newsmakers

newsmakers

‘West Side Story’ playwright dies

NEW YORK

Arthur Laurents, the director, playwright and screenwriter who wrote such enduring stage musicals as “West Side Story” and “Gypsy,” as well as the movie classics “Rope” and “The Way We Were,” died Thursday. He was 93. Laurents died at his home in Manhattan from complications of pneumonia, said his agent, Jonathan Lomma.

Laurents had an extensive career in radio and in Hollywood, but it was on Broadway where he had his biggest successes — particularly with two musicals many consider to be among the finest ever written. And Laurents provided the book — or story — for both of them.

“West Side Story,” which opened on Broadway in 1957, transformed Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” into musical theater. “Gypsy” was based on the memoirs of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. The 1959 musical, with a score by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim, told the story of Rose, a domineering stage mother who pushed her daughter into show business.

McCartney engaged to his girlfriend

LONDON

Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney is engaged to girlfriend Nancy Shevell, his publicist said Friday. McCartney, 68, started dating the 51-year-old New York socialite and businesswoman nearly four years ago after his bitter split from second wife Heather Mills.

McCartney publicist Stuart Bell confirmed recent media speculation over a proposal as true but declined to give further details on when and how the former Beatle asked Shevell to marry him, saying only, “We’re all thrilled for him.”

The marriage will be McCartney’s third; his first wife, Linda, died of cancer in 1998. His 2002 marriage to Mills ended in divorce in 2008.

Weather delays debut of Cedar Point ride

SANDUSKY

Cedar Point says too much wind and rain over the past month in northern Ohio means that its new thrill ride called WindSeeker won’t open with the rest of the park next weekend.

Park officials told the Sandusky Register they think the ride should be ready no later than Memorial Day and that they’re hoping it will be much sooner than that.

The new swing ride will take thrill seekers 300 feet in the air and spin them in a circle above Lake Erie.

Cedar Fair’s sister park, Kings Island near Cincinnati, is opening the same ride there. It, too, has been delayed by the weather.

Attorney: Nicolas Cage won’t be prosecuted

NEW ORLEANS

An attorney for Nicolas Cage says the actor won’t face criminal charges stemming from his April 16 arrest in New Orleans.

New Orleans police say Cage was arrested in the French Quarter after he grabbed his wife’s arm and pounded on cars in a drunken argument about whether a nearby house was the one they were renting.

He was booked with domestic abuse, disturbing the peace and public drunkenness.

Attorney Harry Rosenberg said Friday that the Orleans Parish district attorney’s office refused the charges, and no prosecution would occur.

Associated Press