Yahoo News Don't cry for her, Broadway: Patti LuPone is not retiring from theater — even if it is 'dumbed down'
As Patti LuPone herself would probably tell you, there's a shortage of great Broadway divas left. So why would she deprive us of yet another one?
The three-time Tony winner recently gave up her Actors' Equity card, which many thought signaled the theater queen's retirement from the stage. But they didn't read the fine print. According to LuPone, even without an equity card, she can still steal scenes as a guest performer in shows — she just won't be taking any leads.
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LuPone announced her decision via Twitter with the directive to "figure it out." For whom to figure what out still remains a mystery, but because it's Patti F---ing LuPone, we'll take it at face value.
Though the circus to which she's referring might have something to do with the controversy over Hadestown star Lillias White scolding an audience member for using a recording device, only to find out the person was using it because they were hard of hearing.
Still, the incident had echoes of LuPone's "This is the theatre!" viral takedown of someone having the audacity to take pictures during a Broadway show ... and to text during a Broadway show ... and to not properly wear a mask during a Broadway show. Lesson being: don't mess with any Pattis — LuPone, LaBelle, whomever.
Quite a week on Broadway, seeing my name being bandied about. Gave up my Equity card; no longer part of that circus. Figure it out.
— Patti LuPone (@PattiLuPone) October 17, 2022
The School for Good and Evil star clarified to Variety that she simply needed a break after 50 years in Actors Equity and snatching her third Tony for her role in the recently closed Company. But there's something else behind the diva's decision to step away from the spotlight.
"Broadway has also changed considerably," LuPone said. "I think we've spent — not we, but whoever's in charge of, whatever — has actively dumbed down the audience. And so the attention span of the majority of the audience, I think, is much less than it was in the past, and I don't think plays are going to have long lives on Broadway — I feel as though it's turning into Disneyland, a circus and Las Vegas."
LuPone made her Broadway debut in 1973 and said it's "heartbreaking" that "arts and culture" has fallen out of the national discourse when American culture is the "most exciting" because of the "diversity of this country and the things that we have created as a result of that diversity that the world wants."
However disenchanted she might be with what's on tap on The Great White Way, LuPone seems to at least be a big fan of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, proclaiming that it will "run forever."
So if you see someone that looks and sounds a lot like Patti LuPone in a bit part of that popular play, don't be surprised when she starts scolding someone for being rude or inconsiderate. After all, it is the theatre!
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