In 2009, Laurents published another memoir, Mainly on Directing: "Gypsy," "West Side Story" and Other Musicals, in which he examined the musicals he directed as well as the work of other directors. He also discussed his long love affair with Hatcher, and his platonic relationships with the actors he has directed.

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In 2009, Laurents also premiered his play, New Year's Eve. Starring Keith Carradine and Marlo Thomas, the work examines the ambiguous sexuality of a somewhat jaded New York theatrical family.

On May 5, 2011, Laurents died peacefully at his Manhattan home.]

Gay, lesbian, and bisexual film directors have been a vital creative presence in cinema since the medium's inception over one hundred years ago.

The musical has been a significant aspect of American gay male culture, manifesting itself both in diva worship and, more recently, in the presentation of openly gay characters and shows written by gay writers primarily for gay audiences.

Although film may be a director's rather than a writer's medium, gay and lesbian screenwriters have made significant contributions to both mainstream and independent film.

For most of his life, the specter of the closet lurked threateningly behind the glamorous and often brash public image of American composer Leonard Bernstein.

Award-winning Harvey Fierstein is one of the finest gay male playwrights currently working in the American theater.

Actor Farley Granger was best known for playing strikingly handsome yet emotionally vulnerable young men in classic 1940s films, but his long and productive career encompassed theater and television roles as well.

Although playwright, screenwriter, and director Moss Hart achieved great commercial success and popular acclaim, he suffered from severe depression and other emotional problems that were intensified, and possibly caused, by intense anxiety concerning his sexual orientation.

A proponent of the "diva musical," Broadway composer and lyricist Jerry Herman made homosexuality the undisguised subject of La Cage aux Folles but he did so just as gay culture lost its need of a diva to voice its concerns.

Gay actor and singer Larry Kert introduced some of the most memorable songs in American musical theater.

The case of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, who gained notoriety for the murder of a fourteen-year-old boy in 1924, has since become a staple of popular culture, inspiring numerous books, films, and plays.

Bisexual choreographer and director Jerome Robbins was both a great choreographer of classical ballet and a Broadway innovator, but he was fearful that he might be outed.

One of the most innovative talents of the musical theater in the second half of the twentieth century, Stephen Sondheim has only indirectly reflected his homosexuality in his work.