Hal Prince reflects on the state of musical theater
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Hal Prince -- "You know how few romantic musicals there actually are?" -
"The Phantom of the Opera," opening night curtain call on Jan. 26, 1988: Steve Barton (Raoul), director Harold Prince, Michael Crawford (the Phantom), composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sarah Brightman (Christine).
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Harold "Hal" Prince is American musical theater royalty with an unparalleled career as a director and producer.
His collaborations with Stephen Sondheim include directing the premiere productions of "Sweeney Todd," "A Little Night Music," "Company," "Follies," "Candide" and "Pacific Overtures." He also directed "Phantom of the Opera" and "Evita" for Andrew Lloyd Webber. As a producer, highlights include "The Pajama Game," "Damn Yankees," "West Side Story" and "Fiddler on the Roof."
He has produced operas all over the world, served as a trustee for the New York Public Library and on the National Council of the Arts, and is the recipient of a National Medal of Arts. He's a Kennedy Center Honoree, too.
Mr. Prince's thoughts on the state of musical theater:
On Hollywood stars needed to guarantee Broadway box office:
You're talking to a guy who's been around for close to 60 years, who really wants people to make theater their life's work, [people who] so appreciate a success that they want to stay with it. Ethel Merman would stay with a show for years and tour with it. So would Mary Martin, the great stars. They recognized the value of that success and nurtured it.
Now, you come from Hollywood, you play 12 weeks and go away. I don't think that's the best policy. And the public encourages it because that's what they want to see. They want to see movie stars, and some of them are terrific ... really talented. But others are not so talented. Really, the material is what should be pre-eminent, but it's not at this point.
On "Phantom" after its star left:
No one is saying, "Hey, wait a minute. Who are the big stars in 'Phantom'? " When Michael Crawford left after a year and a half, we went on to play another 21 years and a half, and we're still running strong.
On today's jukebox musicals and dance shows:
I don't think there's a defined contemporary American musical, do you?
I think there's a mistake being made. We haven't encouraged the young composers and lyricists as we did the earlier generation. In the course of my career, I did the first show with Bock and Harnick, and then with Sondheim, and then with Jason [Robert] Brown ['Parade'], who is a young and very, very gifted fellow. It's hard to get those people on Broadway now, and one of the main reasons is money and also the nature of producing.
First Published August 23, 2010 12:00 am
