Quotes by Harold Prince

About Harold Prince:

Harold Smith "Hal" Prince is an American theatrical producer and director associated with many of the best-known Broadway musical productions of the past half-century. He has garnered twenty-one Tony Awards, more than any other individual, including eight for directing, eight for producing the year's Best Musical, two as Best Producer of a Musical, and three special awards.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I was there when the quote-unquote golden age of musical theater was flourishing. I met everybody who worked in theater or was famous in theater from the '40s on.

Harold Prince

Throwing money at something doesn't really create - forgive me that onerous word - art.

Harold Prince

The musical has always been in jeopardy - until - or was in jeopardy until it was realised that it is probably the safest living theatre art form.

Harold Prince

Ethel Merman would stay with a show for years and tour with it. So would Mary Martin, the great stars. They recognized the value of that success and nurtured it. Now, you come from Hollywood, you play 12 weeks and go away. I don't think that's the be...

Harold Prince

'Showboat' is the quintessential family show.

Harold Prince

The idea that I have to be on the same side of the fence as Dan Quayle is cruelly depressing to me, but the truth is, I believe in family values.

Harold Prince

A star may guarantee business, but the tradeoff is a very short run.

Harold Prince

Collaboration is just, really, a group of people getting in a room with their eye on a very similar prize and wanting to come out with the same show. The director, ultimately, is the guy in front of whom the buck stops. So, he has to have the courage...

Harold Prince

Nobody has yet proven that taking a chance and doing something unique that an audience isn't used to is a bad idea. What the theater lacks is that kind of courage.

Harold Prince

Audiences are very willing to be taken somewhere, and to ask an audience beforehand what it wants is probably, I think, a mistake. Much better you should tell them what you want and hope they agree with it.

Harold Prince

I've never been able to understand where great artists come from.

Harold Prince

I always had a good time in theatre, even when shows don't turn out as well as I'd like.

Harold Prince

The truth of the matter is that I have lasted a long time, and with it comes both good and bad things. One of the good things is that no one can ever take my career away from me. No one can ever say, 'You can't be in the theater any more.'

Harold Prince

Producers want to put their music behind revivals but I don't think that's a good trend for the theater at all.

Harold Prince

I like to do everything you can possibly do before you go into rehearsal, because once we are in rehearsal or on the stage there will be a problem I didn't anticipate. It's really good to think we got it all nailed - of course you've never got it all...

Harold Prince

The idea is to work and to experiment. Some things will be creatively successful, some things will succeed at the box office, and some things will only - which is the biggest only - teach you things that see the future. And they're probably as valuab...

Harold Prince

I don't compare shows. It's very simple. I don't live in the past. If there's any secret to my longevity, it's living in the future. And a little bit in the present.

Harold Prince

I really don't spend time thinking about the past. I think about the future. I'm not stopping.

Harold Prince

I'm just really trying to say what I really mean, which is: 'Your eye's on the prize, your eye's on the future. It's nice to know that a lot of wonderful things have happened to your life and that so much of it has been successful. That's great, but ...

Harold Prince

I don't know why the guys with the big money don't find five terrific young producers and give each of them enough to commission a musical and to live on for a year. You'd be likely to get at least one project with a future.

Harold Prince

Author Bio

  • NameHarold Prince
  • DescriptionAmerican theatre producer and director
  • BornJanuary 30, 1928
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionFilm Director; Entrepreneur
  • AwardsNational Medal Of Arts