The Ironic Icon

[March 30th, 2005] Broadway legends don't die, they just take their show on the road. Such is the case of Patti LuPone, the greatest diva you've probably never heard of.

Back in 1979, this Juilliard-trained actress dominated the musical stage as Eva Peron in Andrew Lloyd Webber's then-revolutionary Evita. Six years later, she originated the role of Fantine in Les Misérables, and in 1987 her light shone even more brightly in Cole Porter's Anything Goes. The toast of Broadway-and much of the musical-theater world-her talent seemed unstoppable. Until it all stopped.

Perhaps that had to do with what happened in 1994, when she was yanked from the role of Norma Desmond in Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard. While her bossy belting might be good enough for London stages, it wasn't what Lloyd Webber wanted, at least not on Broadway. Since then, she's never been back in a musical playing on the Great White Way.

But that doesn't mean the 55-year-old singer has slowed down. LuPone's so busy that, when I caught up with her by phone, she was lying in bed, exhausted from a three-night stand at Carnegie Hall. Her well-received solo shows are packed between a Washington, D.C., opera and another concert at New York's Lincoln Center. In fact, she has only one day off before flying to Portland for next week's performance. During her one-woman show, Matters of the Heart, the singer promises you'll hear pop ballads, showtunes and love songs, but you won't hear anything from Evita.

QW: Oh my god, you're so busy. So why aren't you on Broadway anymore?

I don't get hired. I'm at an age where even people who are bigger stars than I am are looking for work.

Why is that?

I have no idea. My whole career has been sort of ironic to me. I don't think the composers are composing for an individual performer. Certainly no one's ever written a musical for me.

What do you think of the state of musical theater?

It's not very healthy, is it? The people in charge don't know what they're doing, quite frankly. How can you survive in that world when people who know less than you are telling you what to do? I think the problem is the actor has given up the stage, so much so that we are surrounded by people who have no idea what an audience wants or needs. We're surrounded by drivel.

Do you see any hope?

It depends on the climate in the country. I wish my career was in Europe, actually. I would loooove to sing in Paris. It's a more vital environment over there. They have more sense.

What's it like to take this show to cities where they know you more from television shows like Life Goes On and Frasier?

After they realize I can sing, they get involved in the story.

What do your gay fans mean to you?

I think they inform me a hell of a lot more than my straight fans. There is an expectation that I have to live up to.

Do you get the respect you deserve?

No. Especially in the press. But that's my destiny. I can't cry over spilled milk. It's very depressing, but I can't let it defeat me.