Sondheim killed Barbra’s Gypsy. — Page 2

Wasn't it that it was indeed Laurents who said she couldn't do both? Then, when he passed she thought Sondheim would be fine with it. But partly out of respect, but also because he agreed, he doubled down on it?

I could be misremembering, and maybe the memoir says otherwise. But that's how I remember it.

Sondheim didn't kill it at all. He simply sad Barbra couldn't star AND direct. She must have been OK with having someone else direct because Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) was attached to it at some point.

Jay Lerner-Z said: "Sondheim did not like Barbra as a performer.

Maybe he just didn't want this movie to happen and used this as an excuse."

I've mentioned this before but this was not true by the end. To let Arthur Laurents tell it, he introduced them thinking they'd be the best of friends and neither cared much for each other, only for him to wake up 20 years later and suddenly Barbra loves Steve's music and Steve likes her enough to change his lyrics. Which was something he was notoriously not willing to budge on.