Harold Prince

In this fast-moving, candid, conversational, and entertaining memoir, Harold Prince, the most honored director/producer in the history of the American theater looks back over his seventy-year (and counting!) career. In 1974, Prince released his first book, Contradictions: Notes on Twenty-Six Years in the Theatre. Although Contradictions has since attained cult status among producers, directors, and actors alike, Prince, in hindsight, believes he wasn't ready to publish such a tome at that point in his career (in fact, doing so was an act of “insane arrogance”). Although he doesn't regret that effort, he is at last prepared to conclude it, to “see where I was right in my assessments and where I was wrong.” In Sense of Occasion, Prince returns to this seminal text, invigorating it with fresh insights cultivated through four decades of additional practice. Sense of Occasion gives an insider's recollection of the making of such landmark musicals as West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd, Evita, and Phantom of the Opera, with Prince's perceptive comments about his mentor George Abbott and his many celebrated collaborators, including Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Stephen Sondheim, John Kander, Boris Aronson, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Angela Lansbury, Zero Mostel, Carol Burnett, and Joel Grey. As well as detailing his titanic successes that changed the form and content of the American musical theater, Prince evenhandedly reflects on the shows that didn't work, most memorably and painfully Merrily We Roll Along. Throughout, he offers insights into the way business is conducted on Broadway, drawing sharp contrasts between past and present. This thoughtful, complete account of one of the most legendary and long-lived careers in theater history, written by the man who lived it, is an essential work of personal and professional recollection.

In this fast-moving candid conversational and entertaining memoir Harold Prince the most honored director/producer in the history of the American theater looks back over his seventy-year (and counting!) career. Þ In 1974 Prince released his first book ÊContradictions: Notes on Twenty-Six Years in the TheatreÊ. Although ÊContradictionsÊ has since attained cult status among producers directors and actors alike Prince in hindsight believes he wasn't ready to publish such a tome at that point in his career (in fact doing so was an act of insane arrogance ). Although he doesn't regret that effort he is at last prepared to conclude it to see where I was right in my assessments and where I was wrong. In ÊSense of OccasionÊ Prince returns to this seminal text invigorating it with fresh insights cultivated through four decades of additional practice. ÞÊSense of OccasionÊ gives an insider's recollection of the making of such landmark musicals as ÊWest Side StoryÊ ÊFiddler on the RoofÊ ÊCabaretÊ ÊCompanyÊ ÊFolliesÊ ÊSweeney ToddÊ ÊEvitaÊ and ÊPhantom of the OperaÊ with Prince's perceptive comments about his mentor George Abbott and his many celebrated collaborators including Leonard Bernstein Jerome Robbins Stephen Sondheim John Kander Boris Aronson Andrew Lloyd Webber Angela Lansbury Zero Mostel Carol Burnett and Joel Grey. As well as detailing his titanic successes that changed the form and content of the American musical theater Prince evenhandedly reflects on the shows that didn't work most memorably and painfully ÊMerrily We Roll AlongÊ. Throughout he offers insights into the way business is conducted on Broadway drawing sharp contrasts between past and present. This thoughtful complete account of one of the most legendary and long-lived careers in theater history written by the man who lived it is an essential work of personal and professional recollection.

Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb are the longest-running song-writing partnership in Broadway history, having first joined forces in 1962. The creators of such groundbreaking musicals as "Chicago," "Cabaret," and" Kiss of the Spider Woman," Kander and Ebb have helped to push American musical theater in a more daring direction, both musically and dramatically. Their impact on individual performers has been great as well, starting with the handpicked star of their first musical: an untested nineteen-year-old named Liza Minnelli (who writes of this experience in her introduction)." Colored Lights" covers the major shows of Kander and Ebb's partnership, from "Flora, the Red Menace" (starring a then-unknown Liza) to "The Visit," their newest show, which is set to star another Kander and Ebb favorite, Chita Rivera. The pages and musicals in between reveal what has made theirs such an important and long-lived musical partnership--and one so valued by the artists they have worked with. In recounting the genesis and controversies of "Cabaret," reflecting on the superstar mentality of such artists as Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand, and recalling their work with Bob Fosse on "Chicago" (as well as their thoughts on the Oscar-winning film version), John Kander and Fred Ebb provide a history not only of their own lives but also of the American musical theater of the late twentieth century.