PRINCE OF BROADWAY Begins Rehearsals in NYC This Week

The Umeda Arts Theater world premiere production of Prince of Broadway will begin rehearsals on Thursday, September 3 in New York City.

Prince of Broadway, a new musical celebrating the extraordinary six decade Broadway career of producer-director Harold Prince. The production plays from October 23-November 22, 2015 at Tokyu Theatre Orb in Tokyo, Japan and November 28-December 10, 2015 at Umeda Arts Theatre, Main Hall, in Osaka, Japan

Prince of Broadway, which features words and music from many of the shows that have earned Hal Prince a record 21 Tony Awards, has a book by two-time Tony Award nominee David Thompson (The Scottsboro Boys, Steel Pier), co-direction and choreography by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman (The Producers, Contact, Crazy for You) and direction by Mr. Prince.

The cast includes Josh Grisetti (It Shoulda Been You), Shuler Hensley (Tony Award winner for Oklahoma!), Ramin Karimloo (Phantom of the Opera, Tony Award nominee for Les Miserables), Nancy Opel (Honeymoon in Vegas, Tony Award nominee for Urinetown), Bryonha Marie Parham (After Midnight, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess), Emily Skinner (Billy Elliot, Tony Award nominee for Side Show), Mariand Torres (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, Wicked), Kaley Ann Voorhees (Phantom of the Opera), Tony Yazbeck (Tony Award nominee for On the Town) and Reon Yuzuki (former Top Star of the Takarazuka Revue Company's Star Troupe).

Celebrating one of the most influential and successful careers in the American theatre of the past 60 years, Prince of Broadway will look at the circumstances and fortune, both good and bad, that led to Hal Prince creating some of the most enduring and beloved theatre of all time, including The Pajama Game, West Side Story, Fiorello!, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Evita, and The Phantom of the Opera, the longest-running show in Broadway history.

Mr. Prince commented, "The idea for Prince of Broadway was brought me to me some years ago and, a tad reluctantly, I agreed to consider the notion of a compendium show featuring material from the 34 musicals I directed and/or produced on Broadway. Subsequently, I asked Susan Stroman to choreograph and co-direct with me because so much of the material will require inspired movement. I have come to the conclusion that I don't want to reproduce verbatim what I staged in the original productions. Instead, I plan to re-think each segment and direct it as I would today, possibly having learned more about what I'm doing in the subsequent years. Finally, I've asked Jason Robert Brown, a choice composer with whom I've worked before (Parade) to orchestrate the show, write connective musical material, and create a brand-new number for the finale. After all, my career is just a blip on the theatre screen and there will be a rich future."

Mr. Prince directed the original productions of She Loves Me, It's a Bird...Superman, Cabaret, Zorba, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, On the Twentieth Century, Sweeney Todd, Evita, Merrily We Roll Along, The Phantom of the Opera, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Parade and LoveMusik. He has also directed acclaimed revivals of Candide and Show Boat. Before becoming a director, Mr. Prince produced the original productions of The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, New Girl in Town, West Side Story, Fiorello!, Tenderloin, Flora the Red Menace, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Fiddler on the Roof. 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. 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. In 2006, he prepared a new version of Phantom which ran in Las Vegas at the Venetian Hotel for six years. His next musical, The Band's Visit, will open at the Atlantic Theatre Company in 2016. Mr. Prince is a trustee for the New York Public Library and previously served on the National Council on the Arts for the NEA. He is the recipient of 21 Tony Awards, a Kennedy Center Honor, the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center's Monte Cristo Award and a National Medal of the Arts from President Clinton for a career in which "he changed the nature of the American musical."

Prince of Broadway features set design by Tony Award winner Beowulf Boritt, costume design by six-time Tony Award-winner William Ivey Long, lighting design by Sonoyo Nishikawa and sound design by Koichi Yamamoto. Wig design is by Paul Huntley. Musical supervisor and arrangements are by three-time Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown. Musical director is Fred Lassen. Casting is by Tara Rubin.