美国国家公共电台 NPR Hal Prince, Transformational Broadway Producer And Director, Has Died

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The legendary¹ Broadway director and producer Hal Prince has died. He won a record 21 Tony Awards, and his productions of musicals are classics. They include "Fiddler On The Roof," "Cabaret," "The Phantom² Of The Opera" and "Sweeney Todd," among many others. Prince died in Iceland at age 91. Jeff Lunden has this appreciation³.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE⁴: Hal Prince was always looking forward to the next show regardless of how the last one turned out. In 1965, composer John Kander was working on a show that Prince produced called "Flora⁵, The Red Menace," and it was not going well.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

JOHN KANDER: The show was not a success. And we met at Hal's apartment and started working on a piece, which eventually became "Cabaret."

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, "CABARET")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As emcee, singing) Willkommen and bienvenue, welcome.

LUNDEN: Prince was born in New York in 1928 and fell in love with the theater as a kid. He told me that as soon as he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, he approached Broadway producer and director George Abbott and asked for a job.

HAL PRINCE: I worked for nothing. That was my proposal. And he accepted it, and then he paid me after about six months.

LUNDEN: Prince learned not only his work ethic⁶ from George Abbott. He became a producer himself, and in 1954, he produced "The Pajama Game" and hired Abbott to direct it.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, "THE PAJAMA GAME")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As Sid, singing) Hey there, you with the stars in your eyes.

LUNDEN: It was the beginning of a phenomenally successful career as a producer. Among Prince's other shows where "Damn Yankees," "West Side Story" and "Fiddler On The Roof."

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, "FIDDLER ON THE ROOF")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As Tevye, singing) If I were a rich man (unintelligible) all day long I'd biddy-biddy bum⁷ if I were a wealthy man (ph).

LUNDEN: But Prince had other ambitions.

PRINCE: I wanted to be a playwright⁸, which I couldn't do. And I wanted to be a director, which I could do.

LUNDEN: So Prince hired himself to direct shows like "Cabaret" and "Zorba." In 1970, he began a remarkable⁹ period of collaboration¹⁰ with composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

STEPHEN SONDHEIM: He always makes me want to go to the piano and write. I always leave meetings with Hal just bursting with ideas. Hal's as stimulating¹¹ as anybody I've ever met.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, "COMPANY")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As Robert, singing) Phone rings, door chimes, in comes company.

LUNDEN: Among their shows were "Company," "Follies¹²" and "Sweeney Todd," which expanded and transformed musical theater. They were often referred to as concept musicals, serious works on serious topics - contemporary marriage, disillusion¹³ in the American dream, the corrosive¹⁴ nature of the Industrial Revolution.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, "SWEENEY TODD")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #5: (As Sweeney Todd, singing) The history of the world, my sweet.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #6: (As Mrs. Lovett, singing) Oh, Mr. Todd, ooh, Mr. Todd, what does it tell?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #5: (As Sweeney Todd, singing) Is who gets eaten and who gets to eat.

LUNDEN: Prince's shows were always impeccably staged and designed, says another frequent collaborator¹⁵, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER: He is so visual. And when he gets something right visually, I mean, nobody gets it more right than him.

LUNDEN: They worked together on "Evita" and "The Phantom Of The Opera."

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #7: (As the Phantom of the Opera, singing) Sing once again with me, a strange duet. My power over you grows stronger yet.

LUNDEN: "Phantom" is by far the biggest hit Hal Prince ever directed. It's the longest-running show in Broadway history. But Prince also had his share of flops¹⁶. His wife Judy confronted him one day.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

PRINCE: She said, I'm sick to death of you talking about hits and flops. Do you not acknowledge that some of your greatest successes were flops at the box office and some of your biggest hits were not such damn successes artistically¹⁷?

LUNDEN: Still, Prince acknowledged it wasn't enough to have talent or intellectual curiosity or an impeccable work ethic.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

PRINCE: There is not an artist in the world who achieves any success who hasn't had a lot of luck. You're lucky to be born when you are, where you are.

LUNDEN: And the American musical theater was lucky that Hal Prince helped to shape and define it.

For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

2 phantom   

n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的

参考例句：

• I found myself staring at her as if she were a phantom.我发现自己瞪大眼睛看着她，好像她是一个幽灵。
• He is only a phantom of a king.他只是有名无实的国王。

3 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 flora   

n.(某一地区的)植物群

参考例句：

• The subtropical island has a remarkably rich native flora.这个亚热带岛屿有相当丰富的乡土植物种类。
• All flora need water and light.一切草木都需要水和阳光。

6 ethic   

n.道德标准，行为准则

参考例句：

• They instilled the work ethic into their children.他们在孩子们的心中注入了职业道德的理念。
• The connotation of education ethic is rooted in human nature's mobility.教育伦理的内涵根源于人本性的变动性。

7 bum   

n.臀部；流浪汉，乞丐；vt.乞求，乞讨

参考例句：

• A man pinched her bum on the train so she hit him.在火车上有人捏她屁股，她打了那人。
• The penniless man had to bum a ride home.那个身无分文的人只好乞求搭车回家。

8 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

9 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

10 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

11 stimulating   

adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的

参考例句：

• shower gel containing plant extracts that have a stimulating effect on the skin 含有对皮肤有益的植物精华的沐浴凝胶
• This is a drug for stimulating nerves. 这是一种兴奋剂。

12 follies   

罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He has given up youthful follies. 他不再做年轻人的荒唐事了。
• The writings of Swift mocked the follies of his age. 斯威夫特的作品嘲弄了他那个时代的愚人。

13 disillusion   

vt.使不再抱幻想，使理想破灭

参考例句：

• Do not say anything to disillusion them.别说什么叫他们泄气的话。
• I'd hate to be the one to disillusion him.我不愿意成为那个让他幻想破灭的人。

14 corrosive   

adj.腐蚀性的；有害的；恶毒的

参考例句：

• Many highly corrosive substances are used in the nuclear industry.核工业使用许多腐蚀性很强的物质。
• Many highly corrosive substances are used in the nuclear industry.核工业使用许多腐蚀性很强的物质。

15 collaborator   

n.合作者，协作者

参考例句：

• I need a collaborator to help me. 我需要个人跟我合作，帮我的忙。
• His collaborator, Hooke, was of a different opinion. 他的合作者霍克持有不同的看法。

16 flops   

n.失败( flop的名词复数 )v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的第三人称单数 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅

参考例句：

• a pair of flip-flops 一双人字拖鞋
• HPC environments are often measured in terms of FLoating point Operations Per Second (FLOPS) . HPC环境通常以每秒浮点运算次数(FLOPS)加以度量。 来自互联网

17 artistically   

adv.艺术性地

参考例句：

• The book is beautifully printed and artistically bound. 这本书印刷精美，装帧高雅。
• The room is artistically decorated. 房间布置得很美观。