BWW Exclusive: Hal Prince on PHANTOM's 23rd; No Involvement In LND

Today I conducted an illuminating InDepth InterView with legendary producer and director Harold Prince in which we discussed his singular career, having won more Tony Awards than any other person on the planet for his near one-hundred productions since his start as George Abbott's assistant producer over fifty years ago. He produced such landmark musicals as DAMN YANKEES, THE PAJAMA GAME and WEST SIDE STORY in the 1950s and then went on to become a director in his own right with Kander & Ebb's FLORA, THE RED MENANCE (Liza Minnelli's Broadway debut) and CABARET by the 60s and into the Sondheim series of masterpieces in the 1970s - COMPANY, FOLLIES, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, PACIFIC OVERTURES, SWEENEY TODD - bridging into his two biggest commercial successes, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals EVITA and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Celebrating its 23rd year on Broadway in January, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is the most successful entertainment of all time, more than any other musical, television show or even feature film in history. It's a juggernaut like no other and the mystery, magic and majesty that had made the show such a rousing success is thanks to the masterful eye-of-all-eyes, the true master director of the American Theatre, Harold Prince. But, will he be doing the sequel?

In this short except of my exclusive InDepth InterView: Harold Prince we discuss his involvement (or lack thereof) in the troubled PHANTOM sequel, LOVE NEVER DIES, the untrue rumors that have made it into print about it, and PHANTOM's 23rd year on Broadway as well an update on PARADISE FOUND. In the complete interview we discuss it all - COMPANY, FOLLIES, Michael Bennett, Bob Fosse, Andrew Lloyd Webber, EVITA, PHANTOM, WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND, as well as the new generation of composers he has collaborated with such as Jason Robert Brown on PARADE and Michael John LaChiusa on THE PETRIFIED PRINCE, in addition to a candid discussion of his new musical PARADISE FOUND, and thoughts on GLEE, NEXT TO NORMAL, BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON and the state of Broadway today - as well as some truly sage-worthy advice! Be sure to stay tuned!

PC: Are you directing the sequel to THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, LOVE NEVER DIES, on Broadway?

HP: No, of course. No, I'm not. I don't know why there's such a rumor.

PC: Michael Riedel wrote in his column that you may, plus Andrew Lloyd Webber just announced two new productions in Toronto and Australia before it comes to Broadway.

HP: No, I wasn't asked to and that "famous" lunch that I noticed was in the newspapers was to discuss something else entirely.

PC: That's what the Riedel column was all about, the lunch.

HP: Yes, well we were talking about something else entirely.

PC: Thank you for setting the record straight.

HP: No, we are not talking about LOVE NEVER DIES.

 

PC: Congratulations on 22 years of PHANTOM on Broadway.

HP: Thank you. Twenty-three in January!

PC: Did you ever think?

HP: No. Does anyone ever think?

PC: It would have been impossible to guess.

HP: Yes, it would.

PC: What about the future for the Mandy Patinkin show, PARADISE FOUND?

HP: We were thinking we were going to open somewhere else with it. A big production. That fell through. That's a story of money. Really, what we did was: the Chocolate Factory people wanted to do it, so we did it. It's a very small theatre, as you well know. They have a very good record of doing revivals. I think the fit of me, the material and the theatre were not particularly a good fit. I was thinking bigger. Sometimes I think small - I.e. COMPANY - but, in the case of this, it should have had a large chorus and quite a lot of scenery. For me, when the dust cleared, I got to learn a lot. For one thing, I learned that I had the best cast conceivable and that Jonathan Tunick had done a miraculous job of creating - with seven instruments - a beautiful sound for something that should have had something like twenty instruments. Mostly, what I thought was, it's like taking THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and trying to put it on a postage stamp sized stage and that's not the best idea.

Stay Tuned for the full InDepth InterView next week on BroadwayWorld.com!

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