Mainly on Directing

March 15, 2009
The title is coy, if not downright misleading. Directing is only one of several issues the venerable director-dramatist discusses in fascinating, detailed dissections of Gypsy and, to a lesser extent, West Side Story (a few other musicals get inspected, too), by someone who should know of what he writes. Laurents wrote the books for both Gypsy and WSS, and directed, late in life (he is 90), a highly praised, hit revival of the former. (Even as this is written, he is directing a bilingual WSS opening in March 2009.) Insightful, incisive, very opinionated, Laurents just doesnt hold back. His criticism of Sam Mendes and the 2003 Gypsy revival is unstinting, but then he doesnt even spare the original Mama Rose, Ethel Merman. He is, however, equally lavish with his praise, gushing about Patti Lupones Rose so that youd never guess he famously (if silently) feuded with her for years. This book for Broadway gossip mavens and others with higher aspirationssuch as directing Gypsy themselvesis hard to put down.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)