I visited "War Paint" for the third time last night. Such a shame it must close soon. I must single out Patti Lupone's performance. While she was in obvious discomfort she didn't miss a cue. One of the most poignant moments I have ever seen in theater came during the last song. Helena notices Elizabeth using her "Gauguin Pink" lipstick while they are sitting at little tables adjacent to one another in Venetian room. When Helena asks Elizabeth what she thinks about the lipstick, Elizabeth replies "it congeals." Helena explains that is because it is being applied too thickly. When Patti (Helena) stands to be able to demonstrate the proper way to apply it, she is having great difficulty arising and steadying herself. Of course, this struggle to stand was not in the previous performances I had seen. The physical frailty of Patti now transferred to her character Helena, who is one of the world richest and powerful women, added a dimension to the musical that it had lacked, here, and on other occasions. The intimate moment of applying lipstick to Elizabeth, who has been Helena's mortal cosmetic-industry rival up to this point in the show, is now much heightened by the pain Helena has to endure to be able to do so. I know many people have been critical of the lack of face-to-face interaction between the two beauty doyennes for most of the show. This fictionalized meeting had been for me the best part of the musical, made even more so because of what I witnessed last night.
And what would one of my posting be without a little stage door comment. Patti emerged from the theater smiling with cane in hand, so apologetic that she couldn't sign for anyone. She even told fans to mail their Playbills in so she could sign them. Above and beyond (Ben Platt are you reading). When you're good to fans, fans are good to you. Why I even got Christine Ebersole's auto-graph after two no shows at "Blithe Spirit," which made it all the more exciting. A little touch of star qual-i-ty. |
