Sense of Occasion by Harold Prince: review
Going to the theatre should always be an
occasion, something special, different, say, from going to the cinema, the
movies or going shopping.
That the combined efforts of a handful or
dozens of individual persons to present a live show, something in the moment
and fleeting make a special occasion is something that I completely agree with
and the title of Harold Prince´s 2017 book is entirely appropriate. It harks
back to Henry Purcell and his colleagues in 17th century London who
referred to their work in the theatre as Spectacle and Entertainment, something
very much out of the ordinary.
The first part of Sense of Occasion is a
reprint of his earlier book: Contradictions, Notes on 26 years in the theatre
from 1974 with commentary and self evaluation on that earlier book. That the
time in question includes ground breaking works such as West Side Story should
give a clear enough hint that this is no small time endeavour.
The remainder of the book is a collection
of Mr Prince´s experiences over seven
decades of success in the theatre and especially in musical theatre. I was
drawn to this book by reading Andrew Lloyd Webbers´s Memoir and the
quintessentially English Sir Andrew ´s experiences of collaborating with the
totally American Mr Prince.
I came to the book as an admirer: I have
enjoyed Evita and Phantom of the Opera and have seen both several times both in
London and New York. So, imagine my surprise at learning that not everything Mr
Prince touched turned to gold.
“Not every show is going to work, and in a
long career you have to expect disappointments” he says in the opening sentence
to Chapter 32. How can it be that the producer/director of magnificent pieces
such as West Side Story, Evita, Phantom of the Opera, Sweeney Todd, and so many
more successes, can also turn in some shows that were commercial and/or
critical disasters?
Isn´t that precisely why going to the theatre is an
Occasion? As a spectator, we put our trust in the producer, director, writer
and performers without any guarantee that the show will be to our liking. We
spend our hard earned cash in the hope of, but without any guarantee of, a good
time being had by all.
Among Harold Prince´s frustrations we read of his
battles with the musicians´union who insisted on a certain number of players to
be employed, not according to the needs of the score but according to the size
of the performance venue. This leads to the ridiculous situation of musicians
being paid to not play, literally to sit reading during an entire performance
just to satisfy a quota system. This section of the book drew me back tom Blair
Tindall’s book Mozart in the Jungle, where she describes this and many other craziness
examples of the NY music scene.
Back to Mr Prince, my favourite part is where he
describes his work as providing the minimum of staging so that he audience can
supply the rest through their imagination. Once and again he repeats the mantra
that if too much is spelt out and up front, there is nothing left for the
spectator to bring in terms of her/his own imagination.
After reading page after page of the book, and after
seeing numerous performances of Mr Prince´s producing/directing work on stage,
I am left with the impression of a strong and likeable personality. It was
striking to read an article in this morning´s London Sunday Times where he is described as “A dictator and not a
nice man” by actress Patti LuPone. Mind
you, according to the same interview she also “fell out with Andrew Lloyd
Webber”.
Each to his/her own: I am left with a sense of admiration
for Harold Prince who has been an essential part of some of the great successes
on Broadway and London´s West End, and who has been an inspiration for so many
of us who have worked to pass on his legacy to our students, albeit in much
more limited circumstances.
nice
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