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In the next few years, the partners (Griffith died in 1961) went on to produce or co-produce Damn Yankees (total profit: $1,262,500), New Girl in Town ($144,500), West Side Story ($2,120,000) and Fiorello ($528,000), along with a couple of flops. Prince became known as a man who could see a musical in virtually anything. In 1958 he was put onstage himself in fictional form as Ted Snow, the boy-wonder producer in the musical Say, Darling. "I'm trying to acquire the rights to a new book that I think will make a great musical," went one of his lines. "It's an eyewitness account of Sir Edmund Hillary's dash to the South Pole."
After the losses of Follies, however, investors were wary, and even Prince had difficulty in raising money for A Little Night Music, an anachronistic, waltz-based show in an age of blaring rock, a civilized comedy of manners in an age of free-form extravaganzas. "They thought either that I was on a downward curve," says Prince, "or that I was into some kind of avantgarde, esoteric theater— and that Night Music would be my undoing."
Ironically, Night Music is Prince's cheeriest musical in years. Based on the 1957 Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it is meant to be all champagne and Mozart, laughter and elegance. "We decided that the songs should bubble and that they should be dry, unsentimental and unsoulful," says Stephen Sondheim, the composer-lyricist who has collaborated with Prince on four shows.
During the Boston rehearsals, however, the comedy was lost as the actors worked into their roles. Prince, who relishes the job of director even more than that of producer, set out once again to find the laughs. Sitting in the ninth row of the venerable Colonial Theater, a microphone in front of him, he adjusted everything from acting styles to hair cuts. He was as quick to praise as to criticize. "God, it's so beautiful!" he exclaimed when he first saw the set and costumes together. "I could die."
During the tryouts, the Boston critics were almost unanimously enthusiastic. Yet more work was required. Two songs were dropped and a new one was written. A supporting actress was replaced, which affected the cast like a death in the family. When the company arrived in New York for ten days of previews, Prince had to face up to the problem of Glynis Johns; the whole play revolves around the loose-living actress she portrays. On some nights Actress Johns, who at 49 is playing her first musical role, had just the proper air of vintage champagne; on others she fizzled, with slow timing and no real relationship to the other actors. One morning last week she collapsed and was rushed to the hospital.
Abubble. For 24 hours there was gloom enough to sink a Bergman tragedy, let alone a comedy. Prince talked with Actress Tammy Grimes about taking over the Johns part— a switch that would have meant a one-week delay of the opening, at a cost of $50,000. "This business is all about taking chances," Prince croaked hoarsely, "but you have to be careful of the odds." But by midweek, Johns was once again abubble. Was Prince headed for a hit, all the more gratifying because of the obstacles? Or were the New York previews portents of disaster? That remained for audiences to decide.