Arthur Laurents play THE ENCLAVE inspired COMPANY- Page 2

[GoodMorningBWW]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 4:38pm

When he dies, the lights on Broadway will not be dimmed and people will dance on his grave.

No need to worry about that. Arthur Laurents is eternal. He has been here long before man & will be long after we're gone.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 4:50pm

Arthur Laurents is The Undead. I keep saying that but no one believes me. You all think I'm kidding. You all say people like that exist only in horror movies.

But Arthur Laurents IS The Undead.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 4:56pm

i am the one, Arthur would have saved the unicorns

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 5:44pm

It's all terribly creepy.
Every morning he lies on his back with his knees in the air and raises his pelvis.
Well, that answers one age old question.

[James885]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 6:18pm

I don't know why anyone is surprised. After reading "Mainly On Directing", it's quite clear that he considers himself to be God's gift to the theater world.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 9:45pm

"Mainly on Directing"?!?

"MAINLY?!?

All this time I thought the title was MANLY ON DIRECTING...

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 9:55pm

That was one of the proposed titles the publisher rejected.

Some of the others inclided

Mainly on Correcting
Mainly on Rejecting
Mainly on Erecting
Mainly on Erections
Mainly on My Erections
Mainly on My, Arthur Laurents', Massive Erection That is So Impressive and Wonderful and Bigger Than Sam Mendes'

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/9/09 at 10:14pm

MAINLY ON ERECTIONS wins.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 2:36am

They say that when he bathes (which is, of course, in the blood of virgins), he doesn't get bloody, the blood gets Arthur Laurentsed.

[A Director]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 2:41am

It is safe to say that Laurents will die after all the cockroaches are dead?

[peerrjb]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 2:51am

Yeah.... The "later" AL is scarier than the "late" Al will be. But, isn't it truly classically Broadway wannabe bitchy to forget that he did write "Gypsy" and "West Side Story" and "Home of the Brave" and "Time of the Cuckoo".... ANY and ALL of which have better scripts than the crap that all the youngun's of today keep discussing as if "Wicked" and "Legally Blonde" and "Rent" and.... take your pick... are actually going to LAST. Let's be clear. The ability of a future generation to find its own quality is by how graciously it can understand they had no present without the past. Yes, Laurents is an old egomaniac. And takes credit for things he shouldn't. But at least he HAS a past full of quality. And his egocrapical self will be gone while his work will be around, living longer than pretty much anything Broadway's OWN egocrapical self has created in the last...oooh... 15 years? Just a thought.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 5:40am

Gypsy and West Side? Yes.

Home of the Brave and Time of the Cuckoo? Not so much.

Arthur Laurents's legacy is no more than the sum total of his collaborators.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 10:19am

Oh, stop it! Laurents WAS one of those collaborators. He did write the books of two of the greatest works in American theater. And if that's all he did, that's still major. And who's to say that those works might not have been lesser achievements without his contributions?

I'm not defending him as human being (who could/would want to?). But to nullify his actual accomplishments seems silly to me.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 10:40am

Very true, Reg. BWW is a very black-and-white place, where we build up our idols and tear them down even faster. Take the third replacement for Elphaba's understudy in the second national tour, for example.

Arthur did a good job. Even if he didn't invent the word "theatre."

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 10:43am

And reading that interview, it's a huge leap to say that he's claiming that his play inspired Company. It seems like it's his detractors projecting.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 10:46am

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).

Did you read the same thing? What about this doesn't suggest that he thinks he inspired or in some way led to Company? And I'm not one of the "detractors" you're referring to.

Updated On: 8/10/09 at 10:46 AM

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 11:00am

Sorry, folks, it looks to me more like he's pointing out a similarity between THE ENCLAVE and COMPANY, (and pointing out the gay factor in ENCLAVE that folks have tried to shoe-horn into COMPANY) rather than claiming any kind of credit for inspiring COMPANY.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 11:05am

My interpretation exactly, Roscoe.

[PalJoey]

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

Nevertheless, he is The Undead. Here is he, drinking the blood of Angela Lansbury.

[Reginald Tresilian]

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

Ok, THAT'S funny!

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 11:16am

BAHAHA

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 1:03pm

I also think he is pointing out the differences between THE ENCLAVE and COMPANY, and perhaps even implying that Bobby is gay with that last line. Who knows though? After reading this interview I certainly wouldn't put it past him to say that he is personally responsible for COMPANY.
The whole interview seems so...phony? incredibly narcissistic? He really has no manners, no tact, and all of this wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't so blatantly mean-spirited. Another thing that bothers me about the interview is that the reporter seems to be egging him on, not only buying his bs but encouraging it. Ugh.
Having said that, I still think he brilliantly wrote the book of GYPSY, and even if the WEST SIDE STORY book isn't perfect, it's still pretty damn good.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/10/09 at 2:18pm

The part about Matt Cavanaugh is very icky. Laurents takes full credit for Matt having some kind of breakthrough acting wise.
Boy, I sure didn't see anything like that.
He is giving one of the dullest performances I have ever seen on Broadway.

And I agree that the interveiwer is playing right into his hands.

Looks like he is trying to suck Angela's brain out of her head. poor dear.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 7:59pm

I actually really like The Enclave, though I know it's kinda been forgotten. It has lots of interesting (if very "of their time") ideas and the staging concepts Arthur wrote into the play sound potentially very effective (with hesecifically choreographed set change descriptions etc). I'm also VERY VERY fond of the Stephen Sondheim incidental music (which is largely Paul Gemignani on percussion, I believe--ytou can hear much of it in the Sondheim box set, and a new, but good recording of it on Unsung Sondheim). But as crazy as Art is, as has been pointed out here already, surely he's aware that his play came AFTER...