Broadway Fun 2: Patti Lupone

Before I start, a quick comment. I see a lot of plays for free off-Broadway. And on Broadway, you can get great seats for a great price if you buy a single the night before. So that is how I saw many of these shows. So I am not rich and didn't pay crazy prices for almost all these shows.

Okay, what is this list without this Diva. She is imperious, vocally stunning and commands a room. I actually saw her first when I was in college (yes really) playing pre-Broadway Evita in tryouts at the Century City Schubert Theater.

She has done lots of TV, almost always straight shows, with no singing. And, if you have ever listened to the album of Les Miz, she was the first Fontine (in London). She also created the role of Norman in the musical Sunset Blvd in London. I literally traveled to London to see that show.

She is great, but seems a little unapproachable. And she has opinions and will act on them. From Wikipedia.

Views on theatre conduct

LuPone opposes recording, photographs, and other electronic distractions in live theatre. "Where's the elegance?" she asked in a blog post on her official site. "I mean, I'm glad they show up because God knows it's a dying art form and I guess I'm glad they're all comfortable, sleeping, eating and drinking, things they should be doing at home and in a restaurant. But it's just not done in the theater or shouldn't be." LuPone has been the subject of some controversy due to the bluntness of her statements regarding this matter.

A related incident occurred at the second to last performance of Gypsy on January 10, 2009. LuPone, irritated by flash photography, stopped in the middle of "Rose's Turn" and loudly demanded that the interloper be removed from the theatre. After he was removed, LuPone restarted her number. The audience applauded her stance. The event was recorded by another audience member, who released it on YouTube. She later stated that such distractions drive "people in the audience nuts. They can't concentrate on the stage if, in their peripheral vision, they're seeing texting, they're seeing cameras, they're listening to phone calls. How can we do our job if the audience is distracted?", and also mentioned that "the interesting thing is I'm not the first one that's done it".

On July 8, 2015, during the second act of Shows for Days at the Lincoln Center Theater, LuPone grabbed an audience member's cellphone while leaving the stage as the audience member had been using their phone during the play.

I saw here in these shows in various places including New York.

TL: Headshot

2nd from left: Evita. She will always be Evita to me (people in London have their own favorite). She made the musical and song Don't Cry For Me Argentina heard around the world. Breath taking. Despite loving Madonna in the film, Patti will always be my Evita. And my disco Evita (the remake of Disco Don't Cry For Me Argentina - was perfection.

3rd from left: Women on the Verge of A Nervous Breakdown. Meh. But the costumes were great.

TR: Sweeney Todd. She played Mrs. Lovett in the revival by John Doyle. It was famous for having the cast both sing and play the instruments in the show. She played percussion and the Tuba. Ed and I loved it. Patti was great, but Michael Cerveris as Sweeney stole that show.

LL: Hollywood on netflix. She was fantastic as the wife of the studio head and the boy toy renting aficionado.  I know it isn't theater, but I loved it.

MU: She played Helena Rubinstein in War Paint on Broadway. Her outfits were stunning, her singing was spot on but her speaking with a Boris und Natasha East European accent was regrettable.

ML: Mama Rose in Gypsy. She was one of many greats in this role. She always watned this role, and she was excellent.

LU: Sunset Boulevard in London. She was so fantastic, that I could barely watch the one in the US with Glenn Close. I guess you shouldn't piss off Andrew Lloyd Weber. On great nights, I still can sit back and hear her sing With One Look. I also hear Glenn Close "sing/talk" the song. I hear it to this day in my nightmares. Late at night, when I am sad and afraid.

LM: This is one of the many talk shows she was on where she told the story of the phone in Gypsy. She actually stopped the show to yell at someone who's phone rang. Literally, broke out of character ad harangued them.

LR: Company. She starred in London and will star on Broadway late this year in Company. It is arvival that changes the lead from a man to a woman.