Sorry, Michael. After two months, Patti was determined not to miss her final performance in Los Angeles. She didn't want to disappoint her friends and fans who'd be attending. However, the box office knew my face by this point and told me Patti was not in good shape. She'd been recording the 2 LP OCR of EVITA during the day and was experiencing vocal strain. But she was just fine during her opening "Buenos Aires" number but it all went downhill shortly after that. By mid-act, she could no longer sing and shouted out her lyrics instead. For the act one finale, "A New Argentina", she couldn't even shout. Her voice was gone. So at this performance, she died during the first act instead of the second. After intermission, she was replaced but I have to admire her determination.
The only time I've experienced a similar situation was with the wonderful Barbara Harris in THE APPLE TREE but that's another story, Michael. |
