Mainly on Directing by Arthur Laurents

Author:Arthur Laurents [Laurents, Arthur]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0307270882
Amazon: B001VT3L5U
Publisher: Knopf
Published: 2009-03-10T07:00:00+00:00

The call came while I was getting dressed for opening night. “You can't repeat this or someone will get fired,” the friend said. “Ben Brantley is a rave for Patti and the whole show.”

A moment of pure, uncomplicated joy. The New York Times had actually changed its opinion of Patti LuPone in print. She had finally fulfilled her potential. The Times rave wasn't only for her; it was for Boyd and Laura and Leigh Ann and Tony, for the whole company and what I had achieved with them. The holy effulgence shone on this new Gypsy. Proud? Very.

As I went uptown to the theatre, question followed question: Should I tell Patti before the show? Wouldn't she then give the greatest opening-night performance of her life? Could I tell her? Hadn't I been asked not to tell anyone? Or was it just not to tell anyone who would repeat it?

I walked into Patti's dressing room. Only she and Matt, her husband, were there, both running higher-than-normal opening night temperatures. She looked so small next to him. Matt Johnston is big, a big, handsome guy I had become very fond of. He was more nervous, more frightened, more worried, more everything he wouldn't be if he knew what I knew. Patti would look taller; she would be taller. I told them.

“You can't repeat this to anyone,” I said, and repeated what I had been told about Brantley's review. Patti's eyes flooded with relief. She held out her arms and we hugged for so much that was unsaid and didn't have to be said until much later when you relive and keep reliving every moment you never really thought would happen.

Matt was in a very different place. “Did you read it?” he demanded.

“No, but the person who—”

“If you didn't see it, we don't know it's true!” He was passionate.

“Matt—” both Patti and I began. But the stakes were higher for him than for anyone in that room. “Unless we see it, we can't be sure.”

He had lived through her getting hurt before. He was terrified she would be hurt again and he couldn't face the thought. That's love.

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