Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 17, Ed. 1 Friday, September 9, 2011 Page: 22 of 48
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concerts
'Gyps/ in her soul
B'way legend and gay icon Patti LuPone brings her powerful pipes to Dallas
ARNOLD WAYNE JONES I Life+Style Editor
jones@dallasvoice.com
You might not have seen her name above
the title on a movie or welcomed her every
week into your house via the boob tube,
but when it comes to the stage, there are few con-
temporary performers who rival Patti LuPone.
''I'm not a movie actress — I think I'm a hard
sell in the movies," LuPone says matter-of-factly.
(She is, however, about to shoot a film in New
Orleans, playing J-Lo's mom.) While the Juil-
liard-trained actress has met her greatest success
in musical theater, it's her acting chops that have
transformed songs like "Don't Cry for Me Ar-
gentina" (from Evita — her first Tony Award)
and "Ros#s Turn" {Gi/psy — her second Tony).
The latter was a career highlight:
The most ferocious role for a
woman ever written for an
American musical. Two years
after it closed, shefestill happy to
talk about it.
"It was great," she beams.
"Arthur [Laments, the director and writer] as-
sembled a spectacular cast — we really were a
triumvirate. I don't think you can act alone. You
need partners on stage.*'
That the production took place "was really
done as a tribute to Arthur's partner of 50 years,
Tom Hatcher,: she says. "Tom had just died, and
he's the one who told Arthur to do West Side
Story and Gi/psy. Arthur agreed to do it basically
to keep him alive. He wanted it to be different
than the last one and really have an acted show."*
Although the entire principal cast won Tonys,
Laurents did not. "How could the director not
win!" LuPone says, voice filling with outrage.
You sense it's such emotional readiness that has
made her a Broadway icon.
LuPone brings that legendary power to the
stage of the Meyerson this week, with what she
calls a "piano and voice only" concert (no or-
PATTI LUPONE
Meyerson Symphony Center,
2301 Flora St Sept. 13.
8 p.m. $19-$85.
\Meyerson SymphonyCenter.corr
chestra), titled Gypsy in My Soul. "It's a collection
of songs including some showtunes," she says.
When an actress so identified with certain
composers, especially Stephen Sondheim, per-
forms in concert, she can run the risk of being
compelled to perform songs that no longer inter-
est her. That's,simply not the case with LuPone.
"Songs never become old hat to me," she says
categorically. "Because audiences want to hear
one,:so I do one — not even because I have to; I
want to. If they are really good songs you want to
sing them."
LuPone has, in one venue or another, run
through almost the entire Sondheim repertoire:
Mama Rose, Passion, Company,
Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd
(another Tony nomination — "I
actually got rotator cuff problems
from carrying around that tuba").
Really, only two have eluded her.
"I wanted to play Desiree [in
the revival of A Little Night Music, which closed
earlier this year on Broadway], I contacted
Trevor [Nunn, the director], who didn't contact
me back," she says, with a sting. "Really the last
Sondheim role for me is the Witch in Into the
Woods, which I was originally offered! After it left
San Diego they offered it to me; I said I d like to
play Cinderella, so I came in and auditioned for
that. Then they said, 'We still want you to play
the Witch.' Then negotiations fell apart."
Her resume is littered with shows — some
huge hits, some personal triumphs.
"I loved Women oil (lie Verge," she says of her
last Broadway venture, which closed quickly last
year (though not before landing her a sixth Tony
nom). "I think there's a lot of creativity [on
Broadway] now, but I'm sick and tired of the
spectacles. My biggest complaint is the sound
level: I'd rather be brought to the stage than
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MAMA'S TALKIN' LOUD | The perpetually frank LuPone says she loves performing the songs her audi-
ences want to hear — and even at 62, still has the energy to belt out the big numbers.
pushed back in my seat."
And she's always looking ahead. "Mandy
[Patinkin] and I are coming to Broadway for nine
weeks [soon], then we will go out on the road
both together and separately. Then there's stuff
happening that I can't say because I'm not sup-
posed to,'' §he teases.
You might expect she'd find a pace more suit-
able for a 62-year-old, but LuPone denies that the
demands of eight shows a week wear her out.
"I have Italian peasant energy," he says. "Even
at my age, there is this abundance of energy, es-
pecially songs that are physically demanding. I
am exhilarated by them." ■
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22 dallasvoice.com
09.09.11
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Nash, Tammye. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 17, Ed. 1 Friday, September 9, 2011, newspaper, September 9, 2011; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth239184/m1/22/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.