LuPone also spoke about two other projects: the recent arrival of her new CD "Patti LuPone at Les Mouches" (Ghostlight Records) and her upcoming guest appearance on the Emmy-winning series "30 Rock" (March 5 on NBC). About the former — which was recorded during LuPone's Tony-winning Evita run — she says, "It was really nostalgic [to revisit that experience]. That was a kind of great time for me. I don't know how I did [the concert] after Evita. I listen to it, and I still had a voice! I don't get it. It was a pretty wild time. I think it's a riot. It's a lot of fun, [and] I think I should do it [again]!" About "30 Rock," the Olivier Award winner says, "They just called [and asked if I would be on the show], and I went, 'You bet!' I'm playing an Italian woman, the mother of Judah Friedlander. I'm working with Judah and Alec [Baldwin] in one scene, and it's a pretty funny scene… I've known Alec for years, so it was great to finally work with him. And Judah is wonderful. It was a terrific environment. It appears to be a very copasetic environment."
LuPone fans will also be excited to learn that the dynamic performer is also at work on her memoirs, which will be published by Harmony Books, a Random House imprint. LuPone, who is co-writing the book with Digby Diehl, says, "I am seriously anal about stuff. I have I don't know how many scrapbooks of my career starting from Juilliard. And then I have personal scrapbooks of photos of family when they were young. We went through them all. . . . The manuscript has to be turned in August 1. [Diehl is] starting to write [after having] taped all of my conversations." LuPone says the first chapter, titled The Baker's Wife, will concern her time spent in that ill-fated musical, which was produced by the late David Merrick and featured a score by Stephen Schwartz.
Patti LuPone in The Baker's Wife
"[The Baker's Wife] has a gorgeous score, and it has a great script, but something was not gelling and it only got worse [as we went along]," LuPone recalls. "It was tragic. I remember seeing [co-star] Keene Curtis crying on the phone, in a phone booth, to [then-Merrick assistant] Helen Nickerson, 'Get me out of my contract!' . . . We closed two days shy of our Broadway opening. The three-sheets were up, the lights were lit on the marquee, and we all were going, 'No, we can't go to New York!' [Laughs.] And we closed. They put the closing notice up a half an hour before half-hour on a matinee day."
LuPone and company were playing the Kennedy Center at the time, where "we set a house record for the least-attended show in Kennedy Center history! We had 25 people in the Opera House, which seats 2,700."
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And, it was during the Kennedy Center run when Merrick removed the show's best-known song, "Meadowlark," from the production. "Well, Merrick didn't like it," LuPone says, "didn't like where it was placed, didn't like how long it was. And then it became a battle between who had power: Stephen [Schwartz] and Motown or David Merrick? Everything was ill-conceived. It just didn't gel. . . . [But] 'Meadowlark' is a great song, and it's become a signature song." Regarding that belty ballad, LuPone adds, "I just want to go on record that I have never claimed 'Meadowlark' was written for me. I know it wasn't. I replaced Carole [Demas], who originated the role and the song. So I never have claimed that 'Meadowlark' was written for me."
Baker's Wife won't be the only theatrical experience LuPone explores in her upcoming autobiography. Expect stories from her days at Juilliard through her Tony-winning triumph in Gypsy. Has LuPone determined a title for the autobiography? "No, but I've always wanted my book to be called 'My Grandmother Was a Bootlegger'!"
And, what about a return to Broadway? "Well," LuPone says coyly, "I have a friend [aka David Mamet] who is writing a play and will direct it. I'll let you guess who that friend is. Somebody that I work with frequently. He's not finished with the play, but it's very interesting.
"That would be a way I would like come back to Broadway."
[For Patti LuPone tour dates, visit pattilupone.net.]
Bernadette Peters
photo by Aubrey Reuben
DIVA TIDBITS
Some of Broadway's top stars will take part in The Dramatists Guild Fund's annual benefit gala April 20. Entitled Star Turns: Great Writers Thank Their Lucky Stars!, the evening at the Hudson Theatre will be directed by Dan Foster and hosted by Julie Halston. The one-night-only event will feature the talents of Bernadette Peters, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jefferson Mays, Idina Menzel, Nathan Lane, Christine Ebersole, David Hyde Pierce, LaChanze, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jane Alexander, B.D. Wong, Karen Olivo and Alan Alda. The stars will be introduced by the writers whose work they will be performing. The evening will begin with cocktails at 7 PM followed by dinner at 7:30 PM and the show at 8:30 PM. The Hudson Theatre is located within the Millennium Hotel, 145 West 44th Street. Tickets are priced $1,000 per person. For more information call The Center for Creative Resources at (212) 864-7827 or visit www.dgfund.org.
Initial casting has been announced for the City Center Encores! production of Finian's Rainbow, which will play the famed Manhattan venue March 26-29. The cast of the final Encores! production of the season will be headed by Jim Norton (Finian), Kate Baldwin (Sharon) and Cheyenne Jackson (Woody). The production will be directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle with music direction by Rob Berman. Show times are March 26 at 8 PM, March 27 at 8 PM, March 28 at 2 and 8 PM and March 29 at 6:30 PM. For tickets, priced $25-$95, call (212) 581-1212 or visit www.nycitycenter.org. City Center is located in Manhattan on West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.
A host of Broadway artists will take part in a concert series presented by The American Musicals Project, the "creative educational curriculum that promotes the study of history and English through musical theatre to seventh and eighth grade students." The concerts, produced by Pamela Hunt, will be held at the New-York Historical Society. Show time for each concert is 7 PM. The series will kick off March 9 with Loesser Is More, The Music of Frank Loesser, which will be hosted by Howard Kissel and will feature Sally Wilfert, Jim Weaver, Rachel DeBenedet and Aaron Ramey. Ted Kociolek will be the evening's musical director. Tony Yazbeck, Mike McGowan and Mark Jacoby will take part in Songs for Men Only on March 16. Pulitzer-winning lyricist Sheldon Harnick will introduce the evening, which will feature such tunes as "Standing on the Corner," "You Gotta Have Heart," "Little Tin Box" and "Politics and Poker." James Brennan will direct the concert with music direction by Matt Castle. On March 23 Emmy Award winner Polly Bergen will host a tribute to women songwriters. The evening, simply titled Broadway's Women, will feature the work of Mary Rodgers (Once Upon a Mattress), Lucy Simon (The Secret Garden), Kay Swift (Fine and Dandy), Dorothy Fields (Sweet Charity) and Betty Comden (On the Town). Annette Jolles directs and Sariva Goetz music directs a cast that includes Lynne Wintersteller, Jessica Burrows and Vanessa Lemonides. The season will conclude April 6 with a gala benefit celebrating the making of Guys and Dolls, the classic musical now enjoying a revival at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre. Pamela Hunt will direct Karen Mason, Michael McGrath, Jeff McCarthy and Garrett Long, who will all offer tunes from the Frank Loesser musical. The evening's special guest will be Loesser's widow, Jo Sullivan Loesser. Evans Haile will be the musical director for the gala. New-York Historical Society is located in Manhattan at 170 Central Park West (at 77th Street). For tickets call (212) 873-3400, ext. 305. For more information visit www.nyhistory.org or www.americanmusicalsproject.org.
Rondi Reed, who won a Tony Award for her performance in August: Osage County, will join the Broadway company of Wicked in March. Beginning March 17, Reed will portray Madame Morrible, the role created on Broadway by Billy Elliot's Carole Shelley. Reed previously played the role in the Chicago production of Wicked. The acclaimed actress will join a cast that includes Nicole Parker as Elphaba, Alli Mauzey as Glinda, P.J. Benjamin as The Wizard, Kevin Kern as Fiyero, Alex Brightman as Boq, Cristy Candler as Nessarose and Timothy Britten Parker as Dr. Dillamond. The Gershwin Theatre is located in Manhattan at 222 West 51st Street. For more information visit www.wickedthemusical.com.
Casting has been announced for the March editions of Broadway Jukebox, the new Sunday-night musical revue created by critic-writer-producer Scott Siegel. March 1 will feature Cheryl Freeman, Annie Golden and Michael Winther; Julie Murney, Kerry O'Malley and Brad Oscar will perform March 8; Norm Lewis and two other artists to be announced will be part of the March 15 Jukebox; and Aaron Lazar and Emily Skinner will belt out show tunes March 22. The 6:30 PM evenings feature direction by Scott Coulter and musical direction by Tedd Firth. Siegel hosts. Jukebox is billed as "the brand new musical revue where the audience picks the songs!" Birdland is located in Manhattan at 315 West 44th Street. There is a $25-$35 music charge; for reservations call (212) 581-3080.
Tony Award winner Sutton Foster, currently starring in Shrek the Musical at the Broadway Theatre, will perform at Feinstein's at Loews Regency in April. Following an acclaimed, sold-out concert for Lincoln Center's American Songbook series, the Tony-winning actress will play the intimate Feinstein's April 6 and 20 at 8:30 PM. Foster will offer tunes from her debut solo recording, "Wish," which just arrived on the Ghostlight Records label. (Foster will also be honored with a Sardi's caricature March 3.) Feinstein's at Loews Regency is located at 540 Park Avenue at 61st Street in New York City. There is a $40 cover, with special $60 premium seats available, in addition to a $25 food and beverage minimum. For ticket reservations call (212) 339-4095 or visit feinsteinsatloewsregency.com and TicketWeb.com.
Betty Buckley
And, finally, the one-and-only Betty Buckley, who is currently performing Broadway By Request — directed by Richard Jay-Alexander and featuring Seth Rudetsky — through March 7 at Feinstein's at Loews Regency, will offer a song interpretation workshop in spring 2009 in Fort Worth, TX. Presented by Imagination Celebration, the six-session Song Interpretation and Communication Workshop with the Tony-winning actress will kick off March 12. Classes, which last four or five hours, begin at 6:30 PM. Buckley, press notes state, will "share her singing and acting techniques in her master class designed for both dedicated students and advanced professional performers." An accompanist will be provided. Auditors who participate in all aspects of the class except the individual singing are also welcome. The classes will be held at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center in the Museum District at 1300 Gendy Street, Fort Worth, TX. Prospective participants should call (940) 300-4944 or email marjorie@unt.edu for further details and to arrange an interview. For more information visit www.bettybuckley.com or www.icfw.org.
Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.
