Harold Prince, Master of the Broadway Musical, Dies at 91 Harold Prince, who arguably did more than anyone to shape the direction of the modern Broadway musical, died July 31, after a brief illness. He passed away in Reykjavík, Iceland, en route from his residence in Switzerland. Born Harold Smith on January 30, 1928, he took his stepfather's last name following his parents' divorce. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he served for two years in the Army before beginning his theatre career. He started out as a stage manager for the famed director George Abbott on such shows as Call Me Madam and Wonderful Town. He quickly advanced to becoming a producer, teaming up with Robert E. Griffith and Frederick Brisson on a trio of hits: The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, and New Girl in Town. His next show with Griffith, West Side Story, was the beginning of his legendary partnership with composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim. West Side Story was also the first of a series of shows that would push the limits of the Broadway book musical format, using it grapple with serious, real-world issues. His next show with Griffith, Fiorello!, about New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, won the Pulitzer Prize. After Griffith's death, Prince continued as a solo producer, scoring major successes with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Fiddler on the Roof, the latter of which was, for a time, Broadway's longest-running musical. Between them, he established himself as a director with the much-loved -- if commercially disappointing -- She Loves Me. From then on, the landmarks just kept coming: Cabaret, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Candide, Pacific Overtures, On the Twentieth Century, Sweeney Todd, Evita, and The Phantom of the Opera, the latter still running 31 years after its opening. Prince was noted for his strong visual sense -- he was said to have the look of a show in his head soon after reading the script -- a talent that was central to his work in pioneering the concept musical, in which a central idea was equally, if not more, important than the plot and characters. It's hard to think of any producer or director whose shows had so many memorable -- and influential -- designs. Many of these were the result of long-term partnership with designers, from William and Jean Eckert on Damn Yankees and Fiorello! to Beowulf Boritt and Howell Binkley on Lovemusik and Prince of Broadway. His collaboration with set designer Boris Aronson yielded some of the era's most iconic designs: the Marc Chagall-inspired village of Fiddler on the Roof, the tilted mirror reflecting (and implicating) the audience in Cabaret, the urban jungle gym in Company, the ruined theatre interior and surrealistic revue scenery in Follies, and the ever-shifting forest of birch trees in A Little Night Music. Robin Wagner produced the gleaming art deco luxury train interiors for On the Twentieth Century. Eugene Lee delivered the massive, oppressive Victorian London for Sweeney Todd, complete with the movable cube into which the title character's victims were dispatched, as well as the lavish parade of sets for Show Boat. And still on display, after all these years, are Maria Björnson's designs for Phantom of the Opera. Even Prince's flops featured notable design work: the triple-level backstage set for Grind (designed by Clarke Dunham), the comic-book page come to life in It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman! (designed by Robert Randolph), and the diamond jubilee parade for Queen Victoria, populated by marionettes, in Baker Street (designed by Oliver Smith, who also did West Side Story, with marionettes by Bil Baird). The roll call of designers who worked with Prince includes, but is not limited to, Tony Walton, Jean Rosenthal, Patricia Zipprodt, Florence Klotz, Tharon Musser, Franne Lee, Ken Billington, David Hersey, Judith Dolan, Timothy O'Brien and Tazeena Firth, Richard Pilbrow, Jerome Sirlin, Jack Mann, Martin Levan, William Ivey Long, and Jon Weston. Prince won 21 Tony Awards and ten Drama Desk Awards. It is not too much to say that, had his career never happened, the Broadway musical would look very different today. He is survived by his wife, Judy; his daughter, the director Daisy Prince, and his son, the conductor Charles Prince. On the evening of July 31, the Broadway theatres dimmed their lights in honor of him. 
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