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This Time it Isn’t Typical Patti LuPone Drama
The Broadway community is divided but more people are against the diva than ever
Patti LuPone set off fireworks within the Broadway community this week. In a profile with The New Yorker, the Broadway diva took aim at two of her colleagues. But this time, she may have gone too far.
The piece serves as almost a biography of LuPone. It details the early days of her career, including her first stint as Eva Perón in Evita. She talks about how producers isolated her and made her feel like she wasn’t good enough.
It also goes into her infamous feud with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Glen Close over the Sunset Blvd incident. Something that still grates on her nearly thirty years after it happened.
What happened?
LuPone originated the role of Norma Desmond on the West End. She was contracted to help launch the Broadway show. “Was” is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
Webber and other producers decided that LuPone was not the right actress to play the role on Broadway. Instead, they hired Glen Close to play the part. When LuPone found out, she was furious.
She sued Webber and was awarded $1 million. Part of that money went to building a pool for her home, which was dubbed…
