Mainly on Directing

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 ÊWest Side StoryÊ and ÊGypsyÊ. He writes in rich detail about his new bilingual production of ÊWest Side StoryÊ along with his most recent production of ÊGypsyÊ how it began as an act of love and how that love spread through the entire company and resulted in a ÊGypsyÊ unlike any other.ÞLaurents offers behind-the-scenes details about the musicals he directed including ÊI Can Get It for You WholesaleÊ its producer David Merrick (the Abominable Showman ) and its (very young) stars Barbra Streisand and Elliott Gould. He dishes on Stephen Sondheim's ÊAnyone Can WhistleÊ 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 ÊLa Cage aux FollesÊ the first big Broadway musical that was gay and glad to be.ÞThroughout the book is enriched by Laurents's two loves ä 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. ÊMainly on DirectingÊ 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.