Just in time for Tony Award season, Ovation TV, the only television network dedicated to art and
contemporary culture, will present the world premiere of an original documentary celebrating the life and career of one of Broadway's greatest producer/directors, Harold ("Hal") Prince. Mr. Prince will premiere Saturday, June 6, at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and feature interviews with such Broadway luminaries as Carol Burnett, Stephen Sondheim, Joel Grey, Angela Lansbury, Chita Rivera, and Mandy Patinkin, as well as Mr. Prince himself as he recounts his 40+ years in the theatre and provides a special behind-the-scenes look at his newest musical. Mr. Prince is a Working Pictures production for Ovation TV, produced and directed by Sara Feldman Sheehan and Bobby Sheehan.
Then, beginning Sunday, June 7, it's "Music of the Night: Broadway on Ovation TV" - a week-long tribute to Broadway, featuring film versions of such hits as Victor/Victoria; Music Man; New York, New York, and many more.
"Hal Prince's career is astonishing for the sheer number of shows, and even more so for their extraordinary quality. He has consistently been a fantastically fearless innovator. His list of credits reads like a primer on the modern history of American theater." said Kris Slava, Senior Vice President, Ovation TV. "We are very pleased that this exceptionally talented man agreed to let us follow him to the theater and get an insider's view into his creative process. He is so beloved by actors and everyone he's ever worked with that we were able to include a veritable who's-who of Broadway making this a very, very special documentary."
During his distinguished career, Harold 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 LoveMusik. Before becoming a director, Mr. Prince's productions included The Pajama Game, 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. 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.
Recently, he became an officer with the Order of Arts and Letters from the French Government for "contributing significantly to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world." He is the recipient of a National Medal of Arts for the year 2000 from President Clinton for a career spanning more than 40 years, in which "he changed the nature of the American musical." A 1994 Kennedy Center Honoree, he is the recipient of 21 Tony Awards - more than any other individual.
Currently, Mr. Prince's newest version of Phantom is running in New York and in Las Vegas at the Venetian Hotel and he is working on Paradise Found, a grand-scale musical, with co-direction and choreography by Tony Award winning Susan Stroman, and starring Richard Nelson, Ellen Fitzhugh, Jonathan Tunick John Cullum and Mandy Patinkin, and music by Johann Strauss II.
About Ovation TV: Ovation TV is the only multi-platform network devoted to art and contemporary culture. The network creates and curates one-of-a-kind programming about all the art people enjoy most, from the popular to the avant-garde and everything in between. The channel reaches a national audience of 30 million-plus households through carriage on DirecTV (channel 274), Dish Network (channel 157) and on cable and telco systems in major markets across the country. Ovation TV's programming is also available on video on demand (in both standard and high definition). Ovation TV's popular website (http://www.OvationTV.com) is a dynamic experience, featuring information about local and national happenings in the art world, as well as a vibrant community of artists who have downloaded over 60,000 pieces of original art.
