What a beautiful day! Patti LuPone, fresh off the set of And Just Like That…, has caused an internet kerfuffle with her astute (and deliciously eloquent) jabs at co-stars, former lovers, theater-goers, and even Times Square pedestrians in her recent profile in The New Yorker. LuPone is the darling of Broadway, her standout turns as Eva Perón in Evita and Rose in Gypsy paving the way for an illustrious career onstage and near-constant run-ins with her stage-sharers. Even the most vegan among us can’t resist a bleeding slice of Broadway beef: Andrew Lloyd Webber, President Trump, and Madonna have all been targets of her acerbic commentary.
Yet in the profile, LuPone levels her gaze on a new subject: former friend (and six-Tony Award winner) Audra McDonald. The pair apparently fell out years ago, and when asked for her opinion on McDonald’s Gypsy revival, LuPone stared “in silence for fifteen seconds,” looked out the window, and said: “What a beautiful day.”
So far, so LuPone, yet the revelation has touched a nerve and reopened an old rift, including LuPone being accused of “racially microaggressive” behavior for making noise complaints about the Alicia Keys musical Hell’s Kitchen while she was starring with Mia Farrow in The Roommate. On Instagram in November, Kecia Lewis, of Hell’s Kitchen, called LuPone’s protestations “bullying… offensive… rude [and] rooted in privilege.” Audra McDonald then commented on the post with hearts and applause. Cut to the New Yorker piece, and LuPone swung big at Lewis: “Let’s find out how many Broadway shows Kecia Lewis has done. She’s done seven. I’ve done thirty-one. Don’t call yourself a vet, bitch.” I’m glad you made it to the end of this spat summary, and I think we can all agree that…yikes.
Look, what we all like about LuPone is her dry candor, her ability to leave silences heavy with sardonic knowing. LuPone is refreshingly gossipy in public in a way that’s largely died in our fearful-of-repercussions, fearful-of-retweets internet age. She is conspiratorial in a way that feels like we’re momentarily sharing a Marlboro with a head girl behind the bike sheds. Above all, LuPone is dramatic in the Broadway-lineage sense: There is a grandeur to her banter and her sass is playing all the way to the seats at the back.