Harold Prince Essay

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Harold Prince was born on January 30, 1928 in New York city. Since a young age, Harold Prince was surrounded by theater. He was taken to a broadway show by his theater loving parents, and it was then that he discovered his love and interest for theater. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania at age 19, hoping to make his debut in the theater world. He started off with a sole interest in serious drama, however, in 1945 after seeing the musical On the Town, he found himself drawn to musical drama. The show had a line up of many new young talents, such as: Leonard Bernstein who was a composer, choreographer Jerome Robbins, and Betty Comden and Adolph Green who were writing partners. In addition to the talented lineup was veteran showman …show more content…

The experience he had will later be threaded into his phenomenal production Cabaret. Upon returning from his military service, Prince went back to helping and working with Abbott. At age 26, after many years under Abbott’s supervision, Prince finally felt ready to start of his career as a producer. Through the help of Robert E. Griffith, Prince was able to acquire the rights to a the popular novel, 7 ½ Cents by Richard Pike Bissell. 7 ½ Cents is a comic about a strike in a pajama factory. Prince hired his former boss Abbott to help turn the novel into a musical, naming it The Pajama Game. The Pajama Game was directed by Abbott. The show resulted in a huge success, making it the hit of 1954. It even won Broadway’s Tony Award of “Best Musical of the Year”. Following The Pajama Game, Prince quickly produced another hit musical called Damn Yankees, based on another popular novel. Once again Prince won “Best Musical of the Year”. Prince went on to produce more hits such as; New Girl in Town, West Side Story, Fiorello, and A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum. Fiorello won “Best Musical of the Year” and in addition to that also won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, which was rare for a musical. A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum like his other musicals won “Best Musical of the Year” and Prince was awarded “Best