{"id":5372,"date":"2018-01-22T00:57:25","date_gmt":"2018-01-22T00:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/?p=5372"},"modified":"2018-08-24T15:50:48","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T15:50:48","slug":"diva-alert-18-patti-lupone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/diva-alert-18-patti-lupone\/","title":{"rendered":"Diva Alert #18: Patti LuPone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Diva Alert #18: Patti LuPone<\/h3>\n \"\"<\/a><\/span>

Written by Jackson Upperco<\/p>\n

January 18, 2018<\/p>\n<\/font>

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Welcome back to Diva Alert, Performer Stuff\u2019s series on Great Dames from the Golden Age of Broadway. In these posts, we\u2019re taking a look at some of the American Musical Theatre\u2019s most legendary ladies, along with their seminal stage triumphs.<\/em><\/p>\n

This dame is as brassy and bold in real life as she is in performance. One of the most recognized stars of the American Musical Theatre, she is an institution. She is a life force. She is a diva in the truest, rawest sense of the word. She is… Patti LuPone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Patti LuPone had theatre in her blood. Her great-grandaunt was an opera star, and her older brother, Robert, originated the role of Zach in A Chorus Line (1975). By this time, she herself had graduated in the first class of Julliard\u2019s Drama Division and had become an original member of John Houseman\u2019s The Acting Company<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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LuPone earned her first — of seven (so far)! — Tony nods following her Broadway debut in The Robber <\/em>Bridegroom, and then proved herself a capable dramatic actress in several straight plays. She won her first Tony in 1980 — for playing Eva Peron in the Broadway Production of Andrew Lloyd Webber\u2019s Evita<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Over the next 15 years, LuPone hopped back and forth between Broadway and the West End, headlining notable revivals of The Cradle Will Rock<\/em> and Anything Goes<\/em>, along with the 1985 English-speaking premiere of Les Miserables<\/em>. During this period, she also spent four seasons on an ABC dramedy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In 1993, LuPone opened in London with Andrew Lloyd Webber\u2019s Sunset Boulevard<\/em>, which she\u2019s since gone on to describe — in no uncertain terms (you know Patti tells it like it is!) — as one of the worst professional experiences of her life. But this diva bounced back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Since 1995, Patti LuPone has appeared in revivals of classic plays like Master Class<\/em> and Noises Off<\/em>, along with musicals Pal Joey, Passion, Anyone Can Whistle, Sweeney Todd<\/em>, and Gypsy<\/em> (for which she won a Tony). She\u2019s also starred in the Original Broadway casts of Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown<\/em> (2010) and War Paint<\/em> (2017).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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As of this writing, LuPone is preparing to open in London\u2019s gender-swapped Company<\/em>. Like any diva, there\u2019s no stopping her… And while we revere this dynamo for the intensity with which she imbues her work, there\u2019s no doubt that this diva is just like this off the stage, too! When we think of what it means to be a Broadway legend today, we think of Patti LuPone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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DID YOU KNOW?\u00a0<\/strong>Patti LuPone went viral in 2009 when she stopped a live performance of Gypsy to call out and order the removal of a patron who had ignored the \u201cno flash photography\u201d rule. Later, in 2015, she confiscated a rude audience member\u2019s cell phone.<\/p>\n

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LuPone Roles You Should Know*<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Rosamund in The Robber Bridegroom<\/em> (1975, Broadway)<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n