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10 August 2019 THE WEEKObituariesHal Prince, who has died
aged 91, started his
Broadway career in the glory
days of Cole Porter and
Rodgers and Hammerstein, and went on to
produce and direct some of the most enduring
musicals in theatre history, said The New York
Times–fromWest Side StoryandSweeney
ToddtoEvitaandPhantom of the Opera,
the longest-running show in Broadway history.
His most frequent collaborator was Stephen
Sondheim; his most profitable partnership was
with Andrew Lloyd Webber. He worked with
the great choreographers Jerome Robbins and
Bob Fosse, and in 1966 he madeastar of Joel
Grey, when he gave the then unknown
nightclub performer his defining role as the
leering KitKat club “emcee” inCabaret.A
show he devised and directed, it helped usher
in anew era on Broadway of darker musicals,
exploring “more harrowing elements of the
human condition”, that could appeal to an
audience in the America of civil rights, Woodstock and Vietnam.Harold Prince was born in Manhattan in 1928, and raised in
relative prosperity. His stepfather wasastockbroker, and both
his parents loved the theatre: he recalled, aged eight or nine, being
taken to see Orson Welles inaMercury Theatre production of
Julius Caesar.Atthe University of Pennsylvania, he joined an
acting troupe, ran the radio station and directedaplay he had
written. After graduating, he landed in New York, where he
foundajob working for George Abbott, the great writer,
producer and director known as Mr Broadway. Prince idolised
Abbott, said The Guardian–but he did not emulate him: his boss
represented the old Broadway; he the new one. “I haveadarker
sensibility,” he said. “I am political, he’s not. He unabashedly
wants people to haveagood time, and sometimesIdon’t giveadamn. He thinksagood show is one that
runsalong time.Icouldn’t disagree more.”Learning his craft as Abbott’s apprentice, in
1951 Prince worked as assistant stage manager
on Irving Berlin’sCall Me Madam,and in 1953
as the stage manager on Leonard Bernstein’s
Wonderful Town,starring Rosalind Russell.
He won his first Tony Award two years later
for co-producingThe Pajama Game,a
romantic comedy set against the backdrop of
an industrial dispute atapyjama factory. In
1957, he co-produced the original production
ofWest Side Story–the first of his six
collaborations with Sondheim. Its themes, of
warring gangs, poverty and racism, were daring
for the time, and though the critics loved it,
some audience members walked out. In the
early 1960s, he producedAFunny Thing
Happened on the Way to the Forum–the first
Broadway show for which Sondheim wrote the
lyrics and the music; and the mega-hitFiddler
on the Roof.Both starred Zero Mostel.As time wore on, Prince started to get frustrated by his work on
these productions. “I didn’t want to beabusinessman,” he said.
“Iamagood one, but only by default.Ididn’t get into the
business to keep books.” He turned to directing, and in 1966 had
his first major success with the groundbreakingCabaret.Itwas
his idea to adapt Christopher Isherwood’s stories about Weimar
Berlin for the musical stage, and he included Lotte Lenya, Kurt
Weill’s widow, in the cast. Other triumphs includedALittle Night
Music,FolliesandKiss of the Spiderwoman.In2017, he was
himself the subject ofaBroadway musical –Prince of Broadway.
As Lloyd Webber put it last week: “All of modern musical theatre
owes practically everything to him.” He is survived by Judy (née
Chaplin), his wife of 56 years, and by their two children.Hal Prince
1928-2019He did not write any seminal
works of philosophy, but
Bryan Magee, who has died
aged 89, did more than almost
anyone to popularise philosophy in the 20th
century. Much of this was done through two
TV series:Men of Ideas,in1978, andThe Great
Philosophers,in1987. “Watching them today,
the plummy accents, the brown furniture sets and
the beige suits are only the most obvious ways in
which they are incredibly dated,” said Julian
Baggini in Prospect. “A.J. Ayer puffing away on
acigarette is perhaps the standout period feature.
And each series only featured one woman” –
Iris Murdoch in the first (clearly regarded as
an honorary man, given the title), and Martha
Nussbaum in the second. But if the programmes
could be accused of reflecting “the worst of old-fashioned
Reithian paternalism”, Magee certainly wasn’t peddling dumbed-
down “popular philosophy”. He spoke directly to leading
thinkers, and encouraged them to convey what was interesting
about their subjects “without gimmicks or condescension”.
Although he spoke inacut-glass BBC accent, Magee was born in
Hoxton, in east London, and grew up inaflat above his father’s
clothes shop, where he sharedabed with his sister. He adored his
father,acultured man who loved theatre and opera, but described
his mother asadeeply damaged woman who did not love her
children (and told them so), and who often slapped him across
the face. Asaresult, he grew up on the streets,
where he witnessed fascist meetings and became
embroiled in fights. “But his real refuge from
family tensions was thought,” said The Daily
Telegraph. Aged around nine, he was deeply
shaken by the realisation that the world might
only exist in his head. In adulthood, he’d be
driven to the edge of suicide by existential
terrors. Aged 11, he wonascholarship to Christ’s
Hospital school where–shattered by the death of
his father–hewas further absorbed by questions
of meaning and existence, and becameasocialist.
At Oxford, he read PPE, publishedabook of
poetry, and became president of the union.Afteraspell teaching in Sweden–where he was
briefly married, and hadadaughter–Magee
joined the BBC, marking the beginning ofalong career in
broadcasting and writing. But he’d always imagined he was
destined for high political office, and in 1974 he became Labour
MP for Leyton–only to be confined to the backbenches. He
published his last book,Ultimate Questions,in2016. In an
interview with the New Statesman last year, he admitted to feeling
frustrated that he’d not done better, that he’d turned out not to be
as able as he’d like to have been. Living inanursing home in
Oxford, he was still wondering at life’s mysteries. “What the hell
is it all about? What are we doing here? What’s going on?Ifeel
the weight of these huge questions. AndIknowIcan’t get the
answers to them, andIfind that oppressive.”Bryan Magee
1930-2019Broadway producer who directed Cabaret and FolliesPrince: ushered inanew eraMagee: found refuge in thoughtMP, philosopher and poet who asked the “ultimate questions”