For 35 years, James Prigmore — in his signature bib overalls — has been a fixture in the orchestra pit for Pioneer Theatre Company productions.
"It's been a tremendously pleasant career for 35 years," Prigmore told the Deseret Morning News. "But I've been in show business for 48 years.
"At one time I thought I would try for a nice round 50, but my pension has kicked in."
Effective June 30, Prigmore will be officially retired from his post as PTC's musical director (which will be taken over by assistant conductor and rehearsal accompanist Mearle Marsh).
Prigmore, who grew up in Bingham — "a mining community that no longer exists" — is not totally giving up theater, however. "I will be composing and doing some scores next season, but that's a very different situation than going to rehearsals 12 hours a day."
He said he got into music at a fairly early age, "when my mother brought home a recording by Jose Iturbi playing Chopin's 'A-flat Pollinaise.' He was very famous back in the 1940s. He made movies and was a real celebrity. On my 12th birthday, my parents gave me a piano."
Three years later he was a pianist for the big "summer festival" outdoor musicals in the University of Utah stadium, working alongside such local legends as C. Lowell Lees, Keith Engar, Ardean Watts and Maurice Abravanel.
Watts was one of the only two private piano teachers he ever had, Prigmore said, "and the most significant from a musical point of view." Prigmore also studied with Edith Scussel, who charged $1 a lesson and "was very enthusiastic and inspired me to work hard."
He was hired by PTC in 1970, along with the late Robert Peterson. Their first show was "Man of La Mancha." "We did at least 50 shows together, more than any other individual performer in my career."
Prigmore said he won't miss the orchestra pit. "I live in the present. Whatever I'm doing, that's what I love, and I never have any regrets for something I'm not doing. I will miss some of the people. We have a wonderful staff and the performers over the years have been absolutely fantastic. I have made long-term friendships with some of them, and not working with them on a daily basis will probably cause me a little bit of sadness."
He said he has a pretty big list of favorites among PTC productions. At the top would likely be "South Pacific." "It's the first production I ever saw, and I have conducted it three times — each time with Bob in the role of Emile, and each time with a different Nellie. If any show could bring me out of retirement, it would be 'South Pacific.'
" 'Kismet' is another favorite of mine, and many of the Rodgers and Hammerstein shows. 'Sunday in the Park with George' is probably my favorite Sondheim musical. But I never conducted 'Follies,' and if anyone asked me to conduct it, I would smile and walk the other direction; it's just a huge, huge show."
Prigmore attended Bingham High School, then went to the University of Utah — but he got a job as composer-in-residence at Pasadena Playhouse in Southern California before graduating. He was also composer, arranger and pianist for the Continental Army Band, based at Fort Monroe, Ga.
"The longest period of time I ever went without playing a piano," he said, "was when I was in basic training for the Army. The first day I played a piano after that, my fingers felt so strange, but it didn't take too long to get back into shape."
He also spent about 20 years commuting between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, where he wrote incidental music — "but never any themes" — for such television shows as "Starsky and Hutch," "Fantasy Island" and "The Love Boat." "It was just music for Hollywood when they couldn't get anyone else — and I got royalties for everything."
Now that he's retiring from the day-to-day rat race, Prigmore will do some traveling, catch up on his reading and spend more time with his family. "To have a 48-year career and still have your parents alive — and in reasonably good health — and to still be a bachelor with no other responsibilities" were among his motivations to retire now.
"One of my little retirement adventures is to have my old piano fully restored," he said — the same piano his parents gave him when he was 12 years old. "It's been through the mill, and I'm having the insides brought up to standard and the outside refinished."
Commenting on his trademark attire — his ever-present overalls — Prigmore noted that he wore them when he was a child. In high school and college, of course, there was another standard, so he turned to slacks and shirts. "But when I got out of the Army, I had no interest in clothing, as long as it was clean and functional.
"When I was 26 and out of the Army, I rediscovered overalls. I don't even own a suit!"
E-mail: ivan@desnews.com