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Well, after two three-day weekends in a row, I ought to get back to work, but first: What.A.Fabulous.Weekend. It was a gorgeous and sunny and pleasant drive to Atlanta. Very little drama. I didn't have to shriek once and try to take the wheel from Carlos, so it was all good. After living all those years in Miami, inches away from a major metropolitan area, and now living in Smallville, roughly a century or so from city life, I always get a slight rush when Atlanta appears out of the window. Traffic and horns honking and crazy drivers. Love.It. And loved the hotel. We've stayed at the Artmore two times now, and it's always such a pleasant stay, Very chic and friendly and fun. An old apartment building turned into a boutique hotel. Plus, it's a short walk to symphony hall for the main event. Patti.Freakin'.LuPone. But first, there was some tequila and beer and ceviche, which is always a good thing. We served ceviche at Cinco de Never and a few of the guests gave me the "Is that raw?" look, and it took some convincing to tell them that the salmon, and the shrimp, are 'cooked' in citrus juices. But they all tried it and loved it. This ceviche I had was ahi and shrimp, and as anyone who knows me knows, if there's ahi on a menu, I'm having it. Dee-lish. With some lime and a wee hint of mint, it tasted so good alongside a Reposado Margarita on the rocks with a beer chaser. Then it was back to the hotel for a little cat nap and shower, and then off to see her. What an amazing show. Row B, Seats 5 and 6. I swear, if Patti LuPone was a girl who spit, we were sitting close enough so she could spit on me. And that would have been okay. Carlos and I settled in our seats, and then, coming through the aisle to take the seats next to me, was an obviously gay man and his "date"; a woman in her forties, I'm guessing. They began to talk, and I began to eavesdrop. He's a big show queen, comes to see all the Broadway shows and divas as they visit Atlanta. He's a subscriber so he always gets a good seat. He's never been married, and judging by the bad dye job on his head, he's in his 50s or 60s. Note to him: if the hair is black and the eyebrows are grey, it's a dead giveaway. But I digress. They continued to talk, and giggle, and then snuggle. He slipped his hand into hers and with his other hand began caressing her knee. Portia di Rossi DeGeneres! Is he straight? Crazy. But he held her hand all through the show, though he did squeal like a schoolgirl when Patti began to sing 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina'. Carlos, on the other hand, found himself seated next to an older woman in a purple fedora. Lucky! And she was a character. Her name was Harriet and she's a big theater buff, and a little bit daft. In a good way. She introduced herself to us a couple of times, and asked Carlos his name twice, but she was a pistol. At one point, when someone was coming through our aisle, her daughter, seated next to her, said, "Walk your back, Mom" and Harriet looked at me and Carlos and said, "Is someone shooting?" Pistol. But the real pistol was Patti LuPone. I thought she'd be amazing. She was amazing. I thought she's be funny. She was hysterical. i thought she'd be a diva. She wasn't. After seeing, or hearing, that tape of Patti going all Diva on the theater-goer who brought a camera into 'Gypsy,' I laughed when, while singing "Just The Way You Look Tonight" Miss LuPone pulled out a camera and began taking pictures of the audience. She worked the stage, asking people to huddle together, and she even snapped a picture of Harriet, Carlos and me. Then she snapped a picture of herself as she hit that last note. The show was called Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda, and featured songs from musicals that Patti LuPone thought she could have been in, should have been in, was in, and will be in. At one point, she said she'd always wanted to be Marry Martin, or Cathy Rigby, or Sandy Duncan, and play 'Peter Pan,' but Broadway wanted her to be Ethel Merman. Then she sang 'Neverland' beautifully and proved she coulda been in that one. As the song ended, she said, "They didn't ask me to be in that one, they asked me to be in this one..." and stood center stage and raised her arms above her head. As the orchestra played the overture from "Evita,' a little long overture, Patti got a laugh when she turned one hand and glanced at her watch. Then she belted out 'Don't Cry For Me....'. Magic. It was such a wonderful show. So funny, the tales of her life and her experiences in show business. and that voice. Chills. Big, ballsy. brassy Broadway belter. Such a wonderful night. The downside? A woman behind us who seemed to think she was sitting in her living room and Patti was performing just for her. She kept talking to Patti like they were old friends. "I remember that, too" "I was there that night!" "We'd vote for you!" I gave the side-eyed-gay-sneer. Did.Not.Faze.Her. Still. If you ever get the chance.....blibbety blah blay bue......go see La LuPone. The next day we drove down to Piedmont Park and ate breakfast at the Flying Biscuit, and then headed up to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Back in Miami, we used to visit a place called Fairchild Tropical Gardens. Very tropical, of course, and peaceful. This place was just like that, with lovely trails and different gardens and waterfalls, and flowers and statuary and orchids. We wound our way through there for hours, spending a beautiful afternoon. Such a lovely, peaceful day, after such a Diva-fied night. Tequila. Patti LuPone. Ceviche. Showtunes, Orchids. Carlos. My kind of weekend. How was yours?
Tonight's the night!Now, it's not like I would want anyone to intrude upon the LuPone experience, and goddess knows I'd be terrifd of the wrath of LuPone, but wouldn't it be kinda fun if something like this happened?
And, last, but most certainly not least, the song that most people think of when they think of La LuPone. And tomorrow, she'll be singing just[?] for me!
Patti and George Hearn, in a performance from Sweeney Todd.
Just three more days.........La LuPone in her Tony Award winning performance as Mama Rose.
Now, I know this is technically the Week Of The Patti, but one of my favorite Patti performances is when she duets on the classic Garland/Streisand classic with the brazilliant Audra McDonald.I wonder if Audra might sneak in and perform this with Patti on Saturday night.....Hey, a gay can dream!
Patti, in her own inimitable style, recalling her time spent in London doing Les Miserable.Five days...tick...tock......
Six days and counting........Patti LuPone, 'Being Alive'.
One week from today, I will be sitting in the third row to see a live performance by Brassy Ballsy Broadway Belter, Patti LuPone.Don't hate.
In the 1980s, Larry Kramer wrote The Normal Heart, a sort-of semi-autobiographical play about the rise of the HIV/AIDS crisis in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks, the gay Jewish founder of a prominent HIV advocacy group. After a successful 1985 off-Broadway production at The Public Theater, the play was revived in Los Angeles and London and again off-Broadway in 2004. But it isn't the play that's causing the ruckus. it's the movie. And it's spawned a war of words between Barbra Streisand and Larry Kramer. They both want to see The Normal Heart onscreen, but the fact that it's taken some twenty-five years is, well, the fault of the other one. Streisand blames Kramer; Larry blames Babs. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Streisand calls Kramer “brilliant, courageous, stubborn, and self-destructive.” He replies: “She never put her money where her mouth is.” Streisand first optioned the play after seeing it back in 1985, and spent some ten years trying to get the film made. She worked with Larry Kramer, and other screenwriters, to get the story just right. Streisand would direct the film, and play the supporting role of Dr. Emma Brookner. The movie never happened. And Streisand calls Kramer out for the failure, saying he would not allow any adjustments to the script, even ones she felt were necessary to make the film more "cinematic": “I was using the best of [the play]. But there are certain things you do for film. Larry only wanted to use his screenplay. I couldn’t have my hands tied artistically.” Larry Kramer, of course, offers a different take. He says the Streisand rewrites made her supporting character the star, and went so far as to minimize the roles of the gay characters: “She cut Ned’s part so much that when she offered the movie to a major star who had played the part on stage, he said, ‘I can’t play this. The character has no motivation anymore.’ She subsumed all of the motivations into her part, as the doctor.” Barbra is not amused, tearing off a letter to Entertainment Weekly, saying, “Larry’s claim that I wanted to expand the role of the doctor to make her the star and marginalize the gay characters is nonsense.” She also posted something called a “truth alert” on her official website, claiming that Kramer is “rewriting history.” She also says Kramer was motivated by money, and a lot of it. According to her, he ALLEGEDLY rejected a deal from HBO to turn the play into a TV project after major studios balked at its subject matter: “Larry wouldn’t accept their highest offer of $250,000. He wanted a million dollars. [He] held out for the money. I didn’t. Why not advance your cause? Why keep this movie unseen for all these years?” Larry Kramer says he never heard anything about an HBO offer. He maintains that Streisand left the project to work on other movies. And in the 1990s, when Streisand's option ran out, and the rights reverted back to Kramer, she says she never stopped supporting the project, even after Kramer called her a "hypocrite" for not making the film on his ACT UP website. Streisand says, “When he printed that diatribe on the web, I was very hurt by it, because it’s not true. I started to write [a response] but then decided not to do it. It was wonderful to read some of the comments from the gay community about this. They fought the battle for me. It was really lovely for all these people to come to my defense.” But there’s a glimmer of hope, for a film adaptation at any rate. Streisand says she would consider playing Brookner in Glee creator Ryan Murphy’s planned adaptation starring Mark Ruffalo, although it would be difficult for her to let go of her creative vision for the movie. “If I could direct it today, I would direct it today. Because it’s been very hard for me to find a piece that I feel as passionate about. I mean, I love this play.” Hmmmm, who to believe, who to believe. The demanding diva, or Barbra Streisand? Sad to say, these are two massive egos who probably couldn't let go of the power, so their collaboration went by the wayside. Not that I think a Ryan Murphy Normal Heart wouldn't be wonderful, but a Streisand-Kramer film would have been spectacular.Entertainment Weekly
