The LuPoneness of Patti

Back from last night's last night at the Strathmore for Patti LuPone's tribute to a thousand different kinds of love, her "Matters of the Heart" revue.

 

Press image by Ethan Hill         From Gypsy (2008), uncredited 

I always find it fun to attend a performance with a room full of fans of a given performer, and Patti was well loved by the approximately 80%-90% filled hall. I have to say I am more of a "fan" of Patti's occasional touring partner, Mandy Patinkin, and would love one day to see them perform together. The gentleman sitting next to me had seen them in the original Evita back in the day.

I had last seen Patti in Gypsy during my last weekend of SPAMalot Clay-hunting. Last night she brought back Mama Rose and then some to what felt like a thoroughly rehearsed theatrical experience. The fact that she never wavered or appeared to deviate from her program of showstoppers made me almost yearn for someone to take a flash picture so we could have a spontaneous "How dare you" meltdown. (Almost. Actually, that would have ruined the evening for the true Patti lovers there.)

The "Matters of the Heart" program ostensibly supports her 1999 album of that title, and that's the closest I could find to an actual set list. "Shattered Illusions" was there, as was the charmingly naughty "I Never Do Anything Twice" (both my friend and I had to Google the term "golden shower." Heh). 

The theatricality carried through on the pop selections in her program, including "Alone Again, Naturally" and "Time After Time," arrangements that would be initially praised by the likes of Simon Cowell for their originality, but then dismissed for being "too Broadway." Musical theater is about storytelling, and Patti's narrative was astonishing and touching. I loved these pieces.

I just noticed when I went back in my blog files to get the link for my Patinkin recap that I signed off, "Being alive." I don't recall whether Mandy performed that song, but Patti used it for her first act finale. (That's what you do in musical theater - you grab the audience by the throat before you let them out for refreshments so you know they'll be back for Act Two.) 

So it's the throat grabbing Act One finale, like in Les Miz, that keeps me coming back for more. Because it's really only in the theater that this particular audience member ever really experiences "being alive."

From 2008:

love, hosaa

precariously living vicariously