His Broadway career lasted for seven decades; he was known throughout for his chutzpah, smarts, brio, creative range and his willingness to take risks. Harold Smith Prince was born on January 30, 1928 in Manhattan. He was also presented with a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2006. Harold Prince holds his Tony award for best director in a musical for "Show Boat," at Broadway's Minskoff Theater in New Yorkin 1985. Prince took home the 1967 Tony Award for Best Director along with that year's Tony for Best Musical. On Wednesday, the composer of that show, Lloyd Webber, said that Prince's "mastery of musical theater was without equal.". That show marked Prince's final Broadway credit. Harold Prince holds his Tony award for best director in a musical for "Show Boat," at Broadway's Minskoff Theater in New Yorkin 1985. Hal Prince in his office on July 30, 2015, in New York City. Hal Prince, a Broadway director of singular populist accomplishment and the brains behind both the epic "Evita" and the spectacular, money-spinning staging of "The Phantom of the Opera," died Wednesday at the age of 91. Harold Prince, the prolific producer and director who shepherded to Broadway such groundbreaking works as Sweeney Todd, West Side Story, Cabaret, Fiddler on the Roof and the record-breaking musical The Phantom of the Opera, died on July 31 in Reykjavik, Iceland. 1980: Harold Prince poses with his Tony Award for Best Direction of the musical Evita at the 34th Tony Awards. Those streets included all of the boulevards of Broadway and also London's West End. As per his wishes, there will be no funeral but there will be a celebration of his life this fall with the people he loved most, the members of the theatrical community that he was a part of for seven decades." Prince found a new collaborator in the young British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who had enjoyed an early success with his rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar . Over his expansive career that ran nearly 70 years, Prince, best known as Hal, received 21 Tony Awards, "the most for any individual in multiple categories," the … His first was for producing the 1955 musical, "The Pajama Game." Directors like Prince are not easily anthologized. "He is missed and loved by his family—Judy, his wife of 56 years; his daughter, Daisy; his son, Charles; and his grandchildren, Phoebe, Lucy and Felix. CNN's Steve Forrest and Justin Lear contributed to this report. By 1955, he won his first Tony with the production, "The Pajama Game, Prince went on to direct and produce some of the greatest and long-running musicals, including "Fiddler on the Roof," "Cabaret," "Sweeney Todd" and "Evita.". Check all the awards won and nominated for by Harold Prince - Special Tony Award (2006) , Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical (1995) , Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (1995) and more awards. He was 91. Time to Dance! Prince's other Tony wins came as producer of A Little Night Music (1973) and director of Follies (1972), Candide (1974), Sweeney Todd (1979), Evita (1980) and The Phantom of the Opera (1988), which is now the longest-running musical in Broadway history. [Most read] Some restaurants in Illinois are defying closure orders as ban on indoor service spreads to Chicago suburbs, Hours after Lightfoot announces new COVID-19 restrictions, Birx warns during Chicago visit that closing public spaces won’t be enough, Trump and Biden clash over raging COVID-19 pandemic in final debate that showcased their vastly different visions for the nation, Some restaurants in Illinois are defying closure orders as ban on indoor service spreads to Chicago suburbs. Especially since Prince's professional life was of such longevity that it straddled the so-called golden age of Broadway musicals, the tin-pan alley tuners that were wholly focused on pleasing an all-American audience, and reached its peak during a very different era, that when colossal British spectacles, many of them produced by Cameron Mackintosh, came to dominate the art form. A few years later, Prince again won dual Tonys as director and producer of Sondheim and George Furth's Company (1971). Later on, he embraced these new phenomena, agreeing to direct a cut-down, $75 million version of "Phantom," which played in a Las Vegas casino in 2006, lasted only 95 minutes and came replete with a chandelier that fell to the floor at terrifying speed. Prince earned his final Tony Award as director for Show Boat (1995).

Spectacular as was the staging of "Evita," even that show belonged to a pre-digital era of theater aesthetics, meaning that Prince was one of the last Broadway directors charged with thrilling and wowing audiences without recourse to screens, computers or other such now-commonplace technology. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom," which opened in London in 1986 and became an international phenomenon, is the longest-running musical in Broadway history. Years listed are when the awards were given, not … In 2006, he was honored with another Tony Award for lifetime achievement in the theater. (1960) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1963), the latter being his first in a series of collaborations with the legendary Stephen Sondheim. "Beyond heartbroken to find out that #HalPrince has passed away,", "RIP to the legend Hal Prince. Born in New York in 1928, Harold Smith Prince first apprenticed himself to the legendary George Abbott, universally known as "Mr. Abbott," beginning his directing career in the 1960s before becoming one of the most bankable and creative interpreters of high-end Broadway musicals. "Phantom of the Opera," which continues to play on Broadway, has been a first musical of generations of theatergoers; sophisticates have mocked its candlelit melodramatic spectacle, even as lines of fans have formed every night at theaters around the world.

At the time, Prince told a reporter that he did not think the show was diminished but merely had move with the times. There could no argument with that, not on this day. In 2015, Broadway staged a retrospective of his work, "Prince of Broadway," although it struggled to make sense of its complex and accomplished subject.

The next Tony-winning hit for Prince was the original production of Fiddler on the Roof (1965), which ran for more than 3,000 performances on Broadway. Penned by the still-youthful English team of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, “Evita” changed the face of contemporary musical theater in 1979 and its success mocked those who argued that a show about the rise and fall of Eva Peron, the wife of Juan Peron, an Argentinian dictator, would have no appeal, especially with Che Guevara as its narrator. Prince was born on January 30, 1928 in New York City and, Under Abbott's mentorship, Prince was introduced to Robert Griffith, who would become his producing partner. Prince's Broadway career began as assistant stage manager on the musical revue Tickets, Please! Still, Prince’s haul of Tony Awards — 21 over his career in a variety of categories — eclipsed that of any other individual. According to publicists, there will be a public memorial at a later date. "If you're being obsessive about the process," Prince told the Tribune in 2003, "material really does get inside you and you take it home, you walk around with it on the street.". His last collaboration with Sondheim was “Bounce,” later retitled “Road Show,” which premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in 2003 and didn’t do well with critics, a reminder that even the Prince of Broadway sometimes struggled.

A list of Tony Awards won by Harold Prince. (1950). The Broadway premiere of the now iconic musical Cabaret (1966) marked Prince's first acclaimed work as a director. Prince touched the lives of many people, and tributes were posted on social media as news of his death spread. Prince earned his final Tony Award as director for Show Boat (1995). "He is missed and loved by his family -- Judy, his wife of 56 years; his daughter, Daisy; his son, Charles; and his grandchildren, Phoebe, Lucy, and Felix," Prince's publicist said in a statement. "So the closeness has always existed.". [Most read] Hours after Lightfoot announces new COVID-19 restrictions, Birx warns during Chicago visit that closing public spaces won’t be enough, [Most read] Trump and Biden clash over raging COVID-19 pandemic in final debate that showcased their vastly different visions for the nation, Column: An early debate lead for Donald J. Trump but, in the end, he couldn’t help his own cause, Second City accepting applications for ‘Saturday Night Live' scholarship, Review: Brian Dennehy and the great Chicago ‘Death of a Salesman' are back to haunt us anew, Theater world to unite for get-out-the-vote event on Oct. 29. A revue entitled Prince of Broadway, featuring re-created numbers from musicals directed and produced by Prince, arrived on Broadway in 2017. His greatest achievements though, at least artistically speaking, were a series of collaborations with the famed composer Stephen Sondheim, including “Company” (1970), “Follies” (1971), “A Little Night Music,” (1973), “Pacific Overtures” (1976), “Sweeney Todd” (1979) and “Merrily We Roll Along” (1981). He was right. For many people, it is the only musical they know. He took on a similar role in the original Broadway production of Call Me Madam (1950)—collaborating with director George Abbott—and moved up as full stage manager and understudy to the role of Frank Lippencott in the original Broadway mounting of Wonderful Town (1953). "Not just the prince of musicals, the crowned head who directed two of the greatest productions of my career, Evita and Phantom. Updated 1442 GMT (2242 HKT) August 1, 2019. Prince's death was confirmed by press agent Rick Miramontez.

Abbott brought Prince on for his first major success as co-producer—the musical comedy The Pajama Game (1954)—which would earn Prince his first Tony Award for Best Musical. See Meryl Streep, James Corden & More in the Sparkly Trailer for, What To Do (Without Broadway! He was honored for both producing and directing as well as with special awards. He continued working well past the normal retirement age. BROADWAY SHOWS SUSPENDED THROUGH MAY 30th. (CNN)Legendary Broadway icon Harold Prince, who produced or directed some of the most famous musicals ever made, including "West Side Story" and "The Phantom of the Opera," died after a brief illness Wednesday in Reykjavik, Iceland. This wonderful man taught me so much and his mastery of musical theatre was without equal," Webber said on Twitter Wednesday. "As per his wishes, there will be no funeral but there will be a celebration of his life this fall with the people he loved most, the members of the theatrical community that he was a part of for seven decades.". Column: Tragic presidency of Donald J. Trump could be nearing an end. He was 91.

Prince’s death in Reykjavik, Iceland after a brief illness, announced by his publicists, brings to end a formidable career that also included such seminal stagings as “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1993). "He stood up for me at my wedding, more than 40 years ago," Prince said of Sondheim in a 2003 Tribune interview. Over his expansive career that ran nearly 70 years, Prince, best known as Hal, received 21 Tony Awards, "the most for any individual in multiple categories,". It was Prince who connected the difficult subject matter to global audiences, homing in on such themes as cynicism, ambition and raw passion. Other notable projects ushered to Broadway by Prince include the original productions of West Side Story (1957), She Loves Me (1963), It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman (1966), Zorba (1968), Pacific Overtures (1976), Side by Side by Sondheim (1977), On the Twentieth Century (1978), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993), Parade (1998) and Lovemusik (2007). ): A Day-to-Day Schedule. He followed up that project with Best Musical Tony wins for the original Damn Yankees (1956), Fiorello! He graduated with a liberal arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania and served two years in the U.S. Army in Germany post-World War II before beginning work in the arts. Prince seemed to be an easily adaptable master of all these very different eras and aesthetics, often employing avant-garde techniques first articulated by the German theorist and director Bertolt Brecht, while eliminating their tendency to alienate audience members.