美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Prince Of Broadway' Pays Tribute To A Musical Theater Legend

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Hal Prince has won more Tony Awards than anyone. The producer and director has won 21 of them over a career spanning seven decades. Tonight, "Prince Of Broadway," a musical featuring moments from Prince's hits, opens on Broadway. And next month, he'll publish a memoir¹. Jeff Lunden has this on the man and his work.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE²: Tony Award-winning composer John Kander has a favorite Hal Prince story. In 1965, he and lyricist Fred Ebb³ were working on a show that Prince produced called "Flora⁴ The Red Menace." And it was not going well.

JOHN KANDER: A week before the show opened, Hal had said, whatever happens to "Flora," we'll meet at my apartment and work on the next piece. And that's exactly what happened. 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 SONG, "WILLKOMMEN")

JOEL GREY: (Singing) Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome.

LUNDEN: Hal Prince is always on to the next thing, so it's kind of surprising that he's taking the time to look back on his career. But Prince says he wants to share with contemporary audiences the seismic⁵ shift in musical theater he went through starting in the 1950s, when pop hits often came from musicals.

HAL PRINCE: Popular music was the music of musicals, and it isn't anymore. So once that happened, you could examine other subjects and make musical numbers about an infinite variety of complicated psychological matter.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WILLKOMMEN")

GREY: Leave your troubles outside. So life is disappointing - forget it. In here, life is beautiful.

LUNDEN: And the shows Prince produced and/or directed reflect that - the rise of the Nazis⁶ in pre-World War II Germany in "Cabaret," disillusionment and the American dream in "Follies," the murderous effects of 19th century industrialization in "Sweeney Todd."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HAVE A LITTLE PRIEST")

LEN CARIOU: (Singing) For what's the sound of the world out there?

ANGELA LANSBURY: (Singing) What, Mr. Todd, what, Mr. Todd, what is that sound?

CARIOU: (Singing) Those crunching⁷ noises pervading⁸ the air.

LANSBURY: (Singing) Yes, Mr. Todd, Yes, Mr. Todd, yes, all around.

CARIOU: (Singing) It's man devouring⁹ man, my dear.

LEN CARIOU AND ANGELA LANSBURY: (Singing) And who are we to deny it in here?

CARIOU: Ah, these are desperate times, Mrs. Lovett.

PRINCE: I'm very issue-oriented. I like a good story in the theater, obviously. But in order to do decent work, me, I have to have some kind of metaphor¹⁰ or I can't do it.

LUNDEN: Prince has helped create what have been called concept musicals. And one of his most frequent collaborators and closest friends is composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim.

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 stimulated¹² as anybody I've ever met.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "A WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY")

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER #1: (Singing) A weekend in the country.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER #2: (Singing) We're invited.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER #1: (Singing) What a horrible plot, a weekend in the country.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER #2: (Singing) I'm excited.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER #1: (Singing) No, you're not.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER #2: (Singing) A weekend in the country, just imagine.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER #1: (Singing) It's completely depraved.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER #2: (Singing) A weekend in the country.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER #1: (Singing) It's insulting.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER #2: (Singing) It's engraved¹³.

LUNDEN: Sondheim wrote that song during rehearsals¹⁴ for "A Little Night Music" after Prince showed him what the staging could look like. And that's one of Prince's real talents, says another frequent collaborator¹¹, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.

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

LUNDEN: Webber and Prince collaborated¹⁵ on "Evita" and "The Phantom¹⁶ Of The Opera."

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

MICHAEL CRAWFORD: (Singing) Sing once again with me our strange duet. My power over you grows stronger yet.

LUNDEN: "Phantom" is by far the biggest hit Hal Prince has ever directed. It's been running on Broadway for 30 years. But Prince has also seen his share of flops¹⁷. And his wife of 55 years, Judy, confronted him one day.

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 artistically¹⁸?

LUNDEN: So he keeps working. The 89-year-old director says it's not enough to have talent or intellectual curiosity or an impeccable work ethic¹⁹.

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 is lucky that Hal Prince has helped to shape and define it. For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AH, PARIS!/BROADWAY BABY")

ETHEL SHUTTA: (Singing) I'm just a Broadway baby walking off my tired feet.

1 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

2 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。

3 ebb   

vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态

参考例句：

• The flood and ebb tides alternates with each other.涨潮和落潮交替更迭。
• They swam till the tide began to ebb.他们一直游到开始退潮。

4 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。

5 seismic   

a.地震的，地震强度的

参考例句：

• Earthquakes produce two types of seismic waves.地震产生两种地震波。
• The latest seismic activity was also felt in northern Kenya.肯尼亚北部也感觉到了最近的地震活动。

6 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 crunching   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的现在分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• The horses were crunching their straw at their manger. 这些马在嘎吱嘎吱地吃槽里的草。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog was crunching a bone. 狗正嘎吱嘎吱地嚼骨头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 pervading   

v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• an all-pervading sense of gloom 无处不在的沮丧感
• a pervading mood of fear 普遍的恐惧情绪

9 devouring   

吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• The hungry boy was devouring his dinner. 那饥饿的孩子狼吞虎咽地吃饭。
• He is devouring novel after novel. 他一味贪看小说。

10 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

11 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。

12 stimulated   

a.刺激的

参考例句：

• The exhibition has stimulated interest in her work. 展览增进了人们对她作品的兴趣。
• The award has stimulated her into working still harder. 奖金促使她更加努力地工作。

13 engraved   

v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• The silver cup was engraved with his name. 银杯上刻有他的名字。
• It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back. 此件雕刻精美，背面有花饰图案。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 rehearsals   

n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复

参考例句：

• The earlier protests had just been dress rehearsals for full-scale revolution. 早期的抗议仅仅是大革命开始前的预演。
• She worked like a demon all through rehearsals. 她每次排演时始终精力过人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 collaborated   

合作( collaborate的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• We have collaborated on many projects over the years. 这些年来我们合作搞了许多项目。
• We have collaborated closely with the university on this project. 我们与大学在这个专案上紧密合作。

16 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。

17 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

18 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。

19 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。