Hal Prince Developing THE DIAMOND AS BIG AS THE RITZ Musical with Strouse and Meehan!

Hal Prince has more than just Prince of Broadway in the works, according to the New York Post's Michael Riedel.

The director/producer/actor is developing another new Broadway show based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story THE DIAMOND AS BIG AS THE RITZ. The production will feature a score by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Eric Price and book by Tom Meehan.

"I wanted to do one more show with Charles or maybe two or three more. And 'The Diamond as Big as the Ritz' was his idea. But it certainly has its challenges," Meehan told the Post. "Hal brings his 20 Tonys to the job, so we listen to him. He's a wise man about shows."

Read the original report here.

THE DIAMOND AS BIG AS THE RITZ was written in 1922 and starts off in a boarding school where John T. Unger meets Percy Washington, who says his dad is the richest man in the world, who owns a "diamond as big as The Ritz". Unger later discovers that the Washingtons are rich but greedy. The tale ends "enveloped by the macabre," says Strouse.

Meehan plans to change the narrator from a man to a woman and has written the first act, with Strouse having completed the first half of the score.

Strouse and Meehan last collaborated on Annie 2 in 1990. Meehan's other works include Annie, The Producers, Hairspray, Young Frankenstein and this season's upcoming show Rocky, the Musical. Meehan is also currently working on adaptations of Tootsie and Dave.

Prince directed the original productions of Cabaret, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, The Phantom of the Opera, She Loves Me, Company, Follies, Candide, Pacific Overtures, Evita, Parade, LoveMusik, and Paradise Found. Before becoming a director, Prince's productions included The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello! and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Among the plays he has directed are Hollywood Arms, The Visit, The Great God Brown, End of the World, Play Memory and his own play, Grandchild of Kings. He prepared a new version of Phantom, which is running in Las Vegas at the Venetian Hotel. He is the recipient of 21 Tony Awards.