Gypsy & West Side Story writer Arthur Laurents dies

Arthur Laurents was the writer of the classic stage musicals West Side Story and Gypsy. It has just been announced that he has died at his Manhattan home from complications of pneumonia.  He was aged 93.

One of his credits as a stage director was I Can Get It For You Wholesale, which is best remembered as the musical which introduced a 19-year-old Barbra Streisand to Broadway in 1962. Earlier this year Miss Streisand was in talks with Laurents to star in and possibly direct a new film version of Gypsy.