Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

The program was originally broadcast in 1986, and the presenter was Michael Parkinson. Our castaway is one of the towering figures of modern theatre. It's almost easier to list the musicals he's not worked on over the past 30 years

than talk about the triumphs.

But for the record he's been associated during his career

as either producer or director or both with

West Side Story the Pajama game damn Yankees a funny thing happened on the way to the

forum filler on the roof company a little night music cabaret a vita and most recently Andrew Lloyd

weather's latest success Phantom of the Opera he is Hal Prince this present musical

that you've done I mean where do you place that in the context of all the great musicals you've been involved?

Very, very high. Really? Because I think it's a major work, an amazing achievement.

Beautiful, beautiful score and it kind of serves a need I have as not only someone who works in the

theatre but as a theatre goer. It's a very romantic lush score and story. Yes it's a musical with a story which is really very nice.

Looking through your list of records it's rather interesting because I would imagine lots of

Sondheim and lots of songs representing the musicals and in fact you've worked on.

In fact there's nothing there is there from any of them?

Why is that?

No, well I could be very cute about that answer and say I'm wise enough not to choose between Sonheim and

Lloyd Weber and Kanderneb and Bach and Harnek and so on, but that's not the point.

No, I really did quickly write down eight choices that meant a lot to me and I think they in fact have influenced

the composers that I would have chosen had I chosen from the shows I've worked

done. All right so this first one then, what does that represent?

...