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There have been many award-winning roles since then, in a career that has spanned over 40 years and parts in some of the world’s most iconic masterpieces. The original Broadway production ofEvita, for which she won her first Tony Award; originating the role of Fontine inLes Misérables, for which she won an Olivier Award; Anything Goes, another Tony Nomination, originating the Norma Desmond role for Sunset Boulevard, roles in Sweeney Todd, Gypsy, the list is endless. As she eloquently says on her website, “I have been incredibly fortunate over the course of my career to have been associated with some extraordinary dramatic and musical productions and also some rather spectacular disasters. Looking back, I can find gifts and life lessons in every one.” The advantage of history is that you get to learn from it.


THE FOLLOWING IS A PRIMER CLASS, PATTI LUPONE 101:


What do you feel are your biggest successes, or what do you hold dearest in your career? I think the benchmarks in my career are really


about three things: One, achieving Evita; actually being able to play it. My first Sondheim role as Nel- lie Lovett in Sweeney Todd was another. That was such an incredible New York experience; with the New York Phil, a New York composer and in a New York theatre. I would also have to say Gypsy and of course Anything Goes, which was a non-ending laugh-riot! What would you say were the biggest disasters? Working, Baker’s Wife, Sunset Boulevard, which


really wasn’t a disaster on stage, the disaster was the whole “what ever happened” around the production (Andrew Lloyd Webber abruptly fired LuPone from the role that she had originated in London). There are a lot of flops! (Laughs) I mean Oliver was a total flop, the new play by the brilliant David Mamet The Anarchist was a flop…there re- ally have been so many. How would you prepare your younger self to enter the theatre world at this point? I don’t know. I would have a hard time explaining


I certainly don’t want to do that! Let’s talk about your role onAmerican Horror Story; I love you in the show. It’s great isn’t it? We shoot in New Orleans, it’s such a great city and the women


[Jessica Lange, Angela Basset, Cathy Bates, etc.] are fantastic, I love being in that kind of environment, it’s like estrogen overload, it’s so wonderful. It must be truly amazing; all the women in the cast are such powerful actors and have played such amazing roles. I have to say, though, the inside of Ryan Murphy’s [writer] brain terrifies me a little! (Laughs) Yeah really, I couldn’t agree with you


more! What I love about him, is that you just never know what’s coming. It’s fun to play those kinds of roles rather than something that is safer. Let’s talk about your most recent album; it has such a broad range and you made really interesting song choices. What was the motivation behind them? I had always wanted to do more Weill and Brecht


[Composers Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht] in my career, their work is something that I have always felt that I was absolutely perfect for. It hadn’t hap- pened until the L.A. Opera offered me the role of Begbick inMahagonny [Weill and Brecht’s brilliant Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny]. When Scott Whittman (her director) and I decided to do a new show and the new album, I wanted to include Weill but he didn’t want it to be heavy-handed. Scott is a great scavenger, a wonderful interpolator of music and a master at keeping it light yet poignant. So that’s how we came up with Far Away Places basically, we sort of started with “Bilbao” [from the Weill and Brecht showHappy End] and then it worked its way into a sort of travel log. Tell me about your performance with the La Jolla Music Society, we are all very excited about it! Well, it’s going to be two acts and it will be the


“Wall Street hashijacked us and they are always looking for the pen- nant, the World Series of Broadway


it because it has changed so much. The process is so different, Wall Street has hijacked us and they are always looking for the pennant, the World Se- ries of Broadway hits. I wish they’d just go buy a baseball team and leave us alone! I would probably tell myself to continue to study, to work on the craft, to aspire to be as good as some of the great actors who do their jobs and do them well. You make an interesting point, theatre used to be supported because it was art. Yes. It’s really, really difficult now in many ways—it makes me so sad—you’re gonna make me cry.


hits. I wish they’d just go buy a baseball team and leave us alone!”


same second as what we just debuted at Carnegie Hall in November, which has five pieces. I have a drummer, a percussionist, a violinist, a guitar/ banjo player and an accordion player, plus piano. It will be slightly different from the album. All the same songs, but there are more in two acts, which we haven’t done before—I am very proud of it! Have you performed at the Balboa here in San Diego? It’s a restored turn-of-the-century theatre that was saved


from the wrecking ball; it’s quite lovely and intimate. I love those types of theatres; I can’t wait to see it!


Patti LuPone: Far Away Places is presented in conjunction with the La Jolla Music Society and takes place on Friday, January 31 at the historic Balboa Theatre in Downtown San Diego. For tickets and more information call 858.459.3728 or go toljms.org.


JANUARY 2014 | RAGE monthly


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