In case you thought the death of Agatha Laurents, I mean Arthur Laurents, was a sad occasion, let me just tell you the shrimp was a bitch. I put up all the front money for what he called "his greatest and most public flop" and obviously, I lost all the money I had put up for it. When I was invited to a private performance by Richard Maltby, Charles Strouse and Arthur Laurents in Charles's apartment, the three of them started screaming as soon as Charlie Strouse was out of the room. The apartment was on Central Park South (Charles Strausse's apartment) and as soon as the "performance" broke up, Arthur Laurents walked up to me and asked me what I thought. And he knew I was the primary investor so maybe this was my fault. But all I said was that the show needed a second act. He turned around and walked away from me like the sad little midget he was. I hated him. The other guys: Richard Maltby and Charles Strouse were cool in a certain way, but as soon as Arthur Laurents looked up at me and said, "What do you think,"I knew he was fishing for praise. He had also previously trashed a play I had semi-financed called "Mountain," and he said "Len Cariou is in it, so it can't be good."
The big problem with Nick & Nora is that there was never a writer. Arthur Laurents said that he always hated the Nick & Nora movies, so why did he agree to write one? He never wrote a second act, but tried to imitate Hal Prince in creating a sung-through musical, which is basically a form of musical theatre opera.
He died recently, as we all will do, and he said that Nick & Nora was his greatest and most public flop. I'm glad I got to pay for it.
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