Arthur Laurents play THE ENCLAVE inspired COMPANY

[Pgenre]

Posted: 8/8/09 at 7:02pm

Or so she claims...

Q: What?s the first play you did with a gay element?

A: The Enclave. It was about a group of friends, grouped around the central character, who?s a closet gay. Put music to it and what have you got? Company. Of course he?s not gay in Company...[Laurents smiles).

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Extended Arthur ADVOCATE interview

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 8/8/09 at 7:04pm

lol.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 8/8/09 at 7:09pm

I think he's doing it on purpose now to be funny. I really do.

[GoodMorningBWW]

Posted: 8/8/09 at 7:10pm

That wacky Arthur!

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 8/8/09 at 7:11pm

We need to compile some sort of complete list of everything Arthur is "responsible" for.

[GoodMorningBWW]

Posted: 8/8/09 at 7:13pm

Everything from Annie to Zanna Don't!

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 8/8/09 at 7:18pm

Things Arthur is responsible for

1) The extinction of dinosaurs.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/8/09 at 7:52pm

I'm pretty sure Arthur Laurents invented the word "theatre."

No, really. Before that, everyone would say, "we're going to sit collectively in the dark with a group of people and watch some other people wearing costumes talk at us for a while."

Arthur said, "Wait ... I think we can pare that explanation down and just call it 'theatre.'"

True story.

[vodkastinger]

Posted: 8/8/09 at 7:58pm

I heard a rumor that Shakespeare didn't write his own plays.

It was actually Arthur Laurents.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 8/8/09 at 8:04pm

Now is the winter of HIS discontent!

To paraphrase Billy,err... Miss L.

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[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/8/09 at 8:36pm

Has he cured cancer yet??

[i am the one]

Posted: 8/8/09 at 9:06pm

I just found out that the man who built an arc to save the world's animals in pairs wasn't Noah at all!

It was Arthur.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 8/8/09 at 11:10pm

What shows do he NOT think he's inspired ?

[morosco]

Posted: 8/8/09 at 11:48pm

He's bat sh*t crazy. COMPANY opened in 1970, THE ENCLAVE in 1973.

[lull89]

Posted: 8/8/09 at 11:52pm

He never actually says that he inspired Company, just that his play had a similar structure. If anything, since it's in the context of talking about gay rights and depictions, he's implying that Bobby should be or is gay, which is a whole different debate.

I don't think Arthur Laurents is quite as crazy as everyone on this board says he is. I'm sure much of his image is based in truth, but I think a lot gets wildly exaggerated online.
Updated On: 8/8/09 at 11:52 PM

[Pgenre]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 12:10am

"I don't think Arthur Laurents is quite as crazy as everyone on this board says he is. I'm sure much of his image is based in truth, but I think a lot gets wildly exaggerated online."

Yes, but who's doing the exaggerrating?

Arthur can take as well as he can give as I'm sure many can attest.

He wrote 2 of the greatest musicals of all time, along with the respective collaborators. His claims of influence on other shows, from COMPANY to WICKED, is speculative and entertaining. Exaggeration is exaggeration.

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Updated On: 8/9/09 at 12:10 AM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 12:12am

Well if ENCLAVE was written after COMPANY or whatever then how can he argue anything about their similarities. Because then wouldn't he be the one inspired by COMPANY...?

[CurtisTaylorJr2]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 12:44am

He's delusional.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 12:56am

Yet he still won't own up to Nick and Nora which he actually was responsible for!

[vodkastinger]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 10:17am

Watch his half hour interview on Theatre Talk. The ego on this man is insane. He is bitchy, and snipey, and so full of himself.

And his revivals of his owns works aren't very good either, just saying.

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 11:17am

Just because The Enclave opened after Company, that does not mean it was not conceived earlier.

Not saying that I believe it inspired Company. Just clarifying facts.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 11:39am

I think he's doing it on purpose now to be funny. I really do.

No, actually. He's been doing this--and much, much worse--all his life.

He has to take credit for other people's successes because he knows in the empty chamber where other people have hearts that his own successes are lesser compared to those of his contemporaries.

And to be fair, The Enclave was produced in 1973 but he had been writing it for several years after Stonewall. No one would produce it until he directed it himself off-Broadway--and besides, The Boys in the Band did it better anyway.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 12:00pm

I just re-read that interview. Is it as creepy to people who don't know him as it is to me?

Remember that when Mary Rodgers was asked to comment in Jesse Green's New York Magazine article, she answered, "Ask me when he's dead."

[A Director]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 2:52pm

Yes, it is creepy. It is no surprise how he puts down his co-collaborators on West Side Story and Gypsy. Wasn't he in the room when those shows were written? When he dies, his plays will be forgotten. He will be forever linked to West Side Story and Gypsy. When he dies, the lights on Broadway will not be dimmed and people will dance on his grave.

[Q]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 4:28pm

"the lights on Broadway will not be dimmed"

I'd be VERY surprised if they weren't.