Why is HAL PRINCE so amaaaaazing?
Why is HAL PRINCE so amaaaaazing?
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/18/10
Why is HAL PRINCE so amaaaaazing?#1
Posted: 2/5/11 at 1:21pm
Can anyone explain why Hal Prince's original production of 'Evita' was such a benchmark in musical theatre, according to Patti LuPone and other performers. What was so interesting about his production?
In fact, what makes him so successful in general. The man has won countless Tonys.
His original productions of 'Cabaret', 'Sweeney Todd', 'Phantom of the Opera' amongst so many others have all been so amazing.
But WHY, I ask, WHY???
Why is HAL PRINCE so amaaaaazing?#2
Posted: 2/5/11 at 1:35pm
Because he has elicited some of the greatest performances from actors that Broadway (musical theater) has ever seen.
http://www.bluegobo.com/content/production.php?id=2882945
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j8Pw340clQ
Why is HAL PRINCE so amaaaaazing?#2
Posted: 2/5/11 at 1:44pmAnd according to Wikipedia: "His shows are known for their political context, new approach to romance, and characters who sing and dance with thematic import."
Why is HAL PRINCE so amaaaaazing?#3
Posted: 2/5/11 at 2:48pm
Prince's strength are visual: His original staging of EVITA was breathtakingly brilliant (and helped fill in some of the narrative holes in the libretto: If you go solely by the text you don't learn a lot. Same can be said of PHANTOM. However, when he was unable to come up with a proper visual metaphor his staging would fall back on Old tricks that sometimes obliterate teh strengths of the material. (MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG.)
He is less successful at helping actors who have difficulty finding their way with the role. He likes performers who can come up with their own approach and then working to fine tune the performance. It works for some actors. Others say they need more insight from the director.
Even with this limitation he is responsible for the longest running show in Broadway history, a number of artistic triumphs,and a good number of box office hits. He's had his flops too, but even his flops were shows that at least dared to try something new and different.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
Why is HAL PRINCE so amaaaaazing?#4
Posted: 2/5/11 at 3:10pmHal Prince was a bold daring direcctor and producer. That is why he is so amazing. He tried things no had dared try before both commercially and artistically. PHANTOM is still one of the most visually stunning shows to watch no matter what anyone thinks of the raw material. And as other posters have said, he did have flops, but they were always exciting flops that did something new and ambitious.
Why is HAL PRINCE so amaaaaazing?#5
Posted: 2/5/11 at 3:20pm
I loved the original staging of Evita which I saw when I was in high school.
I also had the opportunity to work with him in New York City Opera's production of Don Giovanni. I will always remember him asking me what my name was.
Why is HAL PRINCE so amaaaaazing?#6
Posted: 2/5/11 at 4:56pm
From BROADWAY MUSICALS: THE 101 GREATEST SHOWS OF ALL TIME:
Producer Robert Stigwood had the good sense to hire Hal Prince, a master of the concept musical, to direct EVITA. The show, barely more than a string of songs with hardly a libretto, cried out for Prince's talent for creating dramatic stage pictures and his instinctual recognition of the important beats to the action. It is no accident that fans of EVITA remember favorite scenes as if they were snapshots in the brain -- Eva standing with hands raised on the balcony, the musical rocking chairs of "The Art of the Possible," the dramatic chiaroscuro of "A New Argentina," and Che's bitter mockery of the masses mourning Evita's death.
Prince and his designers employed film; harsh, shadow-filled lighting; multilayer scaffolding; and cinematic staging, with the use of the various social strata of Argentina as characters in their own right. EVITA was a mesmerizing, unforgiving illustration of a human being's increasing hunger for adoration and power, and even though history books excoriate Santa Evita, we, as the audience, are nonetheless drawn to her single-mindedness. Che tries to warn us of her evil, but we can only sense her charisma. Hal Prince's canny use of theatrical magic turns the audience into the masses, who know the evil within but choose to bask in the flair and theatricality of the moment. "Oh What a Circus" indeed.
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
Why is HAL PRINCE so amaaaaazing?#7
Posted: 2/5/11 at 9:24pm
It's very hard to find, but I highly recommend Prince's book CONTRADICTIONS, which follows his career up to the early 80s. There's a chapter on every major show he directed or produced during that time. He writes a lot about what drove him to be a director after years of producing and gives extremely prescient advice about the realities of putting on a large-scale musical.
I got a copy at the Strand for $15 not too long ago - a bargain considering what some sellers ask for it.
Why is HAL PRINCE so amaaaaazing?#8
Posted: 2/5/11 at 10:38pmI too saw the original staging of EVITA and it was stunning.
Why is HAL PRINCE so amaaaaazing?#9
Posted: 2/5/11 at 10:49pm
The original staging was flawless ( saw it 3 times ). Stark, riveting with tableaux that are burned into my memory!
A New Argentina with the banners and torches? The Art of the Possible? Che and Evita's waltz? I have yet to see a show whose images remain so vivid over the span of years!
Why is HAL PRINCE so amaaaaazing?#11
Posted: 2/6/11 at 2:40am
I love the original production of Evita so much! I got to see various recreations of Hal Prince's staging but nothing will compare to seeing the full-scale version of his staging, which was perfectly reproduced in the 20th ann. national tour.
It's minimalist yet feels huge. I'm pretty sure a bunch of iron bars and a lit pattern on the stage deck weren't responsible alone for the visual impact. Hal's Evita was more than just visual, his direction and staging gave those bare bones sets, well, practically a personality! Total sensory experience.
Too bad the upcoming Broadway revival won't feature Hal's staging and the original designs. Yeah, so the designs sometimes scream 1978...who cares! I think it's interesting to see a show the same way audiences saw it back then. Why is "dated" wrong? There are things that are dated due to their inefficiency compared to modern technology; however, Evita featured some of the most efficient and evocative staging which was stunning for its time and still is today. They should be proud to show its age!!!
Why is HAL PRINCE so amaaaaazing?#12
Posted: 2/6/11 at 10:51am
Hal Prince's book CONTRADICTIONS: Notes on Twenty-six Years in the Theatre actually dates to 1975. It ends just as he is starting work on PACIFIC OVERTURES.
In the back he gives a fascinating page where he listse every show he produced, and amount of capitalizatioon and the profit or loss as of September 1, 1974.
A few examples:
PAJAMA GAME was capitalized at $250,000 and made a profit of $972,500. (In the text he mentions that they only needed $169,000 to open. "We deliberately overcapitalized our shows so that if we had a success we could mail a check (to the investors) with the reviews. It seemed to our investors a profit distribution and, though they knew the difference, they went along happily with the feel of it."
He lists FOLLIES with a capitalization of $700,000 and a loss of $650,000. (That should lay to rest the claim FOLLIES was Broadway's first million dollar loss. Close but not quite.)
His biggest success (as of 1974) was FIDDLER ON THE ROOF: $375,000 to open and it closed with a profit of $4,552,500.
Prince closed his production office in 1985 (after GRIND) and has since worked for other producers as a director.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
Videos
