Plus he oversees 22 pantos the length and breadth of the UK.
And it happened to Harrison on Thursday night.
On Friday, he was still stunned and deeply moved.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael Harrison and Madeleine Lloyd Webber in the Harrison lounge at the London Palladium.LW Theatres
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Forgive me, but these things are usually done posthumously.
Thats why I was so overwhelmed.
This doesnt happen when youre alive, does it?
Michael HarrisonMH Entertainment
Some are cathedrals and the Palladium is the Vatican.
Its the home of variety.
Harrison has helped make the Palladium a beloved national institution again.
Since we took on this iconic theatre, no one has contributed more to its success than Michael.
It is the least we could do for all he has achieved, they added.
The whole thing was a closely held secret.
I knew nothing about it.
I was downstairs working in the Palladium and I knew nothing about it, Harrison says.
Its such an honor.
As it happens, Id been following Harrison around for a profile.
And I sat in on an orchestra rehearsal at the Palladium.
The pantos stars filed into the room.
Tosh Wanogho-Maud was away that day and he was covered by Harrison Wilde.
Then Stemp kicked his leg up, right up, and executed a tilt.
I thought, Will he require medical attention after doing that?
Even in this raw state, every gag penned by Clary, with input from Harrison, landed.
Yeah, landed in my lap.
Should have figured that Id be a sitting target for their ribaldry.
you’ve got the option to see where this is going, right?
That wasnt the end of it.
I could have died of embarrassment.
But it was funny.
Presumably some unsuspecting soul in the front seats will be clutching Mr. Inges clothing tonight.
The jokes and set pieces were wicked and raucous and laugh-out-loud funny.
Harrison credits his team in Newcastle for developing it, but he has further spun it into comedic gold.
I knelt down at the kids and I chatted to them.
And then William said to me in the interval, Dont worry.
George has been explaining some of Julian Clarys jokes to me!'
William and Kate were brilliant, he says.
They came right down onto the stage at the interval, had a great chat with the cast.
Gary Wilmot in full panto dame regalia, frock and everything, said to Kate, Im so sorry.
I dont know whether to bow or courtesy.
Kate said to Beverly Knight, I want those shoes.
They were great that night.
He continues: And they said, The kids probably wont stay for the second act.
They didnt want to leave.
And theres an amazing photograph of the finale of the show.
His first visit to the theater was to seePantolandat the London Palladium.
Harrisons parents took him to his first pantomime when he was a wee nipper.
He recalls watching comic legend Tommy Cooper from the back of the stalls gallery at the Newcastle Theatre Royal.
This year, theyre doingThe Little Mermaid.
A few days ago, Newcastle went on sale withAladdin,nextyears pantomime.
And within four days, weve taken 1.5 million [$1.911], Harrison tells me.
Harrison controls Michael Harrison Productions.
Thomas used to be billed as the king of pantomime.
Thats Harrisons moniker now.
Theyre currently collaborating on the composers latest show,The Illusionist, which Lloyd will direct.
Pantomimes only work financially, Harrison states, if you produce en masse.
Thats why whenever anybody tries to do a Christmas show on its own, they never really work.
Theres the odd exception.
Because its all about economies of scale, he explains.
You buy your glitter in bulk, 10 tons of it.
You buy the material for costumes in bulk, your paint, your wood for the scenery.
If you just did one panto, each one makes a little bit of money.
Crossroads pantomimes has a huge warehouse where sets are built.
Teresa Nalton creates the costumes for the other cast members at the Palladium .
Thousands of costumes are kept in a vast warehouse in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.
Next year, the sets and costumes fromRobin Hoodwill head to Birmingham, which Harrison also directs.
After that the physical production ofRobin Hoodgoes to Southampton.
And then, so what the Palladiums doing is giving the regions better quality pantomimes.
So this year, theCinderellathat was built for the Palladium is in Edinburgh.
The PalladiumsDick Whittingtonis in Stoke on Trent.The Snow Whiteis in Plymouth.
TheGoldilocksis in Bristol, all because of the power of the Palladium panto, he explains.
Because of course, that was always the thing, wasnt it?
When in the days of contracts and things, you would go in and people had papers everywhere.
So youd look and youd say, whats that contract for?
Cast was Christopher Cazenove, John Duttine and Les Dennis.
The capitalization for Harrogate was 35,000 [$44,600].
David Pugh said, Right, youve got to raise 35,000.
You couldnt buy a set of costumes for that now.
I couldnt raise tuppence, but ultimately I did.
You start and you learn, he says philosophically.
It is the nations variety theater, says Harrison.
People love it, he adds.
Oh, yes they most certainly do.
