SONDHEIM, JASON ROBERT BROWN & CRITICS ON HAL PRINCE

Jeremy Gerard, Frank Rich and Jesse Green published valuable reminiscences of Hal Prince, the prolific and hugely successful and influential producer and director who died yesterday, at 91.

Composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, 89, wrote of their collaboration in his 2011  book, Look, I Made a Hat:

"Hal, with whom I have worked on eight shows, is sharp and brilliant, heartily warm but inwardly removed. His work tends to be distancing; he is drawn to Brechtian presentations in which the audience is constantly reminded that they are in a theater. He likes epic scope in the tradition of [Vsevolod] Meyerhold and [Max] Reinhardt, which is one reason he directs operas whenever he gets the chance; they offer him the possibility of spectacle. Hal is mercurial in mood, given to large swings from high to low although, being a gent, he doesn't spread the lows to his colleagues; he is constantly, even aggressively encouraging. His energy is dynamic and contagious -- I have seldom left a meeting with Hal without wanting to rush home and write songs."

Composer-lyricist Jason Robert Brown, who collaborated with Prince on Parade and Prince of Broadway, and has worked with Prince's daughter, Daisy, a director, offered this on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/MrJasonRBrown/status/1156601325863546881