Harold Prince and the American Musical Theater

Harold Prince, the most celebrated and influential producer/director in the history of the postwar American musical theater, produced such shows as Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, Fiddler on the Roof, and West Side Story. As producer/director of a series of landmark collaborations (including Company, Follies, Pacific Overtures, and Sweeney Todd) with composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, Prince has helped significantly to alter the structure as well as the content of a popular entertainment form. In his two collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Evita and Phantom of the Opera, Prince has also had a substantial impact on the contemporary British musical. The elements of Prince's signature--his convention-challenging subject matter and use of music, the revitalizing theatricality of his production designs--are discussed in detail and enriched by extensive interviews with the artist and several of his colleagues, including Sondheim and Prince's mentor George Abbott. The book is enhanced by rare production photos that illustrate the originality of his concepts in decor and stage movement. This study provides a wealth of backstage material describing the development of a musical from initial concept to opening night. [via]