Sense of Occasion

Harold Smith Prince was born on January 30, 1928 in Manhattan and adopted by Milton A. Prince, a stockbroker and Blanche Stern. He earned a liberal arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania snd later served two years in the United States Army in post World War II Germany. He began work in the theatre as an assistant stage manager to theatrical producer and director George Abbott. Along with Abbott, he co-produced The Pajama Game, which won the 1955 Tony Award for Best Musical.

He almost gave up musical theater right before he hit success with Cabaret in 1966. The year 1970 marked the start of his greatest collaboration, with composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim. They had previously worked on West Side Story and at this point decided to embark on their own project. Their association spawned a long string of productions, including Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Pacific Overtures (1976), and Sweeney Todd (1979). Prince was the inspiration for John Lithgow's character in Bob Fosse's film All That Jazz. He was also the basis of a character in Richard Bissell's novel Say, Darling, which chronicled Bissell's own experience turning his novel 7½ Cents into The Pajama Game.

In 2006, Prince was awarded a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. The Harold Prince Theatre at the Annenberg Center of the University of Pennsylvania is named in his honor. Harold Smith Prince passed away on July 31, 2019 at the age of 91, from a brief illness.

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