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7 Movies and Documentaries to Watch and Celebrate the Legacy of Harold Prince
Broadway is mourning the loss of Harold Prince, the 21-time Tony-winning producer and director who is credited with shaping the face of modern musical theatre. Luckily, the artist’s legacy lives on. As we remember this Broadway trailblazer, here are some documentaries and movies that immortalized the genius of Hal Prince.
Harold Prince: The Director’s Life
This documentary, directed by Lonny Price, offers a retrospective of Prince’s entire career, complete with archival clips from his productions and interviews with the artists with whom he worked. PBS will be re-airing the documentary on August 2 at 10 PM ET, and it will also be available to stream at PBS.org through August 14.
READ: Lonny Price on Directing Harold Prince: The Director’s Life
The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees
Prince made his name on Broadway—and won his first Tony Award—producing both of these musicals for the stage, and he was an associate producer on their film adaptations. Both films are near carbon copies of the works’ stage productions, with several cast members recreating their performances for the big screen.
Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles
Among Prince’s final sole Broadway producing credits was Fiddler on the Roof, the Bock and Harnick musical that would go on to become one of the most beloved and produced musicals in the canon. This new documentary digs into the work’s origin story, with interviews from Prince, Harnick, Austin Pendleton, and more. The film will be in select theatres beginning August 23.
WATCH: The Trailer for the New Fiddler on the Roof Documentary
Original Cast Album: Company
Stephen Sondheim and Prince worked together on an unprecedented string of six groundbreaking musicals in the 1970s and early 1980s, changing the face of musical theatre on Broadway in the process. This documentary from D.A. Pennebaker lets us be a fly on the wall at the recording session for the original cast album of Company, Sondheim and Prince’s first musical as a composer-lyricist and director team in 1970. The film is an invaluable peek at the beginning of a genre-defining collaboration.
Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Almost none of Prince’s stage productions were filmed live for commercial release, but a fortunate exception is Sweeney Todd, Sondheim and Prince’s 1979 musical that blurred the lines between Broadway and opera and won eight Tony Awards including Best Musical. Captured on the production’s post-Broadway national tour, this film features several original Broadway cast members reprising their performances, including Angela Lansbury (who won a Tony Award for her Mrs. Lovett), Ken Jennings (Tobias), and Edmund Lyndeck (Judge Turpin).
Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened…
Merrily We Roll Along would end Prince and Sondheim’s partnership; after a disappointingly brief run of just 16 performances on Broadway, the two wouldn’t collaborate again until Prince directed Bounce (now Road Show) in Chicago and Washington, D.C. Though Merrily wasn’t a financial success, it remains a cult favorite among many theatre fans. This documentary, directed by one of the production’s original stars, Lonny Price, features interviews with Prince, Sondheim, and cast members.
BROADWAY BOUNTY HUNTER To Play Final Performance August 18
The new musical comedyBROADWAY BOUNTY HUNTER,now playing itsNew York Premiere engagement atGreenwich House Theater27 Barrow Street, will play its final performance on Sunday, August 18, 2019 after 48 performances.
Broadway Bounty Hunter Will Close Off-Broadway
Broadway Bounty Hunter will end its run at Off-Broadway’s Greenwich House Theater August 18 after 48 performances. Previously seen at Barrington Stage Company, the new musical comedy from Tony nominee Joe Iconis, which opened July 23, stars Annie Golden as a down-on-her-luck actor whose career takes an unexpected turn when she is tasked with hunting down a dangerous drug lord.
Broadway Bounty Hunter features music and lyrics by Tony nominee Iconis (Smash, Be More Chill), who also co-wrote the book with Lance Rubin (Denton Little’s Deathdate) and Jason SweetTooth Williams (Be More Chill). The show is directed and choreographed by Jennifer Werner (The Book of Mormon supervising associate director).
The New York premiere, produced by Jennifer Ashley Tepper (Be More Chill) and Allison Bressi (Songbird), began performances July 9.
The cast also includes Alan H. Green (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as Lazarus; Tony nominee Brad Oscar (Something Rotten!) as Mac Roundtree; Emily Borromeo (School of Rock) as Shiro Jin; Badia Farha (School of Rock) as Sienna; Jasmine Forsberg (Love In Hate Nation at Penn State) as Cortnie/Indigo; Omar Garibay (Ghost the Musical) as Spark Plug/Director; Jared Joseph (Holler if Ya Hear Me) as Felipe; Christina Sajous (SpongeBob SquarePants) as Claudine Machine/Janessa; and Emilie Battle (Dear Evan Hansen at Second Stage) and Ian Coulter-Buford (national tour of After Midnight) as swings. Anne L. Nathan (Once, Sunday in the Park with George) performs the title role at Saturday matinees.
Rounding out the Broadway Bounty Hunter creative team are scenic designer Michael Schweikardt (Rags at Goodspeed), Tony-winning lighting designers Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer (Assassins, Ragtime, Once On This Island), costume designer Sarafina Bush (Pass Over at LCT3), projection and video designer Brad Peterson (Junk, Oslo, Cats), sound designer Cody Spencer (Here Lies Love), music supervisor and orchestrator Charlie Rosen (Be More Chill), vocal arranger Joel Waggoner (Presto Change-o composer), music director Geoffrey Ko (Be More Chill, associate), artistic consultant Nehemiah Luckett (The TEAM’s Primer for a Failed Superpower), fight consultant Eric William Morris (King Kong), and associate director/choreographer Leonard Sullivan (The Book of Mormon). Production management is by Tinc Productions, stage manager is E. Sara Barnes, general manager is KGM Theatrical, with casting by Carrie Gardner CSA.
Co-producing the show are Marji and Kevin Finkel, Maxwell Haddad, Winston Hatta, The Schorr Family, August Laksa/Benjamin Nissen, The Nice Kids, Dara Paige Bloomfield/Peri Ganbarg, Gray Lady Entertainment/Marandi Entertainment, Cliff Hopkins, Phil Iconis, Megan Minutillo/Jen Sandler, Mia Moravis, Platypus Productions, Michelle Riley.
BWW TV: Get a Behind-The-Scenes Look at Goodspeed’s PASSING THROUGH in the Show’s Final Vlog!
Goodspeed Musicals is set to stage the inspiring new musical Passing Through this summer, and we’re getting an inside peek with an exclusive vlog series featuring the show’s cast and creative team. Check out the final episodebelow to hear from the show’s composerlyricist and book writer, Brett Ryback and Eric Ulloa all about the musical development of the show
Todd Almond Will Premiere Songs From Upcoming Musical at Joe’s Pub
Todd Almond, the singer-songwriter and actor known for Kansas City Choir Boy and Iowa, will return to Joe’s Pub August 1 at 7 PM. Almond will debut songs from his forthcoming musical IoO, a wild American romance written in collaboration with Obie-winning director Lisa Peterson.
In addition to his frequent Joe’s Pub concert performances, Almond has collaborated on three musical adaptations for the Public Theater’s Public Works initiative, writing music and lyrics for The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, and The Odyssey. Almond was featured in the large-scale productions at the Delacorte Theater.
Almond was also seen in the Public Theater’s sold-out engagement of The Girl From the North Country last fall. The new musical written by Conor McPherson and featuring the music of Bob Dylan will transfer to Broadway early next winter.
He received critical acclaim for Kansas City Choir Boy, his 2015 synth-pop song cycle co-starring Courtney Love; as well as the gay coming-of-age musical Girlfriend, inspired by Matthew Sweet’s 1991 breakup album. His works also include Iowa, A Separate Piece, On the Levee, People Like Us, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
His albums Mexico City and Memorial Day are currently available.
For tickets, priced $25, click here.