Director Hal Prince has died aged 91

Legendary director and producer Harold 'Hal' Prince has died aged 91, it has been confirmed.

Prince was born in Manhattan in 1928, and attended the University of Pennsylvania. After working under director George Abbott, he began his career producing and co-producing shows including West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof.

He then moved into directing some of the biggest world premieres of the last half a century, including She Loves Me (1963), Cabaret (1966), Sweeney Todd (1979), Evita (1979), Company (1970), A Little Night Music (1973), Follies (1971) and the still-running Phantom of the Opera (1986). He had a string of collaborations with both Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber, directing Evita and Sweeney Todd in the same year.

Among his last solo productions in the UK was Paradise Found in 2010 at the Menier Chocolate Factory featuring Mandy Patinkin. Ben Holtzman, assistant to Prince, confirmed the news today, with Variety reporting that he died Wednesday in Reykjavik, Iceland after a brief illness.