The Amazing Hal Prince

[CarsonStreet]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 6:33am

He has his eye on the future. Check the fantastic interview at the link. Thoughts?

And, by the way, this program looks great for young producer types!

Exclusive Hal Prince Interview Updated On: 6/26/05 at 06:33 AM

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 6:51am

I'd wish, his understanding of musical theatre would still be present on current Broadway...

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 9:03am

Harold Prince's comments are so insightful and show what is currently wrong with much of Broadway. His views are the same that I have been saying for years. For Broadway to avoid totally becoming a theme park, there will have to be creative producers.

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 10:37am

Does it disturb anyone else that banal threads rate dozens of posts, yet a thread about Harold Prince rates virtually nothing?

[Forester]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 10:40am

It all back to the economic of it all. Producers will go and make a musical that will recoup or turn a profit. They have investors who probably wan't the bottom line. It's really a vicious circle.

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 10:40am

Well it just clarifies the main interest in shows like Brooklyn and Good Vibrations many folks display. C'est la vie...

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 10:46am

Forester, why wouldn't producers "want" to turn a profit? It's a business. They have to turn a profit at some point, like any other business. If they don't turn a profit, no one (including the actors) gets paid and the shows close and then there is nothing on Broadway.

Same with investors. You don't invest in anything in life in order to lose money. If the producers prove to the investors that they can mount shows that make money, then the investors will write them more checks to produce more shows for your enjoyment.

Updated On: 6/26/05 at 10:46 AM

[nystateomind04]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 11:26am

Seems he has a vision, I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of it.

I do wonder why he choose Columbia, whose graduate program is notably fantastic for Theater, but they deal with more modern performance styles and I don't believe that they even dabble in musical theater often. I don't know, I'm sure he knows what he's doing.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 11:43am

I wrote him a long involved letter years ago & recieved a very nice letter back

He agreed with me that down the road the escalating ticket prices would cause a problem & he agreed with much of what I said & many of my ideas. I told him how much I loved the original Follies & Superman & he thanked me

I asked him a question about Baker Street & he could not remember a lot about it including my question (later answered by someone on the board). I would love for him to write a book about his life in the theater & would love to have him direct the definitive movie version of Follies

[Ann_Margrock]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 12:02pm

Harold Prince is a true theatre legend. And from this interview you can sense he has lost none of that passion he had for the theatre when he was just an 8 year old kid taking in all this theatre knowledge down at the 42nd Street Public Library.

Alot of things impressed me about this interview and one particular quote stood with me in regards to Sweeney Todd:

"And I think it is indisputable that Sondheim and Wheeler wrote a work of art, with no mind on the box office."



Updated On: 6/26/05 at 12:02 PM

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 12:17pm

Hal Prince is a GREAT artist and from his views, a wonderful person too!

[wildcat]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 12:18pm

Mr. Roxy, he did write a book about his life in the theatre.
"Contradictions: Notes on 26 years in the Theatre"

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 12:28pm

I read a book but it was a few years ago about him & thought someone else wrote it. I may have read this (old age creeping in) I will check it out.

Thanks for the info

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 1:59pm

I did two interviews with Hal Prince when he was here in Toronto for KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN and for SHOW BOAT. He could tell I was a theatre fan and he was so relxed it made it more like two old friends talking (even though I had just been introduced to him 2 minutes before we went into the studio.)

We need more like him working on Broadway today.

[CarsonStreet]

Posted: 6/27/05 at 8:39am

He has two biographies and one autobiography.

[EddieVarley]

Posted: 6/27/05 at 9:46am

He defines inspiration!

[CarsonStreet]

Posted: 6/27/05 at 10:36am

If anyone is registered over at talkinbroadway (dirty word?). . . why don't you post this link over there. I think it is worth getting the word out.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 6/27/05 at 12:21pm

I love Hal Prince. I think he has a great theatre vision.