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Arthur Laurents

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Playwright

The Resume

    (July 14, 1917-May 5, 2011)
    Born in Brooklyn, New York
    Birth name was Arthur Levine
    Wrote the plays 'Home of the Brave' (1945) and 'The Time of the Cuckoo' (1952)
    Wrote the books of the musicals 'West Side Story' (1957), 'Gypsy' (1959), 'Anyone Can Whistle' (1964), 'Do I Hear A Waltz?' (1965), 'Hallelujah Baby!' (1967), 'The Madwoman of Central Park West' (1979) and 'Nick & Nora' (1991)
    On Broadway, directed 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale' (1962), 'La Cage Aux Folles' (1983), a revival of 'West Side Story' (2009) and two revivals of 'Gypsy' (1974,2008)
    Wrote screenplays for 'Rope' (1948), 'Anastasia' (1956), 'The Way We Were' (1973) and 'The Turning Point' (1977)
    Wrote the memoirs 'Original Story by Arthur Laurents' (2000) and 'Mainly On Directing' (2009)

Why he might be annoying:

    He alienated most of his friends and collaborators with catty remarks.
    Stephen Sondheim said, 'Arthur is the master of the imagined slight. I had the temerity to question some of the things he did to 'Gypsy' when it transferred from City Center to Broadway—oy, was that a mistake. The screaming hasn’t stopped since.'
    He allegedly expressed his displeasure during a rehearsal of 'West Side Story' by urinating on the set. (He denied the story.)
    During the last curtain call of the 2008 'Gypsy' revival, he refused to read a statement thanking the late Jerome Robbins and Jule Styne for their contributions to the original show. (Star Patti LuPone made the speech instead.)
    He claimed his decision to re-stage 'West Side Story' with the Puerto Rican Sharks gang speaking and singing in Spanish was inspired by the ghost of his lover, Tom Hatcher.
    He said, 'I can say I'm going to live forever. But if I do 'Gypsy' again, it might cut that short.' Ironically, at the time of his death, he was planning a film version of 'Gypsy' to star Barbra Streisand.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was blacklisted largely because his play 'Home of the Brave' received a postive review in the Communist paper 'The Daily Worker.'
    After Jerome Robbins named names before the House Unamerican Activities Committee then mused that it would be years before he would know if he had done the right thing, Laurents replied, 'I can tell you right now: You were a shit.'
    He won Tonys as both a writer (for 'Hallelujah Baby!') and a driector (for 'La Cage Aux Folles').
    He and partner Tom Hatcher were together for 52 years until Hatcher's death.
    He said of his reputation, 'What other people call mean, I call telling the truth unguardedly.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 7 Votes: 85.71% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 10 Votes: 30.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 18 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 79 Votes: 64.56% Annoying