Harold Prince, Winner of 21 Tony Awards & Director/Producer of Phantom, Cabaret & More, Dies at 91

Harold Prince, the prolific producer and director who shepherded to Broadway such groundbreaking works as Sweeney Todd, West Side Story, Cabaret, Fiddler on the Roof and the record-breaking musical The Phantom of the Opera, died on July 31 in Reykjavik, Iceland. He was 91. Prince's death was confirmed by press agent Rick Miramontez.

"Harold Prince died this morning at ninety-one years of age after a brief illness, in Reykjavik, Iceland," said a statement released by Miramontez's office, DKC/O&M. "He is missed and loved by his family—Judy, his wife of 56 years; his daughter, Daisy; his son, Charles; and his grandchildren, Phoebe, Lucy and Felix. As per his wishes, there will be no funeral but there will be a celebration of his life this fall with the people he loved most, the members of the theatrical community that he was a part of for seven decades."

Harold Smith Prince was born on January 30, 1928 in Manhattan. He graduated with a liberal arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania and served two years in the U.S. Army in Germany post-World War II before beginning work in the arts.

Prince's Broadway career began as assistant stage manager on the musical revue Tickets, Please! (1950). He took on a similar role in the original Broadway production of Call Me Madam (1950)—collaborating with director George Abbott—and moved up as full stage manager and understudy to the role of Frank Lippencott in the original Broadway mounting of Wonderful Town (1953).

Abbott brought Prince on for his first major success as co-producer—the musical comedy The Pajama Game (1954)—which would earn Prince his first Tony Award for Best Musical. He followed up that project with Best Musical Tony wins for the original Damn Yankees (1956), Fiorello! (1960) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1963), the latter being his first in a series of collaborations with the legendary Stephen Sondheim. The next Tony-winning hit for Prince was the original production of Fiddler on the Roof (1965), which ran for more than 3,000 performances on Broadway.

The Broadway premiere of the now iconic musical Cabaret (1966) marked Prince's first acclaimed work as a director. Prince took home the 1967 Tony Award for Best Director along with that year's Tony for Best Musical. A few years later, Prince again won dual Tonys as director and producer of Sondheim and George Furth's Company (1971).

Prince's other Tony wins came as producer of A Little Night Music (1973) and director of Follies (1972), Candide (1974), Sweeney Todd (1979), Evita (1980) and The Phantom of the Opera (1988), which is now the longest-running musical in Broadway history. Prince earned his final Tony Award as director for Show Boat (1995).

Other notable projects ushered to Broadway by Prince include the original productions of West Side Story (1957), She Loves Me (1963), It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman (1966), Zorba (1968), Pacific Overtures (1976), Side by Side by Sondheim (1977), On the Twentieth Century (1978), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993), Parade (1998) and Lovemusik (2007).

Prince was honored with special Tony Awards for his achievements on Fiddler on the Roof and Candide in 1972 and 1974, respectively. He was also presented with a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2006.

A revue entitled Prince of Broadway, featuring re-created numbers from musicals directed and produced by Prince, arrived on Broadway in 2017. That show marked Prince's final Broadway credit.