ABSTRACT
Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Phantom of the Opera (1988), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993), and Parade (1998), among a host of others.
Prince, who is arguably the most important director in the history of the American musical theatre, initially had aspirations of being a
playwright. While a student at the University of Pennsylvania, however, he quickly realized where his strengths lay. “I wrote one play and directed it. I got the directing award, not the playwriting award. I reasoned
very quickly that I wasn’t going to be the best, and decided to stop that.” But what Prince took with him from that initial foray into playwriting was the sense that “being able to put words together must be useful
to a director.” Once out of college, he sent off a teleplay of his to the office of George Abbott, who in the late-’40s was dabbling in experimental television. “Attached to the script was a note saying, ‘I just got out of
the University of Pennsylvania. I don’t know what I could possibly do that would earn a nickel, so why don’t you give me a job and not pay me. And if you can figure out that you’re not paying me from the
quality of what I do, I want you to fire me immediately.’ That intrigued them, and I got a job.”
