Collaborators.(The Talk of the Town)

Just before the opening, at the Biltmore, of "LoveMusik"--about the composer Kurt Weill and his on-again, off-again singer-actress wife, Lotte Lenya--the show's director, Harold Prince, was hustling around the stage making last-minute changes. His hair is white and sparse, with matching fragments of mustache and beard. He wore a creaseless chino suit and impeccable Tod's loafers. "LoveMusik" is his first new Broadway musical in nine years.

Prince stood briefly in an aisle among the deserted seats and kept an eye on his choreographer, Patricia Birch, as she urged more speed in a dance trio's bit. "Sometimes you go to work because you just have to work, but for this one I couldn't wait to do the work," he said. "All that Weill music! I started listening to it when I was eight. The melodies affected me so deeply. His music sings for the Old World, yet it's extremely modern, and influenced by American jazz. It's redolent of melancholy and love, innocence and humor. Weill was open to everything. He wrote with courage."

Prince clamped on a pair of horn-rimmed glasses and studied his script. "I want to be sure our dialogue mentions the names of the important Weill shows," he said. "He had the best lyricists, like Ira Gershwin. We use Ira's songs, like 'Girl of the Moment' and 'Come to Paris,' but we should mention the title of that great show 'Lady in the Dark,' which Gershwin wrote." He made a note and went on, "Weill had twelve great lyricists, like Ogden Nash, Bertolt Brecht. We've got 'September Song' and 'It Never Was You,' both remarkable songs with lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, from 'Knickerbocker Holiday.' No one else ever had that many collaborators."

Across the aisle, he spotted "Love- Musik" 's book writer, Alfred Uhry, who was wearing jeans and an untucked corduroy shirt. He was nervously clutching his script to his midriff. After a fast conference, Uhry retired to the back of the theatre.

"I was born just in time to meet the great musical people," Prince said. "I ...