Live Design Honors Hal Prince And His Design Collaborators

Director and producer Harold Prince and his design collaborators have been awarded the 2007 Live Design Honor. Live Design will pay tribute to “The Design Aesthetic of Hal Prince” at a special benefit evening on Tuesday, May 15, at the Rosenthal Pavilion of the Kimmel Center at New York University. This marks the Second Annual Live Design Honors paying tribute to the collaborative spirit of designers who work together to create memorable and innovative productions.

Prince's distinguished career has lasted for many decades, beginning with his theatrical apprenticeship in the late '40s and early '50s with the esteemed author, director, and producer George Abbott. Then in 1954, he presented his first musical, The Pajama Game, in collaboration with Robert E. Griffith and Frederick Brisson. Prince has directed the premiere productions of Cabaret, the original Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, The Phantom of the Opera, She Loves Me, Company, Follies, Candide, Pacific Overtures, Evita, Parade, and Bounce. Before becoming a director, his productions included Damn Yankees, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello!, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Among the plays he has directed are Hollywood Arms, The Visit, The Great God Brown, End of the World, Play Memory and his own play, Grandchild of Kings. Recently, he prepared a new version of Phantom in Las Vegas at the Venetian Hotel. Currently, his new musical, LoveMusik, is playing at Manhattan Theatre Club's Biltmore Theater on Broadway. His opera productions have been seen at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, and the Theater Colon in Buenos Aires.

Prince has served as a trustee for the New York Public Library and on the National Council of the Arts of the NEA. He is the recipient of a National Medal of Arts (2000) from President Clinton and 21 Tony Awards, and he was a 1994 Kennedy Center Honoree. In 2006, when Prince received a special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre, he remarked, “I've had decades of working with the most brilliant creative artists in the American theatre.”

Live Design hosts the May 15 event as a benefit for The ESTA Foundation's Behind the Scenes charity. As a part of the evening, there will be a silent auction benefiting the organization. The Honors take place in conjunction with Live Design's annual Broadway Lighting Master Classes (BLMC) at NYU. For information about the BLMC, the Broadway Projection Master Classes (BPMC), and Broadway Sound Master Classes (BSMC), visit livedesignonline.com/broadwaymasterclasses.