Patti LuPone Has A Black Woman Problem [Op-Ed]

Full disclosure: I’m a musical theater child. My mom laughingly recollects taking a single-digit me to my first musical — and my inconsolable weeping when the manufacturing ended, as a result of I didn’t “need it to be over.” That nascent love of musical theater would observe me by childhood, into a university main, and effectively into maturity, so I think about myself a reasonably dependable supply in the case of discussing the hits, misses, and megatalents of Broadway. For a lot of, the “Nice White Manner” is the world’s pinnacle of theatrical success; a singular firmament few will ever attain (together with me).

Undeniably, Patti LuPone is on the Mount Rushmore of Broadway’s firmament, alongside fellow luminaries like Audra McDonald, Christine Ebersole, André DeShields, Bernadette Peters, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and extra. That mentioned, there may be inevitably at all times a fault in our stars, and LuPone lately reminded us of her longstanding faults. For true Broadway lovers, the 76-year-old diva’s loaded remarks in a latest and much-buzzed-about New Yorker profile, through which she proclaimed fellow Broadway legend McDonald “not a pal,” are telling, however not altogether shocking. 

“To this present day, if I specific myself in a manner that any individual doesn’t like, they may say, ‘Oh, that’s Patti,’” LuPone informed the New Yorker. “What the f–okay are you speaking about? What have you learnt about me you can say, ‘Nicely, that’s Patti’?”

Nicely, what we all know for positive is that LuPone pulls zero punches about expressing her disdain for no matter, every time inside her quick environs, with the New Yorker describing her as an “apex predator” in New York Metropolis. She’s even gone viral, maybe most memorably in regard to former New Yorker Donald Trump, whom she declared unworthy of a personal efficiency, even whereas within the White Home. 

“As a result of I hate the motherf–ker, how’s that?” she mentioned on the 2017 Tony Awards pink carpet.

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Okay, so, like many people, LuPone has unapologetic disdain for one of many world’s greatest bullies,  however that doesn’t preclude her from additionally being one. Because the New Yorker notes, the veteran performer raised eyebrows final 12 months whereas sharing partitions with Alicia Keys’ jukebox musical “Hell’s Kitchen,” complaining the manufacturing was “too loud.” The complaints, which included flowers to the manufacturing crew after they accommodated LuPone’s request to show down the amount, have been important sufficient to elicit a response from one of many present’s stars, Kecia Lewis. After successful a 2024 Tony (along with a Grammy for the present’s soundtrack), Lewis, a Broadway veteran herself, referred to as out the grand dame of theater in an internet open letter.

“I wished to deal with this as a result of, Ms. LuPone, these actions, for my part, are bullying,” Lewis continued. “They’re offensive, they’re racially microaggressive, they’re impolite, they’re rooted in privilege. And these actions additionally lack a way of group and management for somebody as your self, who has been within the enterprise so long as you’ve gotten.”

It was a doubtlessly teachable second, however LuPone was not able to be schooled. As an alternative, she went on the defensive whereas addressing the rift with the New Yorker. “[Lewis] calls herself a veteran? Let’s learn how many Broadway exhibits Kecia Lewis has accomplished, as a result of she doesn’t know what the fuck she’s speaking about,” mentioned LuPone when requested concerning the incident. “She’s accomplished seven. I’ve accomplished 31. Don’t name your self a vet, b—h.” 

For the file, the New Yorker clarifies that Lewis has carried out in 10 Broadway productions to LuPone’s 28. Nonetheless, Petty LuPone: Who you callin’ a b—h?

Whereas removed from disproving any accusations of diva-level problem, LuPone is an undisputed theatrical legend. She earned her first Tony for the titular position of the 1979 Broadway blockbuster “Evita,” based mostly on the controversial lifetime of late Argentinian first girl Eva Perón. So, it’s protected to say she’s acquainted with trade etiquette, at this level. It’s additionally protected to say she merely doesn’t give a s–t.

Living proof: Whereas reflecting on Madonna’s interpretation of Eva Perón within the 1996 movie rendition of Evita, Lupone caustically remarked to Watch What Occurs host Andy Cohen:

“Madonna is a movie-killer. She’s useless behind the eyes. She can not act her manner out of a paper bag. She shouldn’t be in movie or onstage. She’s a beautiful performer for what she does, however she is just not an actress.”

With that in thoughts, LuPone could also be an equal alternative hater, however at the same time as a infamous diva, her interactions with Black contemporaries belie a shocking lack of social consciousness that she appears to have zero want to reconcile. When the New Yorker dared ask a couple of potential rift with McDonald, essentially the most Tony-nominated — and successful — actress in theatrical historical past, who subtly supported Lewis’ feedback final fall (by way of emojis), LuPone zeroed in on a clearly presumed allegiance.

“I assumed, ‘You need to know higher.’ That’s typical of Audra. She’s not a pal,” LuPone asserted, throwing not-so-subtle shade on McDonald’s groundbreaking interpretation of Mama Rose in “Gypsy,” a job which garnered LuPone a 2008 Tony. Observe that McDonald’s efficiency has earned her a record-breaking eleventh Tony nomination this 12 months, after already successful six Tonys to LuPone’s three. Oh — and she or he was lately christened our “Biggest Residing Actor” by Time journal.

Wins apart, the condescending tone of LuPone’s “You need to know higher” reeks of the irrationally entitled musing of a privilege-steeped, but arguably outranked expertise. Coupled along with her casually referring to Lewis as a “bitch,” let’s simply say {that a} white-identified Broadway icon taking an authoritative tone with different totally grown, extremely completed ladies in her subject — and particularly, Black ladies —has not been LuPone’s finest position up to now.

Is LuPone a racist? Nicely, second disclosure: I’m married to a Black actor, who made his Broadway debut as theaters reopened in 2021. Coincidentally, LuPone not solely noticed his extraordinarily Blackety-Black manufacturing (I imagine the actors casually mentioned “N-gga” at least two dozen instances within the opening scene), however she despatched flowers to him and his two co-stars, so I gained’t go that far. However I’ll posit that fame, and particularly early fame, is a slippery slope once you’re nonetheless desperately attempting to carry onto relevance a long time later. LuPone herself alludes to this in her profile, albeit in an embarrassingly tone-deaf manner.

“What am I studying on this life that I’m atoning for from the final one?” she asks the New Yorker. “What’s it that forces me to struggle? Significantly. Why wasn’t it simpler?”

Black ladies have been asking themselves this query for centuries, with no substantive or sustaining response. It’s only entitlement that makes LuPone — or some other hardscrabble success story —imagine they’re entitled to a stage of respect their marginalized contemporaries have but to realize. It’s the well-worn, however equally well-known story of a diva who thinks her benevolence — or intolerance — of individuals of colour getting into her designated realm ought to grant her a stage of respect she doesn’t really feel obligated to increase in return.