Laurents, Blakemore Featured on Theater Talk This Weekend

On Friday at 12:30 AM on Thirteen, "The Best of Theater Talk" will present eminent British director/writer Michael Blakemore. The multiple Tony Award-winner (now represented on Broadway by Deuce) will discuss his memoir Arguments with England, which looks back at his early days as an actor and his transformation into one of the English-speaking theater's most important directors.

This weekend on CUNY TV, there will be an encore of the series' conversation with Arthur Laurents, the great librettist/screenwriter/director, who discusses creating his masterpiece Gypsy, as well as his relationship and  falling-out with the show's troubled, original director, Jerome Robbins. Gypsy is now playing at City Center in a revival directed by Laurents, starring Patti LuPone and Boyd Gaines.

The Australian-born Blakemore received Tony Awards for directing Kiss Me, Kate and Copenhagen (both in the same year - 2000), and was also nominated for his work on The Life, City of Angels, Lettice and Lovage, Noises Off and A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. Other Broadway credits include Benefactors and Players.  London credits include Long Day's Journey Into Night, Privates on Parade and Design for Living.

Tony Award-winner Laurents, in addition to writing the book of Gypsy (featuring lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and music by Jule Styne), penned the book of West Side Story, as well as those of Hallelujah, Baby!, Do I Hear a Waltz?, and Anyone Can Whistle (which he also directed), among others.  He also wrote the plays Invitation to a March (which he also directed), A Clearing in the Woods, The Time of the Cuckoo and Home of the Brave. Other Broadway directorial credits include La Cage aux Folles.  He also penned the screenplays of The Way We Were and The Turning Point, among others.

This episode of "Theater Talk" airs on CUNY TV (channel 75):  Saturday, July 28 at 8:30 PM; Sunday, July 29 at 12:30 PM; Monday, July 30 at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM and 7:30 PM.

Visit www.theatertalk.org for more information.