIR - Director; CON - Conception; ** - Prince, himself, a Tony-winner.

A Scene from Grind and the Playbill from Parade

FLOPS

• Debut - Tickets, Please  ASM
• A Family Affair - DIR
• Flora, the Red Menace - PRO
• "It's a Bird!... It's a Plane!...It's Superman!" - PRO, DIR
• Merrily We Roll Along - PRO, DIR
• A Doll's Life - PRO, DIR
• Grind - PRO, DIR
• Roza - DIR
• Candide (1997 Revival) - DIR
• Parade - DIR, CON
• LoveMusik - DIR

MODERATE SUCCESS

• Tenderloin - PRO
• She Loves Me - PRO, DIR
• Baker Street - DIR
• Zorba - PRO, DIR
• Pacific Overtures - PRO, DIR
• On the Twentieth Century - DIR
• Cabaret (1987 Revival) - DIR

Joel Grey in the 1987 revival of Cabaret;

Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman in The Phantom of the Opera

HIT SHOW

• Call Me Madam - ASM
• Wonderful Town - PSM
• The Pajama Game - PRO **
• Damn Yankees - PRO **
• New Girl in Town - PRO
• West Side Story - PRO
• Fiorello! - PRO  **
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - PRO **
• Fiddler on the Roof - PRO ** + Special Tony
• Cabaret - PRO **, DIR **
• Company - PRO **, DIR **
• Follies - PRO, DIR **
• A Little Night Music - PRO **, DIR
• Candide (1974 Revival) - PRO, DIR ** +Special Tony
• Side by Side by Sondheim - PRO
• Sweeney Todd - DIR**
• Evita - DIR**
• The Phantom of the Opera - DIR **
• Kiss of the Spider Woman - DIR
• Show Boat (1994 Revival) - DIR **

Larry Kert and Carol Lawrence in

West Side Story

Show Boat and Sweeney Tood

No matter how you look at it - hits, flops, ground-breaking productions, working with the very best in Broadway history - Harold Prince is a legend.

(Source: Broadway Internet Database)
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Jeff
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