Harold S. Prince revolutionized the American musical in the twentieth century. His resistance to the acting and singing conventions of early twentieth-century musical theater, his refusal to construct musicals as star-vehicles, and his use of filmic staging techniques make him one of the world's most original and innovative directors. From his first production, The Pajama Game, which cost $170,000, to his 1998 production of Showboat, which rang in at $8.5 million, Prince has known his share of artistic and financial successes as well as failures. New York Times critic David Richards described Prince as "the undisputed master of the Broadway musical."

Although not from a theatrical family, Prince was constantly exposed to the theater as a young boy. "Mine was a family addicted to theatre, and still there was no effort to encourage me to work in it nor discourage me, and at no time was there...