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Arthur Laurents, Reconsidered

With a new memoir, "Original Story By," and a slew of revivals,
the 82-year-old playwright is back in the spotlight.

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called upon to do so.
In Laurents' ninth circle of hell
belong Elia Kazan and Jerome
Robbins, both of whom Laurents
ne could say that
worked with and knew well.
Arthur Laurents has
Although Laurents' blacklisting
been to Broadway
consisted of a pleasant 18-month
what Lenny Bruce
romp through Europe, many of
was to comedy.
his friends were devastated by
The comparison is apt, since
McCarthyism.
the 82-year-old author of such
Laurents' new play, Jolson Sings
groundbreaking plays as West
Arthur Laurents, front and center, with the cast of a
looks at the human cost of
Again,
Side Story, Gypsy and Home of
1998 revival of "West Side Story"
those years not only in the destruc-
the Brave, and films such as Rope
tion of careers but also in how it
his work in so many categories,"
and The Way We Were, has spent most
forced
people to think twice before
explained Richard Sabellico, who
of his creative life banging on the doors
doing
what
they believed to be the
at
the
directed Home of the Brave
of intolerance and prejudice without
right
thing.
Jewish
Repertory
Theatre.
Laurents
caring too much about what other peo-
"I had to question my own behav-
hired Sabellico as an actor when the
ple think.
ior, too, because I had worked with
playwright was directing the famous
"I am animated very much by my
informers, knowingly," he said. "It
1974 revival of Gypsy, with Angela
rage at injustice, and the desire for jus-
comes down to an issue beyond poli-
Lansbury.
tice and fair play," said Laurents recently
tics — what's the line you won't cross?"
Laurents has a reputation for speak-
during a wide-ranging interview in his
Laurents grew up in Flatbush,
ing his mind. In his memoir he admits
Greenwich Village townhouse. "Those
Brooklyn,
the son of Jews who had
sardonically that, by and large, "acid
issues come out in my plays whether
put
religious
life behind them, but
remarks were attributed to me to
they seem to be on my mind or not."
who
still
felt
the
strong pull of Jewish
ensure
credibility."
Arthur Laurents is in the air these
peoplehood.
But
in
a
leisurely
afternoon
conver-
days, especially in New York. A pro-
He explains in the book that his bar
sation, little of the acid was on display.
duction of his 1952 play, The Time of
mitzvah was "meaningless ... the end of
Laurents was every inch the courtly
the Cuckoo, filled the house at Lincoln
my religious training and the beginning
eminence gris, surrounded by sheet
Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater
of my turning against religion." His
music, crystal knick-knacks and other
earlier this summer. In December, the
new religion was the stage and screen.
objects testifying to his many accom-
Jewish Repertory Theatre produced a
He had wanted to be a writer since
plishments and associations.
brilliant revival of Laurents' 1945
he
was 10 years old, and his big break
He
would
show
his
teeth
only
Home of the Brave, about a Jewish sol-
came
during World War II, when the
when
talking
about
prejudice
in
dier fighting antisemitism. And his
government
needed writers for war-
America,
especially
against
minori-
is
expect-
new play, Jolson Sings Again,
oriented radio dramas.
ties and gays.
ed to come to New York soon, with
Laurents took to it easily, and by
Noting the persistence of discrimi-
talk of Patti Lupone in a starring role.
the end of the war had written Home
nation in the U.S., especially the brutal
On top of that, Laurents has just
of the Brave.
killing of gay student Matthew Shepard
published his memoirs, Original Story
It was, in fact, a brave play to write
last year, Laurents said, "People think
By: A Memoir of Broadway and
as
a
first-time playwright. It concerns
they
will
be
accepted
by
belonging
to
Hollywood" (Knopf; $30), which has
the
trials
of a Jewish G.I. who, as part
the
WASP
hierarchy.
It
doesn't
help
occasioned profiles of Laurents in the
of
an
engineering
corps in the South
them
one
damn
bit.
Blacks,
gays
and
New York Times, Vanity Fair, the Los
Pacific, has to fight off Japanese
Jews who are Republicans are fools."
Angeles Times and other places.
snipers as well as antisemitic peers.
Original Story By is equally frank,
With the new book, new play and
It was a Broadway success, despite
and is full of juicy anecdotes about
all the revivals, Laurents is receiving a
its groundbreaking descriptions of
major Broadway and Hollywood fig-
de facto retrospective of his work,
antisemitism, and it set the stage for
ures, descriptions of life during World
with a chorus of people noting that
the confrontational, boundary-push-
War II and the McCarthy years, and
the breadth of Laurents' gifts as a
ing work that he would do over the
reflections
on
what
it
was
like
to
be
writer and director are only now
next few decades.
gay,
Jewish
and
politically
liberal
in
becoming clear.
After The Time of the Cuckoo, which
the post-war years.
"People are only now starting to
was made into the 1955 movie
The book also has its share of rage,
connect the dots, to see the range of
Summertime with Katharine Hepburn,
mostly directed at the witch hunters of
Laurents earned broader fame and
the 1950s and the artists who gave up
Daniel Schifrin is a New York-based
acclaim for writing the books of-two of
their friends even when they weren't
freelance writer.

DANIEL SCHIFRIN
Special to the Jewish News

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On The Bookshelf

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