Let's get the chicks and kick it. Tony?

May 6, 2011 12:55 PM

Arthur Laurents (wiki), writer of the libretti for West Side Story and Gypsy, among many other things, has died at the age of 93.

NYTimes obituary.

Coverage by NY 1 (warning: advertisement).

Friends and colleagues post remembrances.

Laurents interviewed on On Stage in 2008. Part 2.

Q. Do you think people suffer from the need to be liked?
Laurents: I think people suffer from it enormously.
More of Laurents talking about directing the West Side Story Broadway Revival.

Laurents on Robbins, sex and writing at the Strand in 2009.

Laurents wrote a memoir called Original Story By.

posted by Lutoslawski (15 comments total)

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posted by dismas at 1:02 PM on May 6, 2011

Krup that.
posted by orthogonality at 1:09 PM on May 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

As long as we have this act, nobody's over twelve and you all know it.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:24 PM on May 6, 2011

♪
posted by tzikeh at 1:31 PM on May 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

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Slight correction. Laurents wrote the books for West Side Story and Gypsy. The lyrics were by Sondheim for both.
posted by mkb at 1:42 PM on May 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

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posted by cazoo at 2:20 PM on May 6, 2011

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posted by New England Cultist at 2:28 PM on May 6, 2011

I love West Side Story, and was lucky enough to see the Broadway revival that Laurents directed two years ago. It was interesting - the man responsible for what is probably the least-cherished aspect of the show ending up with all that power over that much-anticipated production. There was a lot about it that I didn't enjoy, but I certainly admire whatever it was that drove Laurents to make the choices he did, one of which -- the translation of a significant (but not enormous) number of the lyrics into Spanish -- was fairly radical. At the age of 92 he still wanted to be "absolutely contemporary". I think that's really something, and I'm glad that so near the end of a such a long and accomplished life, he was still wanting to do interesting things, and still getting his way about doing them. I'm sorry he's gone.

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posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 3:16 PM on May 6, 2011

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posted by lapolla at 4:02 PM on May 6, 2011

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posted by Joey Michaels at 4:27 PM on May 6, 2011

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posted by Wordwoman at 5:40 PM on May 6, 2011

That piece "America" is just wonderful - the music, the lyrics, the choreography - all of it. Fantastic.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 5:52 PM on May 6, 2011

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posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 6:07 PM on May 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

Sperm to worm.

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posted by Astro Zombie at 7:38 PM on May 6, 2011

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posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 11:25 PM on May 6, 2011