August 24 has been set as the date for the New York premiere of “Prince of Broadway,” a musical retrospective on the career of producer/director Harold Prince, winner of 21 Tony Awards (the most for any individual) and the man responsible for such classics as “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Cabaret,” and “The Phantom of the Opera.”
His latest production will feature performances of songs from these and many of his other hit musicals, including “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman,” which starred Bob Holiday in the title role and debuted on Broadway on March 29, 1966. (The original production ran for 129 performances and was revived in St. Louis and Kansas City the following year, and as an ABC-TV “Wide World” special in 1975).
One of the “Superman” songs (“You’ve Got Possibilities”) was featured in an early test run of “Prince of Broadway” in Tokyo in 2015 (see a rehearsal video). That production featured Ramin Karimloo as Clark Kent/Superman and Mariand Torres as Lois Lane, seen here in a photo by Ryoji Fukuoka.
Casting for the new production has not been announced.
Some TV trivia: a portion of the overture from the soundtrack was used as a theme song in the 70’s and 80’s for some local TV newscasts, like WTOP/WDVM Washington, DC and WPIX New York in 1975
Speaking of WTOP-TV…dig those crazy graphics man from 1972!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46tjkRRRlf8