Showing posts with label Patti Lupone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Patti Lupone. Show all posts

Monday, March 25, 2019

Broadway Diva Patti LuPone Set To Join Cast Of FX's 'Pose"

Producer/director Ryan Murphy made news Saturday night at PaleyFest in Los Angeles when he announced a new diva would be joining the cast of FX’s Pose.  While moderating a panel with cast members of the ground-breaking series, Murphy surprised the audience - and cast - that Broadway icon, Patti LuPone, will be joining the show for season two.
Tony & Grammy Award winner Patti LuPone
Producer/director Ryan Murphy made news Saturday night at PaleyFest in Los Angeles when he announced a new diva would be joining the cast of FX’s Pose.

While moderating a panel with cast members of the ground-breaking series, Murphy surprised the audience - and cast - that Broadway icon, Patti LuPone, will be joining the show for season two.

According to Deadline, Murphy told cast members MJ Rodriguez and Billy Porter they would be sharing plenty of scenes with the two-time Tony Award winner.

LuPone is currently appearing in the gender-bending revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company in London, where she has been nominated for an Olivier Award for “Best Actress in a Supporting Role.”

Murphy also told the crowd that the series will time-jump from the late 1980s to the year 1990. The first episode of the new season will take place on the day Madonna’s mega-hit “Vogue” was released.

Expect to hear about Madge’s co-opting of the vogueing/ ball culture of New York City for her now-iconic music video. Plus, since LuPone has been an outspoken critic of Madonna in the past, we’ll be curious to see if any of that animosity surfaces in the diva’s scenes.

The talk-back took place after a screening of episode six from season one of the series, “Love is the Message,” which was written and directed by acclaimed transgender activist Janet Mock. The episode, the first in television history to be directed by a transgender woman, was also Mock’s directorial debut.

And speaking of directing, Murphy announced during the panel that Mock, Porter and producer Our Lady J would all be helming episodes in the upcoming season.

Season two of Pose begins shooting next week and will premiere in June.

(cropped image via Flickr/Etro053 - CC license)

Monday, December 24, 2018

'Will & Grace' Serves Up Guest-Star Mashup Video

Patti LuPone guest starring on 'Will & Grace'
Over the 8 years of its original run (plus the two reboot/revival seasons), Will & Grace has given us not only lots of laughs from the ‘fearsome foursome,’ but tons of great guest stars.

Patti LuPone, Rosie O’Donnell, Blythe Danner, Ellen DeGeneres, David Schwimmer, Matt Bomer and Adam Rippon have all dropped by the hit NBC series to take part in the hilarity.



Plus, we’ve gotten cameo spots by music icons like Elton John, Janet Jackson, Madonna, JLo, Britney Spears and the one-and-only Cher.

With so many guest stars, the series has shared this awesome mash-up of celeb visitors over the years.



The comedy champ is still going strong having already been confirmed for a third revival season for fall of 2019.

The current second revival season returns on January 31, 2019.

Who is your favorite W&G guest star? I'll go first - the fabulous Blythe Danner (as Will's mother) always made us giggle. Totally brilliant.



A post shared by Will & Grace (@nbcwillandgrace) on




A post shared by Will & Grace (@nbcwillandgrace) on




A post shared by Will & Grace (@nbcwillandgrace) on


Monday, January 29, 2018

Broadway Stars Ben Platt & Patti LuPone Deliver Powerful Performances At 2018 Grammy Awards

Patti LuPone delivers stunning "Don't Cry For Me Argentina"
at 2018 Grammy Awards

Last night's Grammy Awards included tributes to Broadway legends Andrew Lloyd Webber and Leonard Bernstein performed by Tony Award winners Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen) and the one and only Patti Lupone (Evita).

Platt delivered a stirring "Somewhere" from Bernstein's West Side Story, but it was LuPone's electrifying "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" from the original Broadway production of Evita in 1979 (a true diva who can still deliver like a boss 39 years later) that stunned the Grammy audience.

LuPone quickly began trending on Twitter.

It was also a big night for Platt as the Dear Evan Hansen cast recording took home the 2018 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album, moving Platt to the halfway mark to EGOT status ― that is, winning Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards.

Watch both performances below.









Two-time Tony Award winner Donna Murphy chimed in with praise as well:





Sunday, May 14, 2017

Tony Award Preview: "War Paint" Starring Patti LuPone & Christine Ebersole

Tony Award winners Christine Ebersole (L) and Patti LuPone (R)
Via BroadwayWorld:

War Paint, the new Broadway musical about cosmetic doyennes Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein, earned four Tony nominations, including for its stars, Christine Ebersole and Patti LuPone.

Today, CBS SUNDAY MORNING's Richard Schlesinger sat down with the actresses, along with author Lindy Woodhead, in a behind-the-scenes story.

War Paint tells the remarkable story of cosmetics titans Helena Rubinstein (Patti LuPone) and Elizabeth Arden (Christine Ebersole), who defined beauty standards for the first half of the 20th Century.

Brilliant innovators with humble roots, both women were masters of self-invention who sacrificed everything to become the country's first major female entrepreneurs. They were also fierce competitors, whose 50-year tug-of-war would give birth to an industry that would forever change the face of America.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Patti LuPone Calls Madonna "A Movie Killer"

Patti LuPone
Two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone isn't shy about sharing her thoughts on Madonna’s acting skills calling her a “movie killer” after Andy Cohen asks her what she thought of the Madonna’s performance in the film adaptation of Evita.

“I was on the treadmill when MTV used to have videos, and I saw ’Buenos Aires,’ and I thought it was a piece of sh*t. Madonna is a movie killer. She’s dead behind the eyes. She cannot act her way out of a paper bag. She should not be in film or onstage. She’s a wonderful performer for what she does, but she is not an actress.”

As Broadway fans know, LuPone was the original Broadway star of Evita, winning the first of her two Tony Awards for her star turn as "Eva PerΓ³n."

She won a second Tony Award for her role as "Mama Rose" in the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy.

Watch the dish below.

Friday, July 10, 2015

Patti LuPone Welcomes Audience To The Theatre

Patti LuPone and Michael Urie in SHOWS FOR DAYS
Earlier this week, Broadway icon Patti LuPone made headlines when she snatched a cell phone out of the hands of an audience member who was texting during the performance of her current show Shows For Days at Lincoln Center.

LuPone describe the incident to the New York Times:
"This woman — a very pretty young woman — was sitting with her boyfriend or husband. We could see her text. She was so uninterested. She showed her husband what she was texting. We talked about it at intermission. When we went out for the second act I was very close to her, and she was still texting. I watched her and thought, “What am I going to do?” At the very end of that scene, we all exit. What I normally do is shake the hand of the people in the front row. I just walked over to her, shook her hand and took her phone. I walked offstage and handed it to the stage manager, who gave it to the house manager.

"I don’t know why they buy the ticket or come to the theater if they can’t let go of the phone. It’s controlling them. They can’t turn it off and can’t stop looking at it. They are truly inconsiderate, self-absorbed people who have no public manners whatsoever. I don’t know what to do anymore. I was hired as an actor, not a policeman of the audience.

It’s getting worse. I’m hired to tell a story, and it takes a lot of effort and work to do that convincingly. It’s a handful of people who destroy that experience for everyone. It’s heartbreaking. Theater is not a social event."
She issued this public statement about her actions and why she feels so strongly about the issue:
"We work hard on stage to create a world that is being totally destroyed by a few, rude, self-absorbed and inconsiderate audience members who are controlled by their phones. They cannot put them down. When a phone goes off or when a LED screen can be seen in the dark it ruins the experience for everyone else – the majority of the audience at that performance and the actors on stage. I am so defeated by this issue that I seriously question whether I want to work on stage anymore. Now I’m putting battle gear on over my costume to marshall the audience as well as perform."
Last night, the show began like this:



Enjoy . . .
Posted by Matt Johnston on Friday, July 10, 2015

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Cult Classic CAMP To Get Sequel Featuring Patti LuPone and Donna Murphy


Todd Graff, director of the indie hit film CAMP, has launched a new website that shares the big news - there will be a sequel titled, CAMP 2: FREAKS OF NATURE!

"In 2003, I was able to bring to life the story of a group of hilarious, talented, needy, at times psychopathic, and occasionally cross-dressing kids attending Camp Ovation. CAMP triumphantly premiered in Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, played all over the world, and thanks to many of you reading this, became a cult classic. I had so much fun making CAMP - filming on location at Stagedoor Manor in New York, casting Stephen Sondheim for his only movie appearance in history, and of course, introducing Anna Kendrick in her very first film, as a murderous understudy who poisons the star and belts out 'The Ladies Who Lunch'.

"We need a sequel! And I've already written it. Don't worry, the original stars are not playing counselors or some other lame device. Instead, we're going meta! Plus we're going to introduce some fabulous new additions, like Donna Murphy, Patti LuPone and a bevy of other reigning Broadway divas performing a demented version of 'Steppin' To The Bad Side' from 'Dreamgirls,' to be staged by the one and only Jerry Mitchell."

"I can't wait to share what I have planned, but I need your help to make this dream a reality. So we're going straight to YOU to fund this film."

The original film followed a group of misfits who find themselves while attending a musical theater summer camp.



(h/t BroadwayWorld)

Saturday, April 18, 2015

News Round-Up: April 18, 2015


News items you may have missed:

• At this point we all know to act right when sitting in the audience of a Patti LuPone performance. Well, everyone except this woman.

• Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the first gay protest. Bow in respect, please.

• Hollywood legend Rock Hudson's former boyfriend recently spoke on how the couple kept their gay life secret.

• Jonathan Groff, star of HBO's LOOKING, admits there was a time he was so closeted he couldn't be in public with his boyfriend. Not even when he was nominated for a Tony Award.

• Jeb Bush and NJ Gov. Christ Christie want to raise the retirement age for Social Security

• Conan shows you how Hillary Clinton is just like the rest of us


Monday, October 27, 2014

Monday Morning: Patti LuPone sings "Everything's Coming Up Roses" on The Tonight Show

Patti LuPone sings from her Tony Award winning performance in GYPSY

I didn't see this when it aired in August, but wow.

I love that Patti belts all the way through "And nothing's gonna stop us 'til we're through" at 2:07. Just full on belt, open vowel, fabulous.

The role of "Mama Rose" won Patti her second Tony Award, don't you know... :)

Wake up, Monday. Time to get it going.


(h/t Boy Culture)

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Saturday, May 5, 2012

EVITA - Requiem for Evita/Oh, What a Circus



I was really in the mood to hear this today...

Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin from the original Broadway cast recording of EVITA