Tony Award-honored stage-and-screen star Carol Burnett is campaigning to name a Broadway theater for the late Tony-winning producer and director Harold Prince. On Nov. 29, Burnett posted her continued support to Instagram, joining forces with the group Young Artists of America, which recently aired a one-hour television special dedicated to shows Prince worked on.
“For over 70 years, Hal revolutionized the musical theater, winning a record 21 Tony Awards for his work as a Broadway producer and director,” Burnett said in the video post.
Indeed, Prince holds the record as the most Tony-winning individual in history. Prince boasts 67 Broadway credits; he directed or produced such landmark musicals as “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Company,” “Evita,” “Cabaret” and “The Phantom of the Opera.”
Burnett and Prince were longtime friends, until Prince’s death in 2019. Burnett made her Broadway debut in “Once Upon a Mattress,” for which she earned a Tony nomination. The pair collaborated on the autobiographical drama “Hollywood Arms,” penned by Burnett with her daughter, Carrie Hamilton, and produced and directed by Prince on Broadway in 2002. Having appeared in a total of six Main Stem productions, Burnett was honored with a Special Tony in 1969.
Burnett first pushed to rename the Majestic Theater for Prince in September 2022, when “The Phantom of the Opera” announced the impending closing of its 35-year run at the Shubert-owned house. Now, the six-time Emmy Award winner has reinvigorated her efforts, though not specifically tied to the Majestic.
“I hope you’ll join me in our campaign to find a Broadway theater to be renamed the Hal Prince Theater by sending out your own message of support on social media with #FitForAPrince,” she said in the video. “Together, along with this next generation of theater makers, we can make sure that we honor Hal’s legacy for another 70 years and beyond.”
