PRINCE OF BROADWAY, a new musical celebrating legendary Broadway director and producer Harold "Hal" Prince, is in development now, aiming for a Toronto production in the summer of 2012 prior to opening on Broadway that fall.
The production will feature twelve principle actors, according to an Equity casting notice. "Most roles have been cast through offers only," the notice stresses, and "producers state that this is an all-principal show; no Equity Chorus Calls will be held."
PRINCE OF BROADWAY will be directed by Mr. Prince with co-direction and choreography by Susan Stroman (The Producers, Contact, Crazy for You). David Thompson (The Scottsboro Boys, Chicago [adaptation]) is writing the book and Jason Robert Brown (The Last Five Years, Parade) is writing vocal and dance arrangements. Orchestrations will be by Don Sebesky (Come Fly Away, Kiss Me Kate [revival]). Eric Stern (Shrek the Musical, Parade) will serve as musical director.
The design team for PRINCE OF BROADWAY includes scenic and projection design by Jerome Sirlin (Kiss of the Spider Woman), costume design by William Ivey Long (Catch Me If You Can, The Producers, Crazy for You), lighting design by Howell Binkley (Memphis, Jersey Boys) and sound design by Peter Hylenski (The Scottsboro Boys, Rock of Ages).
Harold 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, Mr. 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. His opera productions have been seen at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Vienna Staatsoper and the Theater Colon in Buenos Aires. He served as a trustee for the New York Public Library and on the National Council of the Arts of the NEA. Recently, he became an officer with the Order of Arts and Letters from the French Government for "contributing significantly to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world." He is the recipient of a National Medal of Arts for the year 2000 from President Clinton for a career spanning more than 40 years, in which "he changed the nature of the American musical." In 2010, he received the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center's Monte Cristo Award. The recipient of 21 Tony Awards®, he was a 1994 Kennedy Center Honoree.
