Editing Arthur Laurents (section)

=== Theatre ===
[[File:Harvey Fierstein, Jerry Herman, Arthur Laurents, La Cage aux Folles.jpg|thumb|Left to right: [[Harvey Fierstein]], [[Jerry Herman]], Arthur Laurents, creators of the musical ''[[La Cage aux Folles (musical)|La Cage Aux Folles]]'', in front of the Palace theater where it is playing, 1983]]
According to John Clum, "Laurents was always a mirror of his times. Through his best work, one sees a staged history of leftist, gender, and gay politics in the decades after World War II."<ref>Clum, John, "The Works of Arthur Laurents: Politics, Love, and Betrayal", November 2014, Cambria Press, {{ISBN|1604978848}}</ref> After graduating from [[Cornell University]] in 1937, Laurents, who was gay, went to work as a writer for radio drama at [[CBS]] in New York. His military duties during World War II, which consisted of writing training films and radio scripts for ''Armed Service Force Presents'', brought him into contact with some of the best film directors—distinguished director George Cukor directed his first script. Laurents's work in radio and film during World War II was an excellent apprenticeship for a budding playwright and screenwriter. He also had the good fortune to be based in New York City. His first stage play, ''Home of the Brave'', was produced in 1945. The sale of the play to a film studio gave Laurents the entrée he needed to become a [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] screenwriter though he continued, with mixed success, to write plays. The most important of his early screenplays is his adaptation of ''[[Rope_(film)|Rope]]'' for [[Alfred Hitchcock]].<ref>Clum, John, "The Works of Arthur Laurents: Politics, Love, and Betrayal"</ref>

Soon after being discharged from the Army, Laurents met ballerina [[Nora Kaye]], and the two became involved in an on-again, off-again romantic relationship. While Kaye was on tour with ''[[Fancy Free (ballet)|Fancy Free]]'', Laurents continued to write for the radio but was becoming discontented with the medium. In 1962, Laurents directed ''[[I Can Get It for You Wholesale]]'', which helped to turn then-unknown [[Barbra Streisand]] into a star. His next project was the stage musical ''[[Anyone Can Whistle]]'', which he directed and for which he wrote the book, but it proved to be an infamous flop. He later had success with the musicals ''[[Hallelujah, Baby!]]'' (written for [[Lena Horne]]<ref>Laurents, p. 93.</ref> but ultimately starring [[Leslie Uggams]]) and ''[[La Cage aux Folles (musical)|La Cage Aux Folles]]'' (1983), which he directed, however ''[[Nick & Nora (musical)|Nick & Nora]]'' was not successful.

[[File:Arthur laurents.JPG|right|thumb|Laurents in 2009]]
In 2008, Laurents directed a Broadway revival of ''Gypsy'' starring [[Patti LuPone]], and in 2009, he tackled a bilingual revival of ''[[West Side Story]]'', with Spanish translations of some dialogue and lyrics by [[Lin-Manuel Miranda]]. While preparing ''West Side Story'', he noted, "The musical theatre and cultural conventions of 1957 made it next to impossible for the characters to have authenticity."<ref>Jones, Kenneth (July 16, 2008). [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/119539.html "'West Side Story', This Time With Bilingual Approach, Will Return to Broadway in February 2009"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907052633/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/119539.html |date=2008-09-07 }}. ''[[Playbill]]''.</ref> Following the production's March 19 opening at the [[Palace Theatre (Broadway)|Palace Theatre]], [[Ben Brantley]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called the translations "an only partly successful experiment" and added, "Mr. Laurents has exchanged insolence for innocence and, as with most such bargains, there are dividends and losses."<ref>Brantley, Ben (March 20, 2009). [http://theater2.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/theater/reviews/20west.html "Our Gangs"]. ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref> The national tour (2011–2012) was directed by [[David Saint]], who was Laurents' assistant director on the Broadway production. The Spanish lyrics and dialog were reduced from about 18% of the total to about 10%.<ref>Berson, M. (January 8, 2012). [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2017161274_westside08.html "'West Side Story': A classic revived"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112034307/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2017161274_westside08.html |date=January 12, 2012 }}. ''[[Seattle Times]]''.</ref>