Prince Of Broadway

Reviewed: September 13, 2017
 

Prince of Broadway is playing at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre located at 261 West 47th Street. It runs two hours and twenty minutes with one intermission. The musical closes on October 23, 2017.

The musical is about Harold Prince. He is a theatrical producer and director. Mr. Prince was born on January 10, 1928. He has received twenty one Tony Awards, eight directing, eight producing, two for best producer of a musical and three special awards.

It premiered in 2015 in Japan.

David is the playwright. He was nominated for two Tony Awards for The Scottsboro Boys (2011) and Steel Pier (1997). David won a Drama Desk Award for the Scottsboro Boys.

Susan Stroman is the director (with Harold Prince) and choreographer. She won four Tony Awards for The Producers (2001), Contact (2000), Showboat (1995) and Crazy For You (1992). She was nominated for six Tony Awards for Bullets Over Broadway (2014), The Scottsboro Boys (2011), Oklahoma (2002), The Music Man (2000), Steel Pier (1997) and Big (1996).

Beowulf Boritt is the set designer. He was nominated for a Tony Award for The Scottsboro Boys (2011).

William Ivey Long is the costume designer. He won six Tony Awards for Roger & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (2013), The Grey Gardens (2007), The Producers (2001), Hairspray (2003), Crazy For you (1991) and Nine (1981). William was nominated for six Tony Awards for On the Twentieth Century (2015), Bullets Over Broadway (2014), The Music Man (2000), Cabaret (1998), Chicago (1997) and Lend Me A Tenor (1989).

Chuck Cooper won a Tony Award in 1997 for The Life.

Janet Decal won a Drama Desk Award for In the Heights in 2007 when it was off Broadway.

Emily Skinner was nominated for a Tony Award in 1997 for Side Show.

Brandon Uranowitz was nominated for two Tony Awards for Falsettos (2017) and An American in Paris (2015).

Michael Xavier was nominated for two Laurence Olivier Awards in 2011 for Into the Woods and Love Story.

Tony Yazbek was nominated for a Tony Award for On the Town (2014).

Karen Ziemba won a Tony Award for Contact (2000) and was nominated for a Tony Award for Steel Pier (1997).

The stage is bare. Brandon Uranowitz comes out as Harold Prince. He tells the audience how he got into the theatre business.

Act one starts with Pajama Game (1954). From time to time one of the actors comes out as Harold and tells how he got involved with the show or a little about the musical. The rest of Act one musicals are (the year of the show and the number of songs sung from the musical follow the name), Damn Yankees (1955-1), West Side Story (1957-2), She Loves Me (1963-2) It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman (1966-1), Follies (1971-3), A Little Nights Music (1973-3), Fiddler on the Roof (1964-1) and Cabaret (1966-4).

Act two opened with Company (1970-3), followed by Evita (1979-3), Showboat (1994-1), Merrily We Roll Around (1981-1), Parade (1998-1), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993-2), Sweeney Todd (1979-3) and The Phantom of the Opera ( 1986-3).

The final song was written for the show and is sung by the whole cast “Do the Work”.

There is no story if you are looking for one. This is a reflection of a very talented man who brought and directed some of Broadways top shows. As his character mentioned he had his share of flops too!

The stage is minimal but still outstanding. It does a great job on reflecting what the show is. It’s amazing where they keep all the props.

Not every actor is each musical number. There are too many to mention which song they were fantastic in but each did a great performance. Go see the show to find out yourself. Each one shines!

Tony Yazbeck is fantastic in his solo dance number.

The only flaw I felt hinder my appreciation of the musical even more was in the beginning of the show they flash the shows Harold Prince has done. When the musical came on unless they mentioned the name or it was done so many times like Fiddler on the Roof you would know, it was a mystery what show was being done. It is in the Playbill but it would have been nice to have been told in some manner before each musical started.

Don’t let this stop you from seeing this enjoyable show and reminiscing on some of the great hits on Broadway.

Review by Rozanna Radakovich

Photos by Annazor.

To read a candid interview with the cast, scroll down to the left for recent photos. Click on a photo, then click on back to album and finally click on back to gallery or this and other shows.