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Mainly on Directing: Gypsy, West Side Story and Other Musicals
As a playwright, screenwriter, and director, Arthur Laurents has a unique place in the history of theater. In this moving, exhilarating, and provocative account, he presents readers with a front-row look at the making of two of the greatest musicals of the American stage, West Side Story and Gypsy . He writes in rich detail about his new bilingual production of West Side Story , along with his most recent production of Gypsy , how it began as an act of love, and how that love spread through the entire company and resulted in a Gypsy unlike any other.
Laurents offers behind-the-scenes details about the musicals he directed, including I Can Get It for You Wholesale , its producer David Merrick (the “Abominable Showman”), and its (very young) stars, Barbra Streisand and Elliott Gould. He dishes on Stephen Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle , which starred Angela Lansbury and Lee Remick, marking the debut for each in musical theater. And he recounts the challenges and surprises that came with the making of La Cage aux Folles , the first big Broadway musical that was gay and glad to be.
Throughout, the book is enriched by Laurents's two loves – his love for the theater and his love for his partner of fifty-two years, Tom Hatcher, who shared and inspired every aspect of his life and his work. Mainly on Directing presents an unforgettable portrait of an artist working with other artists, a unique close-up look at today's American musical theater by a man who's been at its red-hot center for more than five decades.
Laurents offers behind-the-scenes details about the musicals he directed, including I Can Get It for You Wholesale , its producer David Merrick (the “Abominable Showman”), and its (very young) stars, Barbra Streisand and Elliott Gould. He dishes on Stephen Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle , which starred Angela Lansbury and Lee Remick, marking the debut for each in musical theater. And he recounts the challenges and surprises that came with the making of La Cage aux Folles , the first big Broadway musical that was gay and glad to be.
Throughout, the book is enriched by Laurents's two loves – his love for the theater and his love for his partner of fifty-two years, Tom Hatcher, who shared and inspired every aspect of his life and his work. Mainly on Directing presents an unforgettable portrait of an artist working with other artists, a unique close-up look at today's American musical theater by a man who's been at its red-hot center for more than five decades.
184 pages, Paperback
First published March 10, 2009
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168 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Laurents
43 books15 followersArthur Laurents was an American playwright, librettist, stage director, and screenwriter. His credits included the stage musicals West Side Story and Gypsy and the film The Way We Were.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
September 3, 2016
A very ungenerous, late in life author's tale. In short: any work he did - wonderful; any work done by others - questionable (if not outright bad). Interesting for the catty gossip.
May 31, 2019
The most entertaining Laurents has written since Gypsy if only for his self-importance and shameless cattiness/pettiness.
April 13, 2016
Alternately fascinating and annoying.
January 20, 2014
I read this book on a sort of jag (it's not over yet) soaking up works about the Broadway stage. Laurents' name may not be familiar today but he wrote, among other things, the books for the Broadway productions "Wet Side Story" and "Gypsy" as well as the movie "The Way we Were." And many, many others.
MAINLY ON DIRECTING is an interesting book mostly because Laurents is relatively candid about what happens (both to the project and to relationships among its creators) as a show comes together, but it's often marred by an aggrieved I-was-always-right-and-they-were-always-wrong tone, and a kind of pettiness creeps in from time to time.
A MUCH superior book is his "writer's autobiography," ORIGINAL STORY BY. It has some of the same faults, but it's a riveting read for those who want to be behind the scenes of movies, theater (and the blacklist) in the company of someone who was a major contributor to a lot of sterling projects. Also fascinating as a study of changing attitudes toward gay people -- after a lifetime of relative "discretion" Laurents was outed accidentally by a journalist of a much younger generation who had no idea anyone, and especially anyone in theater, would object to being identified as gay. I recommend ORIGINAL STORY BY much more heartily than I do MAINLY ON DIRECTING.
MAINLY ON DIRECTING is an interesting book mostly because Laurents is relatively candid about what happens (both to the project and to relationships among its creators) as a show comes together, but it's often marred by an aggrieved I-was-always-right-and-they-were-always-wrong tone, and a kind of pettiness creeps in from time to time.
A MUCH superior book is his "writer's autobiography," ORIGINAL STORY BY. It has some of the same faults, but it's a riveting read for those who want to be behind the scenes of movies, theater (and the blacklist) in the company of someone who was a major contributor to a lot of sterling projects. Also fascinating as a study of changing attitudes toward gay people -- after a lifetime of relative "discretion" Laurents was outed accidentally by a journalist of a much younger generation who had no idea anyone, and especially anyone in theater, would object to being identified as gay. I recommend ORIGINAL STORY BY much more heartily than I do MAINLY ON DIRECTING.
May 4, 2020
Wickedly scathing
April 8, 2014
Mr. Laurents doesn't hold back, that's for sure. The first few chapters are spent skewering Sam Mendes and Laurents is up and down from there. The author is just as complimentary toward those he loved working with as he is critical of those he didn't (or even those he previously loved working with, but who wronged him in some way). It's refreshing that an old-school theater guy has wonderful things to say about several newer Broadway stars (Laura Benanti, Lin-Manuel Miranda). As a theater-lover, I enjoyed all the insider stories and learning about Mr. Laurents' process. What goes into producing a musical is incredible and you get a sense of it from this book. While not a lengthy book, this could have used some tighter editing because some of the stories just drag, but overall enjoyable.
August 11, 2025
"Originally, an editor of a publishing house specializing in theatre books saw the huge pile of notes I had given Sam Mendes for the Gypsy he was directing with Bernadette Peters. The editor thought publishing those notes would be extremely informative; display in detail how the process of directing a musical really worked in real theatre life (if that isn't an oxymoron).
I set about organizing the notes and providing a background for them, but as I did, the book seemed to be turning more and more into an attack on Sam Mendes, which was far from my intention. I stopped and was ready to quit when Tom stepped in." (301)
It's been about a decade since I've known about Arthur Laurents' book on directing landmark shows such as "Gypsy", "West Side Story", "La Cage Aux Folles" and writing the scripts for movies such as "Summertime" and "The Way We Were". I have dabbled in reading this book in bits because I never had the desire to purchase a copy- but read chapters and bits of it from bookstores.
I finally read this cover to cover. The verdict?
While I loved reading about Mr. Laurents' backstage gossip about writing and directing three separate productions of "Gypsy" (with Angela Lansbury in 1974, Tyne Daly in 1989 and Patti LuPone in 2008) and the 2009 revival of "West Side Story" with a Tony Winning performance for Karen Olivo's Anita; and writing about his experiences working with Ethel Merman in the original 1959 production of "Gypsy" and directing "La Cage Aux Folles" in 1984- the book seems to be about two main things that really wanted to process:
The first, Mr. Laurents seems to have really (and justifiably so) been hit with an intense grief over losing his life partner Tom Hatcher. The book is partially his processing life without Hatcher, and directing revivals of "Gypsy" in 2008 and "West Side Story" in 2009 were his ways of keeping busy. Working with artists such as Patti LuPone and Lin Manuel Miranda really seemed to have allowed him to have an outlet in processing his grief over the loss of Mr. Hatcher. And he was 90 years old when he directed "Gypsy" with Ms. LuPone.
The second thing that Mr. Laurents keeps mentioning is that he was unhappy with Sam Mendes' direction of his beloved "Gypsy" in 2003. He keeps saying over and over that Mendes did not have the musical "in his bones" (11).
I confirm that this book is mostly an attack against the 2003 production because he is critical of how Mr. Mendes directed "Gypsy" more of an abstract show that showcased Bernadette Peters' acting abilities, and took away the sets, costumes and the stamp of past productions he directed.
The book should be retitled “Mainly on What I Direct Matters”.
He compares Mendes' "Gypsy" to that of the bleak Eugene O'Neill "The Iceman Cometh" and of how Ms. Peters' interpretation of Rose felt like "Bernadette Peters In Concert".
The only way to rectify his baby not being directed properly was to direct it himself, this time in 2008 with Patti LuPone as Mama Rose.
Mr. Laurents fails to actually admit that Mr. Mendes' production lasted longer than his own. Also that much of New York's critics actually loved Ms. Peters' controversial, disturbing performance. He writes off that production as if his opinion was the only thing that mattered.
I did see both the 2003 and 2008 productions. I also liked them both very much since the women that played Rose brought their own interpretations and skills as talented, acclaimed artists in their own right.
Patti LuPone was much closer to that of the Ethel Merman/Angela Lansbury/Tyne Daly sound- brassy, bossy and touching.
Mr. Laurents for three chapters straight does nothing but praise Patti LuPone, and of how his mounting in 2008 was the second coming of "Gypsy".
It was one long essay that attacked Sam Mendes and Bernadette Peters, and it was sad to read how much bitterness he had.
He had difficulty letting go of his script when someone else dared to bring a different interpretation to his musical.
If you Google the amount of performances his production of the 2008 "Gypsy", it was a total of 332; the Mendes 2003 production had 451 productions.
In defense of the 2003 Mendes production, It outlasted his by 119 solid performances.
It's sad to me that he could not accept someone else directed his classic musical in a vision that was not his. Nor could he see that Ms. Peters gave her own stamp to a classic role on her own merit.
There was so much bitterness and anger in this book that I couldn't help that it lingered for the entirety of this book which is supposed to be about process. It seemed to be more about telling the world he needed to settle a score with Sam Mendes.
Sam Mendes' productions of "Gypsy" and "Cabaret" in 1998 have all been nominated, and won Tony Awards. He has also directed films such as "American Beauty", "1917" and "Empire of Light" to name a few that have all received acclaim, and also dabbled in directing Daniel Craig in "James Bond" films.
I happen to admire him as a director, and the book was sad that it could have been more insightful in the process of directing, and of how Laurents enjoyed himself both as a scenarist and a director of actors.
Laurents writes admirably of directing Ms. Lansbury also in "Anyone Can Whistle" which was a major flop. And of working with George Hearn in "La Cage Aux Folles".
I luckily caught revivals of those shows: La Cage starred Douglas Hodge and Kelsey Grammer, and Anyone Can Whistle starred Raul Esparza, Sutton Foster and Donna Murphy; saw another production with Santino Fontana, Elizabeth Stanley and Vanessa Williams in the Angela Lansbury role.
However, the anger of "Gypsy" lingers- and perhaps, a slight self hatred of being a gay man having survived the 1950s Blacklist and losing his partner of many years permeates this book.
Postscript: 2025, I wonder how Mr. Laurents would have felt about the new Gypsy revival starring Audra McDonald as a black Mama Rose. We all know how Patti LuPone felt about it… which was not nice at all.
Link:
https://www.thecut.com/article/patti-...
I set about organizing the notes and providing a background for them, but as I did, the book seemed to be turning more and more into an attack on Sam Mendes, which was far from my intention. I stopped and was ready to quit when Tom stepped in." (301)
It's been about a decade since I've known about Arthur Laurents' book on directing landmark shows such as "Gypsy", "West Side Story", "La Cage Aux Folles" and writing the scripts for movies such as "Summertime" and "The Way We Were". I have dabbled in reading this book in bits because I never had the desire to purchase a copy- but read chapters and bits of it from bookstores.
I finally read this cover to cover. The verdict?
While I loved reading about Mr. Laurents' backstage gossip about writing and directing three separate productions of "Gypsy" (with Angela Lansbury in 1974, Tyne Daly in 1989 and Patti LuPone in 2008) and the 2009 revival of "West Side Story" with a Tony Winning performance for Karen Olivo's Anita; and writing about his experiences working with Ethel Merman in the original 1959 production of "Gypsy" and directing "La Cage Aux Folles" in 1984- the book seems to be about two main things that really wanted to process:
The first, Mr. Laurents seems to have really (and justifiably so) been hit with an intense grief over losing his life partner Tom Hatcher. The book is partially his processing life without Hatcher, and directing revivals of "Gypsy" in 2008 and "West Side Story" in 2009 were his ways of keeping busy. Working with artists such as Patti LuPone and Lin Manuel Miranda really seemed to have allowed him to have an outlet in processing his grief over the loss of Mr. Hatcher. And he was 90 years old when he directed "Gypsy" with Ms. LuPone.
The second thing that Mr. Laurents keeps mentioning is that he was unhappy with Sam Mendes' direction of his beloved "Gypsy" in 2003. He keeps saying over and over that Mendes did not have the musical "in his bones" (11).
I confirm that this book is mostly an attack against the 2003 production because he is critical of how Mr. Mendes directed "Gypsy" more of an abstract show that showcased Bernadette Peters' acting abilities, and took away the sets, costumes and the stamp of past productions he directed.
The book should be retitled “Mainly on What I Direct Matters”.
He compares Mendes' "Gypsy" to that of the bleak Eugene O'Neill "The Iceman Cometh" and of how Ms. Peters' interpretation of Rose felt like "Bernadette Peters In Concert".
The only way to rectify his baby not being directed properly was to direct it himself, this time in 2008 with Patti LuPone as Mama Rose.
Mr. Laurents fails to actually admit that Mr. Mendes' production lasted longer than his own. Also that much of New York's critics actually loved Ms. Peters' controversial, disturbing performance. He writes off that production as if his opinion was the only thing that mattered.
I did see both the 2003 and 2008 productions. I also liked them both very much since the women that played Rose brought their own interpretations and skills as talented, acclaimed artists in their own right.
Patti LuPone was much closer to that of the Ethel Merman/Angela Lansbury/Tyne Daly sound- brassy, bossy and touching.
Mr. Laurents for three chapters straight does nothing but praise Patti LuPone, and of how his mounting in 2008 was the second coming of "Gypsy".
It was one long essay that attacked Sam Mendes and Bernadette Peters, and it was sad to read how much bitterness he had.
He had difficulty letting go of his script when someone else dared to bring a different interpretation to his musical.
If you Google the amount of performances his production of the 2008 "Gypsy", it was a total of 332; the Mendes 2003 production had 451 productions.
In defense of the 2003 Mendes production, It outlasted his by 119 solid performances.
It's sad to me that he could not accept someone else directed his classic musical in a vision that was not his. Nor could he see that Ms. Peters gave her own stamp to a classic role on her own merit.
There was so much bitterness and anger in this book that I couldn't help that it lingered for the entirety of this book which is supposed to be about process. It seemed to be more about telling the world he needed to settle a score with Sam Mendes.
Sam Mendes' productions of "Gypsy" and "Cabaret" in 1998 have all been nominated, and won Tony Awards. He has also directed films such as "American Beauty", "1917" and "Empire of Light" to name a few that have all received acclaim, and also dabbled in directing Daniel Craig in "James Bond" films.
I happen to admire him as a director, and the book was sad that it could have been more insightful in the process of directing, and of how Laurents enjoyed himself both as a scenarist and a director of actors.
Laurents writes admirably of directing Ms. Lansbury also in "Anyone Can Whistle" which was a major flop. And of working with George Hearn in "La Cage Aux Folles".
I luckily caught revivals of those shows: La Cage starred Douglas Hodge and Kelsey Grammer, and Anyone Can Whistle starred Raul Esparza, Sutton Foster and Donna Murphy; saw another production with Santino Fontana, Elizabeth Stanley and Vanessa Williams in the Angela Lansbury role.
However, the anger of "Gypsy" lingers- and perhaps, a slight self hatred of being a gay man having survived the 1950s Blacklist and losing his partner of many years permeates this book.
Postscript: 2025, I wonder how Mr. Laurents would have felt about the new Gypsy revival starring Audra McDonald as a black Mama Rose. We all know how Patti LuPone felt about it… which was not nice at all.
Link:
https://www.thecut.com/article/patti-...
January 29, 2023
Quick read by a man who is extremely talented, who had a long & successful career in the theater, and who comes off as grumpier and more hostile than he admits. Best example: He wanted to hire a particular designer—one he had worked with on a past production, with happy results—for a new version of West Side Story he was planning to direct. The designer, however, decided instead to work on another Broadway show scheduled to start production at the same time. “Before Tom’s death, I would have been angry at Marty. Now I felt disappointed that the friendship was over.” In other words, I wasn’t angry at Marty; I was just disappointed that he blew up our friendship by making a professional choice that did not benefit me.
September 20, 2023
The kind of book that could only be written by a man at death's door (he died just 2 years after it was published). He's almost offputtingly brutal about others in the industry in places, but it's an earned perspective, and it's always delicious to read such anecdotes as he has. On top of this there is a lot of valuable wisdom from someone who was there through pretty much the whole of 20th and early 21st-century theatre, so many changes, from Sondheim to Miranda - and the very subtle but beautiful love story threaded through it is the icing on the cake.
December 27, 2024
Lots of interesting stuff here, especially if you've ever directed or performed in one of these shows.
December 18, 2017
This covers Laurents' direction of stage classics like Gypsy (multiple productions), West Side Story, Anyone Can Whistle, I Can Get It for You Wholesale, and La Cage Aux Folles. The title is apropos in that it focuses more on Laurents' experiences as a director more than his equally esteemed career as a writer, but if you're reading it to try to gain insight for your own directing work, you won't find much here. On the other hand, there are plenty of opinions and a fair amount of behind the scenes dishing on the many people he has worked with. Written when the aging Laurents was mourning the loss of his lifelong partner Tom Hatcher, this isn't really a full record of his career, not even the directing part, but it does give insight to an opinionated man and the particular productions that he covers.
February 20, 2010
Picking up after "Original Story By: A Memoir of Broadway and Hollywood" left off, the bulk of this book focuses on the wildly critical, financial, and social successes of the revivals of "Gypsy" and "West Side Story" and makes an impassioned plea for the role of musicals in the modern theatre. A genuine treat.
February 10, 2010
Arthur Laurents is 90 now and this is a short book about some of the more recent shows that he has directed - a revised Gypsy with Patti Lupone in particular, where Patti ended up winning a Tony. Since he wrote the book for some of these shows as well as directing them, he really has interesting insights into how he has gone about directing them.
June 6, 2010
It's been a long time since I read a book in one sitting, but this was so entertaining I couldn't help myself. A little bit gossipy, a little bit catty, funny, silly, romantic and painfully honest, this is an expose of one man's career in the Broadway musical theater! It's both breezy and insightful.
July 1, 2012
Mainly On Directing by Arthur Laurents was smoking hot. More than a bit of bitchier, occasionally gossipy, some meaty information about not only musicals like Gypsy and La Cage but also about directing (and mis-directing) a Broadway musical. This is also a love letter to Laurent's partner of many, many years, recently deceased. What a love story!
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June 6, 2009What does a director do? Who is responsible for what? I learned that along the way. I like West Side Story (though I've only seen the movie). The author sharply and shrewdly takes us through the details attendant to "putting on a show," whether concert-staged or Broadway-bound. Interesting stuff.
January 18, 2010
Though thoroughly engrossing, this was a bit disjointed and comes across like a bitch's manifesto of the theatre. I love his take on his City Center "Encores!" experience. Gotta hand it to him for continuing to direct to sellout crowds into his 90s.
July 2, 2009
Fun, behind the scenes look at directing Broadway musicals, Laurents tells what he really thinks of his collaborators. Gossipy, entertaining, and enlightening all at the same time.
July 7, 2009
great theatre gossip from an iconic director
May 29, 2011
It is a great book because it tells the stories of the shows he has directed. It's a great view into musical theater. I especially like the chapter where he talks about LA CAGE.
March 4, 2012
Eileen recommended I read this while I was in between books. It was funny. This guy was tough. And knows his shit very well.
January 20, 2015
A wonderful and insightful read for those interested in theatre. It helps to have seen Gypsy or West Side Story before to understand some references, but overall a funny and beautiful memoir.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews