Laurents vs. LuPone - does Sondheim have a say? — Page 3

Ijay, I'm the one who posted the interview on ATC. Here's the section regarding Gypsy.


From Gay City News:

Laurents is never short of opinions and when I asked him if he was looking forward to Patti Lupone doing ‘Gypsy’ at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, he said, “No. She begged me to do it back in 1989, but I wouldn’t let her and cast Tyne Daly. She has no consonants!”


“Neither does Joan Sutherland,” I interjected.


“But she sings opera! Also Patti has no sense of humor. But, do you like any of these revivals? I thought the last ‘Gypsy’ was terrible. It wasn’t Bernadette [Peters]’ fault. [Director] Sam Mendes doesn’t know anything about music.

He is a sadist, in every sense of the word, and he has burned every bridge he's ever crossed. He has no friends left, because he ultimately "feuds" with all of them. He will die--unless he truly is one of the undead--rich and friendless, shriveled and alone, like Dickens's Scrooge, only without the redemption in the final chapter.

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"If Laurents does not permit a re-write on Anyone Can Whistle, would it be legal for Sondheim (if he wished) to re-use all the songs in a new piece, which bore a strong resemblance to the original concept?"

What do you think?

In truth, no. "The law provides a presumption that the collaborators intended to create a 'joint work' and that each collaborator, as a joint owner, has an undivided ownership interest in the whole product. That means each collaborator retains an ownership in ALL the elements, not just those to which he or she contributed. If the collaborators...break up for whatever reason...the work already completed...cannot be used again in other ways (such as removing songs to use in a different musical) and the work can't be marketed on an exclusive basis." (STAGE WRITERS HANDBOOK).(Not to mention that Sondheim couldn't give a damn about it at this late date).

Regarding WHISTLE: The piece was ill-conceived from the start and is horribly dated beyond redemption. Trying to resuscitate this show would be putting a bandage on a corpse. Let it go already.


Comptroller Schub
Anywhere, USA

Bernadette was always attached to this last revival. Arthur Laurents was the one who was pushing the production ever since Bernadette's Carnegie Hall concert in 1996. When Laurents approached Mendes about directing, Mendes mentioned Lupone and Laurents said no, he wanted Bernadette. Mendes' reaction was apparently "Is she old enough?" So Patti was Mendes' first thought but Bernadette was essentially cast years before Mendes was even approached to direct. I don't think Mendes came into the picture until about 2001 or 2002. Laurents and the producers had already been working on things including perhaps opening in the West End and then bringing it to Broadway (which I wish they had done).

Updated On: 8/23/06 at 10:38 AM

I read through the thread and didn't see a mention of this, and I just wanted to clear something up for myself...do I understand correctly that it's Mr. Laurents' idiotic stubbornness that has been preventing the book of "West Side Story" (the stage show) from making any sense for years? I heard once that, although the entire WSS creative team agreed when working on the film that "Cool" and "Krupke" should be switched, Laurents refused to green light the same change for the stage show despite of plenty of urging to do so. As a result, the show (though still a beloved classic) cannot really be quite the dramatic masterpiece that it should be, with that nonsensical "Krupke" number coming right after two major characters are killed. Is this correct? Does he have any reason for not making the change, other than the fact that he's nuts?

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Someone who wrote in a letter to the editor of The Sondheim Review (I believe it was) said that he always thought that Maria was singing it to herself in her own language, even though we hear it as English. I think this makes sense.

Just a thought.

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in the book i'm reading, SONDHEIM & CO, Laurents says that the movie was a "turkey" because it didnt follow his placement of KRUPKE.

Wow.

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The movie switched the placement. COOL is supposed to be sung by Riff at Doc's before the rumble. KRUPKE is sung in Act 2 as a reaction to the police questioning the Jets.

In it's Act 2 placement, KRUPKE becomes a song sung by a bunch of kids who are scared to death. They've just witnessed two killings, and the police are hassling them. They need lighten up the mood. By moving it earlier in the movie, the song becomes nothing more than comic relief - for the audience, not the characters.

SDav, you really think the book of West Side Story makes no sense?

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Arthur Laurents is an ass.

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Why is the feud over? Did I miss something??

OH! Thats awesome!!1

Updated On: 10/24/06 at 07:46 PM

Early word is that it'll be a series of concerts at City Center sometime next year.

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