RIP Arthur Laurents- Page 5

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 2:58pm

No, Mimi, he didn't.

There are plenty of Nasty Arthur Laurents stories around. You needn't make up or spread around false ones.

Far be it from me to defend the man from his nasty tongue (when I myself was the victim of it), but the point that Charles Strouse missed when he told that Tony Perkins story was the closet.

Arthur was fiercely, aggressively proud of the fact that he and Tom were out of the closet at a time when it was considered career-suicide to be openly gay. That was as true for writers, directors and choreographers as it was for actors.

Tony Perkins had gone to extraordinary lengths to deny that he was gay, including electro-shock therapy and marrying one of the most beautiful women in the world. He denied he was gay and carried on a secret life.

To Arthur, this was a slap in the face--to Arthur, almost anything could be a slap in the face--because Arthur set himself up as being BETTER than everyone else. So if anyone followed a different path than Arthur, they were declaring war on Arthur.

What was "funny" to Arthur about the Tony Perkins news was not the disease or the effects of the disease or indeed anything about the disease. Had Arthur said, "Anthony Perkins has AIDS? Oh, that's terrible--and how ironic" or "Oh, that's terrible--isn't karma a bitch" or anything less derisive than laughing, it still would have been appalling but Charles Strouse would not have repeated it.

Arthur may have written works of art and beauty, but when he was mean, he was the meaner than I hope any of you ever experience. When Arthur gloated, it was as ugly as humans can get. When Arthur's fangs came out, they wounded to kill.

He was one of those people who had no filters. He said whatever he thought and didn't care how anyone reacted to it. He was one of those people who think of themselves as "truth-tellers"--and if you couldn't take it, it was because you can't take the truth, not because of the way he said it. There was never any possibility to Arthur that he himself could have been in the wrong.

Yet he could never "take it" himself when it was dished back to him. Invariably, he would say "So-and-so said something unforgivable about me and we will never speak again."

And so he said what he said about Tony Perkins. And Charles Strouse heard it and was appalled. And whoever hears the story will also be appalled.

And there it is.

Updated On: 5/6/11 at 02:58 PM

[greensgreens]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 3:04pm

Pal Joey - thanks for sharing the story objectively and filling in some details.

[MimiJudith]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 3:09pm

PalJoey, I was not intending to make up or spread false stories about Arthur Laurents. I'm sure I read about the Matt Cavanaugh incident somewhere, probably on this very board. So don't jump down my throat -- you only know about the Charles Strouse story from his book, which might or might not be full of true or exagerrated stories. You can't choose which stories you want to be true and which you want to be false. The story I heard is just as true or false as the one you reported, unless you were actually in the room when Laurents laughed.

[MimiJudith]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 3:15pm

Oops, I misspelled "exaggerated." Anyway, what I was trying to say was that we don't know what stories about Arthur Laurents are true unless we were actually there. Even if those stories are being relayed by someone who WAS in the room -- things are exaggerated.

[bethnor]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 3:57pm

you are quite correct, mimi, with a few odd things mixed up. riedel circulated a story that laurents had "turned" on cavenaugh, whatever that means. riedel made the correlation that it was because cavenaugh had become engaged, but it is just as likely lingering bitterness from the general reception of the revival and the lack of a tony nod for director.

[MimiJudith]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 4:13pm

Thanks, bethnor! That's right, it was Riedel who wrote about that in his column. So this story is just as verifiable as the Tony Perkins story (i.e., we don't know what happened in either case).

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 4:38pm

you only know about the Charles Strouse story from his book

That's not true, Mimi. That was not the only time that Arthur said that. He made his Tony Perkins comment frequently, several times when I was present. It was during the 1980s and I had friends who were sick and dying at the time, so I always found the comment tasteless. But it was no more or less tasteless than other personal attacks Arthur made behind people's backs.

I can tell you with complete conviction that Arthur would not fire an actor "because he got engaged." That was not his modus operandi. To say that presupposes a false misogyny or some kind of animus toward heterosexuals and neither could be further from the case. Or it implies some kind of jealousy, which would be too cliche a behavior for Arthur to engage in. Arthur was a misanthrope not a misogynist. He was capable of hating ALL people and not a class of people or a group of people.

Arthur would turn on someone like Matt Cavenaugh or Karen Olivo (or me) because of what he perceived to be a failing or a personal slight. And he would do it in the same manner that an animal zeroes in on a prey: He would sense a vulnerability and go in for the kill.

Updated On: 5/6/11 at 04:38 PM

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 8:44pm

^ What did you do, PJ?

[Kad]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 9:06pm

I suppose this death is sadder than many because it would have appeared that Laurents had more work left in him- often, it feels that when an artist dies at such an age, they had already stopped creating and we mourn the artist that was and but no longer is.

He may have been tactless and acidic, but he did have a hand in two of the most beloved musicals ever. I wouldn't say he shaped modern theatre at all, he did nothing new or revolutionary or visionary. But he was a fine director and good writer.

[east side story]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 9:56pm

What exactly happened between Laurents and Karen Olivo? I assume it may have had something to do with her spotty attendance record?

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 9:58pm

It was all rumor and speculation. Arthur still made kind comments in the press about Karen after/during her absences. And she tried her hardest to return to the show after her injury, so I really doubt there was any bad blood.

Posted: 5/6/11 at 10:34pm

While pretty dated, I really love his early 70s play The Enclave (which Sondheim did the great percussion heavy incidental music for--I believe Paul Gemignani did the recording that was used in the theatre). Anyway RIP to a definitely complicated, but occasionally brilliant, man.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 10:38pm

Mimi-
If you ever have any doubt in your mind the stories about Laurents, you can 100% guarantee that PJ is telling the truth when he tells one. With no exaggeration.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 5/7/11 at 12:35am

I felt - nothing.

[A Director]

Posted: 5/7/11 at 3:36am

On Friday night's The Last Word, Lawrence O'Donnell did a five minute tribute to Laurents. I found it odd that he did this and wondered why?

In his appraisal of Laurents in the Times, Charles Isherwood does not mention any play. No surprise because Laurents' career as a playwright on Broadway ended in 1961. At least MTC staged The Radical Mystique in 1995. Perhaps by choice, he became a playwright in New Jersey.

His book on directing is self-serving and vile.

I don't think much of him ****ting on the work of his betters in WSS.

[ComingUpRoses2]

Posted: 5/7/11 at 7:02am

He might not have been the best human being, but he did help create, what I think, is the best musical of all time...Gypsy! The man could clearly be an ass, but his work was phenomenal, so I must salute him for that.

Still, I hope it's not too hot down there for him.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 5/8/11 at 5:24am

I've been away this week and only just got back and heard this news.

Goodnight, Arthur...you did good, buddy boy.
Updated On: 5/8/11 at 05:24 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/8/11 at 12:59pm

On Playbill's "Remembering Arthur Laurents" thread, over two celebrities have left moving, if qualified, tributes! It's nice to not see the usual cliches trotted out, instead we find words like "cruel," "brutal," "venomous," and "unforgiving."

Farewell, Little Miss Sunshine.

Updated On: 5/8/11 at 12:59 PM

Posted: 5/10/11 at 12:18am

I was wondering if his death would mean they'd finally reissue the Turning Point DVD (yes it's campy, and from such a proudly out gay man I find the gay elements, and lack thereof, baffling but I still love the film and want it on DVD). But of course Laurents wasn't a mainstream enough name I guess to lead to publicity of his death getting his films out...

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 8:30pm

Some more memories

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/theater/on-arthur-laurents-memories-from-stephen-sondheim-and-others.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&smid=tw-nytimestheater&adxnnlx=1305073434-UuUo3W7qhojWpFcJGG1SjA

They all basically say the same thing. Similar to Paljoey's comments.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 9:44pm

If Mary Rodgers ain't talkin', I ain't talkin'.

Oddly, Sondheim leaves out Arthur's favorite part of that Streisand audition story: the punchline.

Arthur loved to tell the story of how Streisand stuck the gum under the rim of the chair seat and then sang beautifully. After she left, Arthur went up on the stage and turned the chair upside down to see the gum she had left there.

Then he turned his colleagues in the audience and announced triumphantly: "Just as I thought. NO GUM! She never had any gum. She was putting us on!"

Then he would pause and say, "And that's when I decided she had the part."

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 12:52am

Riedel:

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/laurents_beast_side_story_erE65iudE5o70OGlZLiYMN

He also tells the Cavenaugh wedding story.

Posted: 5/12/11 at 1:40am

Oh Riedel...

Love that so many of these memories--like Prince's and Sondheim's have nothing to do with a show they actually worked on together... I mean if your main memory is that he skiied well...

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 12:43pm

Arthur was very proud of his skiing and tennis abilities. He and Tom and the Princes took yearly skiing trips to Switzerland.

I think he was especially proud that he had an ongoing social tradition with Hal and Judy, which he could rub in Sondheim's face during the times that he and Steve weren't talking.

Sort of like, "Hal and Judy can deal with me. What's the matter with YOU?"

And he bragged a lot about the muscles tennis gave him in his forearms, which was always icky.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 12:52pm

I have those exact same muscles and they didn't come from playing tennis. And okay, it's just my right arm, but still.