Patti's Turn

I used to hate  Patti LuPone. The very thought of her vocal histrionics made me cringe. In the past, she's had a "unique" way of following musical phrasings that hasn't done much to excite me personally. Her performance as Eva on the original Broadway cast recording of Evita, of course, is Patti at her best, but her career has had its highs and lows.The major thing that turned me away from the Cult of Patti was seeing her on the Sweeney Todd in Concert DVD opposite George Hearn. Squawking like the seagulls her character, Mrs. Lovett, sings about in "By the Sea," this was a performance that irked me to the core.

So how, you ask, does one covert back to Patti-fanaticism? For me, it was a three-step program.

1. I watched her giving a stunning, only mildly overacted performance as Fosca opposite Michael Cerveris's Giorgio and Audra McDonald's Clara in Passion on Live at Lincoln Center, in which she emphasized the aching humanity of her character so incredibly passionately.

2. I listened to tracks from her recent album, The Lady with the Torch, which features a more toned-down sound from La Lupone.

3. I saw her twice on Broadway as Mrs. Lovett in the John Doyle-directed production of Sweeney Todd that was on Broadway the season before this last one. Totally expecting to see a repeat performance of what she'd done on the televised version, she totally reinvented herself and gave one of the fiercest performances by a leading lady in a Broadway show I've yet to witness.

Next up for La LuPone?

Mama Rose in Gypsy at City Center, with Boyd Gaines (revelatory this season in Journey's End) as Herbie and Laura Benanti as Louise. Sounds just about perfect to me. 

Just got my tickets to see it with Emma July 13th. Could I be more excited?