A Conversation with Harold Prince Featuring Judy Kaye and Tom Wopat
Friday, October 30, 2009 8 p.m.
Presented by Center for the Arts Northeastern University, Blackman Theatre Ell Hall, 360 Huntington Avenue Moderated by Del Lewis, Director of the Center for the Arts
He speaks as freely and easily of his failures as he does of his successes, with no discernible tinge of hubris - just the facts. And the fact is that Harold Prince is the recipient of 21 Tony Awards, the most given any individual, including the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award. In an extraordinary theatrical career spanning the decades from 1948, there have been only two seasons during which Prince has not been represented on Broadway. His successes far outnumber his failures and include the behemoth The Phantom of the Opera, still running strong in its 22nd year, West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, Evita, and Fiddler on the Roof.
In anticipation of A Conversation with Harold Prince presented by the Center for the Arts at Northeastern University on Friday, October 30 at 8 p.m., BroadwayWorld spoke with Mr. Prince via telephone from his office in New York. When I informed him that his long-time friend and collaborator Stephen Sondheim had participated in a similar forum last year, Prince was unaware of it and said he is coming because he was invited. "I'm rather thrilled to know that Judy Kaye and Tom Wopat are working, that's really nice." Kaye won the 1988 Tony Award for Featured Actress in the role of Carlotta in Phantom, and will appear in Prince's new musical Paradise Found.
Although he has not worked with the Tony-nominated Wopat before, he is effusive in his praise for him. "He is an absolutely astonishing actor and a marvelous performer. I saw his musical last year (A Catered Affair) and I didn't even recognize him. He's just a really, really protean performer. He's brilliant and I'd love to work with him." Prince continues, "He's very special, I'd like to work with him a lot. He's very much my kind of actor so it's just circumstance it hasn't happened." When asked to define the phrase "my kind of actor," Prince says dryly, "A good one."
The format for the event at N.U. allows the guest to liberally recount his years in the theatre, framed by questions from Moderator Del Lewis, Director of the Center for the Arts, and punctuated by song selections from many of his shows by the two featured vocalists. The content is sure to be rich with anecdotes about Prince's involvement with more than 50 musicals, plays, and operas, as well as his ascension from stage manager to producer to director while working for the Broadway legend George Abbott.
