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| No... but it was surprisingly good for her | |
| Posted by: IvyLeagueDropout 03:18 am EST 02/13/21 | |
| In reply to: Did the Sunset Blvd debacle actually make Lupone a Bway superstar? - Zelgo 09:31 pm EST 02/12/21 | |
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| No doubt the firing was a brutal humiliation. But she was ultimately fortunate to have had it happen. -She received, reportedly, an extra million bucks with her payout. That provides a lot of security to someone whose income is mostly from stage work. -During the time she would have been in a Broadway run of Sunset, she needed surgery on her throat and separately for a detached retina. She would have missed a couple of months of performances, and would have received tremendous heat about that. -Although Close sold well, the production did lose its entire investment. That would have been laid at her feet had she starred in it. -Not doing Sunset freed her up to bring her 1 woman show to Broadway for an acclaimed limited run, replace Zoe Caldwell in Master Class to great notices and strong box office, and most significantly, star in the Encores! Pal Joey. Not only did she get a great response both in the theater and in the reviews, it began her collaboration with Lonny Price. She would go on to do 7 Sondheim shows at Ravinia under his direction, as well as NY Phil concerts of Sweeney, Passion and Candide. Those concerts led, ultimately, to the revivals of Sweeney and Gypsy. The painful closure of Patti's first act led directly to her very fruitful second act. |
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| re: No... but it was surprisingly good for her | |
| Posted by: Revned 02:58 pm EST 02/14/21 | |
| In reply to: No... but it was surprisingly good for her - IvyLeagueDropout 03:18 am EST 02/13/21 | |
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| Good points. Also: Price and LuPone worked together on COMPANY for the NY Phil as well, which may have played a part in her getting the same role in the "current" Broadway revival... | |
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| She IS big. It's the ... art of enunciation... that got small. | |
| Last Edit: PlayWiz 04:25 pm EST 02/13/21 | |
| Posted by: PlayWiz 04:23 pm EST 02/13/21 | |
| In reply to: No... but it was surprisingly good for her - IvyLeagueDropout 03:18 am EST 02/13/21 | |
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| Great voice, though diction not her strong point. | |
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| re: No... but it was surprisingly good for her | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 03:23 pm EST 02/13/21 | |
| In reply to: No... but it was surprisingly good for her - IvyLeagueDropout 03:18 am EST 02/13/21 | |
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| IvyLeagueDropout, I think that's an extremely astute analysis, so much so that I doubt anyone could argue with it. Bravo and/or brava to you! | |
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| re: No... but it was surprisingly good for her | |
| Posted by: IvyLeagueDropout 04:50 pm EST 02/13/21 | |
| In reply to: re: No... but it was surprisingly good for her - Michael_Portantiere 03:23 pm EST 02/13/21 | |
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| Thanks. And Happy Valentine's Day to you, too. | |
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| re: No... but it was surprisingly good for her/Encores! Pal Joey | |
| Posted by: PlazaBoy 02:49 pm EST 02/13/21 | |
| In reply to: No... but it was surprisingly good for her - IvyLeagueDropout 03:18 am EST 02/13/21 | |
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| I had an audience interaction at Pal Joey that has stayed in my mind for many years. As Lupone entered to a huge ovation (as mentioned above), the gentleman next to me, looked at me and asked "Who is that?" It was comical in the context of the audience losing their minds over Patti. |
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| re: No... but it was surprisingly good for her/Encores! Pal Joey | |
| Posted by: Revned 03:02 pm EST 02/14/21 | |
| In reply to: re: No... but it was surprisingly good for her/Encores! Pal Joey - PlazaBoy 02:49 pm EST 02/13/21 | |
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| A related story: The night I saw the Encores! PAL JOEY, Vicki Lewis, playing a supporting role, got a surprisingly tumultuous round of entrance applause. I believe, and others mentioned this as well at the time, that it was partly because, in that huge house, a lot of people thought she was LuPone, who had not yet appeared onstage! | |
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| the Lonny Price concerts / Gypsy | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 12:25 pm EST 02/13/21 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 12:11 pm EST 02/13/21 | |
| In reply to: No... but it was surprisingly good for her - IvyLeagueDropout 03:18 am EST 02/13/21 | |
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| Let's just be very honest with reality here, Lonny Price would very likely have come to Patti to star in one of his staged Sondheim concerts whether or not she had done Pal Joey for him. She was a huge broadway star/legend even by then, and an amazing singer and actor, with a Tony Award and name recognition... and his entire thing depends on putting stars into notable roles, rehearsing quickly, mounting and sometimes filming. Who knows. But also, even with her doing Pal Joey, he might have already had someone else in mind or agreeing to do these concerts, and Pal Joey still would have been done with Patti and stayed a one-off for them. Honestly it's almost a surprise to me that Patti got to do them in the roles she did... given that Audra was also committed to most of them, and I could EASILY see her, in a staged concert world, wanting to take on Desiree, Cora Hoover Hooper, even Fosca. And the same audience (or a bigger one) would have been just as excited to see her do them as Patti, maaaaybe more. She did do Dot for Lonny (and was glorious)... and while she also starred as Fay Apple and Clara for him, she could easily have had a go as Cora and Fosca. Hell, she could EVEN have been asked to do The Old Lady in his Candide (though probably not). And yes, in Lonny's Sweeney Todd she could for sure have done Lovett (she did Beggar Woman in one of them). And god knows she could do Gypsy as Rose, and probably will in 5-10 years. But justifying her doing it in her early 40s would not have been hard at all since the character must be in her 30s most of the show timeline-wise, not her 50s as most productions seem to want us to believe based on casting. (It's also possible Audra could have done it at Ravinia for Lonny and that's it, and then several years later a Broadway revival with Patti emerge, with Encores or without) So it's quite possible that without Pal Joey Patti would have gotten these opportunities, and that she wouldn't have, and also possible that she wouldn't have even with Pal Joey. |
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| re: the Lonny Price concerts / Gypsy | |
| Posted by: IvyLeagueDropout 02:42 pm EST 02/13/21 | |
| In reply to: the Lonny Price concerts / Gypsy - Chazwaza 12:11 pm EST 02/13/21 | |
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| I didn't say that but for Pal Joey she never would have worked with Lonny. Just that she did and that they then began a very long-running series of shows together. I know she also had a history with Ravinia, making them quite happy to have her. But if they hadn't done Pal Joey, I can certainly imagine other fine actresses being asked to do the Sweeney concert. Fully agreed that Audra was a glorious Dot (I adored everything about the Ravinia Sunday, except Lonny's damn video montage played over the ending). Audra would be terrific in most anything; prior to Lady Day I might not have made that statement, but she is so incredibly versatile both vocally and dramatically. I really wish Patti and Benanti would do The Rink, as was rumored 10 years ago now. Both too old now, but I think they'd still be great. |
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| re: Audra | |
| Posted by: peter3053 08:50 pm EST 02/13/21 | |
| In reply to: re: the Lonny Price concerts / Gypsy - IvyLeagueDropout 02:42 pm EST 02/13/21 | |
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| My dream is to see and hear Audra sing Elizabeth Barrett's soliloquy from "Robert and Elizabeth", the greatest single soliloquy for a woman in musical theatre history (well, yes, okay, "Rose's Turn" is up there too....) A perfect lyric, a perfect evocation of a poet's diction, a perfect dramatic build with a major step in the action at the end, and musically heaven-sent. If Brian Stokes Mitchell played Robert Browning in a production alongside her, the world would finally be perfect too! |
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| re: Audra | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 12:23 pm EST 02/16/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Audra - peter3053 08:50 pm EST 02/13/21 | |
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| Aren't you forgetting "Glitter and Be Gay"? | |
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