RIP Hal Prince

I woke up today to the news that Hal Prince has died, at age 91.

I never met Hal, but his impact on my life is profound. Everything I believe about the theatre, everything I do in the theatre, everything I make in the theatre, it all has roots in the work of the great Hal Prince. He changed everything.

No other artist -- not Fosse, Tommy Tune, Sondheim, nobody -- has been more of an influence on the work I do with New Line. It was Hal Prince who taught me the poetry of staging a show, that audiences will accept abstract space, abstract staging, etc., as long as you tell them a great story. Hal taught me that blocking doesn't have to be "natural;" it can be expressionistic. In fact, it's often more powerful and more meaningful when it leaves the concrete world for more expressionistic movement.

Just look at Hal's original staging of Follies and Evita as examples...

He also taught me never to fear the audience. He taught me the only real concern for a director is Am I being clear, am I telling this story as clearly as possible? He taught me that audiences love to think, to discover; and if you do all the work for them, they'll be bored and restless. He once said, "Don't sell audiences short. They are open to the adventurous, the challenging, even the dangerous.” With every show, New Line audiences prove he's right.

Hal taught me that theatre is an incredibly powerful force for persuasion and for social change, and because of its emotional heft, the musical theatre is even more powerful. He taught me that a show about nothing important is a boring show. He taught me it's okay to ask questions and leave the answers to the audience. He taught me that audiences don't want escape; they want connection.

He taught me that my art form is literally capable of anything, that musical theatre can tell any story, it can explore any issue, and it can aggressively challenge and confront its audience.

Hal came of age during the first Golden Age of Musical Theatre, and he's left us in the middle of a new Golden Age. But we must never forget that all the amazing artists making amazing work in the musical theatre right now, were all influenced massively by Hal Prince and his work. He died but he will be with us forever.

Forever.

Every innovation, every transformation, every ground-breaking experiment, all of it is part of the art form's DNA now. Hamilton isn't half as brilliant without the obvious influence of Hal Prince on the staging and direction. And the same is true for Falsettos, Sunday in the Park, Come From Away, Sweet Smell of Success, Floyd Collins, American Idiot, Rent, Passing Strange, The Great Comet, and so many other shows. (In fact, Hal's Candide in 1974 used all the devices that everybody thought were new and innovative in Great Comet.) Hal taught us all how to leave behind the creaky Rodgers & Hammerstein model for new forms and new conventions and new ways to tell great human stories.

Look at this list of shows he directed on Broadway -- She Loves Me, Baker Street, Superman, Cabaret, Zorba, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Candide, Pacific Overtures, On the 20th Century, Sweeney Todd, Evita, Merrily We Roll Along, A Doll's Life, Grind, Roza, Phantom of the Opera, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Show Boat, Parade, Lovemusik, and Prince of Broadway. (New Line has produced six of these.) And that doesn't even count the shows he only produced, like West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof...

I wouldn't be who I am if not for Hal Prince. I don't mourn his death -- I celebrate the dozens of musicals he helped bring to life, and all the mind-blowing, life-changing lessons he and his work have taught me over the years.

Thank you, Hal. I will pay it forward.

Long Live the Musical!
Scott