Hal Prince is a hack- Page 2

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 1:49am

Phantom's early days probably owed quite a bit to his name, considering the landscape of Broadway at that time. No long run rides on the director's name, though. You have to appeal to too many people who have no idea who or what a director is.

[blaxx]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 1:49am

Bah, this thread officially sucks.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 1:49am

"Mixed" means some shows have done well. Others have not.

Right. But your original dumb question was "Was Hal Prince ever a commercial success?" not "Was everything Hal Prince ever touched successful?"

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 1:50am

Thanks Phyll.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 1:54am

I don't know what an open question is. Is that the same thing as a yes or no question because what you asked was a yes or no question.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 1:56am

Is that your final answer?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 1:59am

Thanks for that, I learned something. But you still didn't ask an open question according to that definition. Was he ever a commercial success has a definite, provable answer. You can keep moving the goal posts around all you want, but your original dumb question wasn't open at all. Commercial success isn't opinion.


Updated On: 11/2/12 at 01:59 AM

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 2:03am

If we're dealing in semantics, nobody has answered the question...

was Hal Prince a commercial success?

Not his shows, but him.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 2:05am

I've never seen any of his commercials, but they were successful, according to many.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 2:09am

Sales of Kellogg's WheatyBran went up 150 percent, according to the Financial Times.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 2:11am

Some say they laughed at her cause her peasant feet were bare, some say

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 2:15am

Told you it was a troll.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 2:20am

You do realize your mayhem is still visible on the board, right? Maybe it's just best to STFU and slink away until you reincarnate yourself.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 2:20am

I bow to your superior instincts, Phyllis.

Where have we seen this trick before??

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 2:21am

Yes it was stupid, and yes you were trolling. It does not take a genius to see that not only has Hal Prince been a success, he has been a success most of the time. Take one look at his credits as a producer and director. Are you honestly telling us that you can't tell if Hal Prince was ever a commercial success? From West Side Story to Phantom and so many big name, big money making, long running shows in between, and you really don't know if he was a commercial success? Really?
I am all for open discussion and asking questions, but come on; the answer here is painfully obvious. Phantom is the single most successful piece of entertainment on record, and you know it is still running. That alone should answer the original question at hand.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 2:23am

I just got Webster's 11th the other day, but thanks, baby. You keep that money for a shrink.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 2:23am

I just got Webster's 11th the other day, but thanks, baby. You keep that money for a shrink.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 2:27am

Obviously.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 2:28am

How queer...the threads are half deleted?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 5:51am

Who needs the dictionary?

Updated On: 11/2/12 at 05:51 AM

[tazber]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 8:27am

Well the troll has mercifully been deleted, but Riedel talks about the Prince of Broadway in his column today.
Link

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 11:09am

If he just had Fiddler and Phantom he'd be enormously successful on the$ side. Not only has he had other hits but since when does not having commercial success equate with being a hack. In fact many commercially successful people are hacks whether in the theater or elsewhere.

[castlestreet]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 12:28pm

Prince has had his fair share of flops- but anyone who has worked on as many shows as he has will have their fair share.

Phantom on Broadway owed its out of the box success to the media storm that came from across the pond- people were being told what an amazing show it was and that tickets were going to be impossible to get, that Crawford was giving a once in a lifetime performance, and the list goes on. His guiding hand helped to ensure that it was a hit in London. If Webber had his way with another director- things may have turned out much different. I have always felt that Maria Bjornson and Hal Prince, combined with some soaring and repetitive melodies are Phantom's killer combination.

I actually think if this show is pieced together properly and sells itself on the shows included, which as stated previously make up most of the most famous and successful musicals of all time- this could be a really big hit.

[After Eight]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 12:36pm

Company closed with a very small profit at the end of its Broadway run.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 8:12pm

Reading this thread without the OP's comments is odd. Like "Garfield Minus Garfield."