Harold Prince, Tony Award-Winning Broadway Producer And Director, Dies At 91
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA/AP) — Harold Prince, a Broadway director and producer who pushed the boundaries of musical theater with groundbreaking shows such as "The Phantom of the Opera," "Cabaret," "Damn Yankees" and "Sweeney Todd" and won a staggering 21 Tony Awards, has died. Prince was 91.
Prince was known for his fluid, cinematic director's touch and was unpredictable and uncompromising in his choice of stage material. He often picked challenging, offbeat subjects to musicalize, such as a murderous, knifing-wielding barber who baked his victims in pies or the 19th-century opening of Japan to the West.
By the time he was 26, he had already produced his first musical — "The Pajama Game" — and won his first Tony Award. Over the next half century, Prince won a total of 21 Tony Awards, including eight for directing.
"Directing is fun, I think, and working with actors is terrific," he previously said. "And I like actors a lot."
Prince's publicist Rick Miramontez says Prince died Wednesday after a brief illness in Reykjavik, Iceland.
As word of his death spread, celebrities took to Twitter to celebrate his legacy.
The Pantages Theatre in Hollwood honored Prince Wednesday night dimming the neon lights and observing a moment a silence.
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