Sad is better than Angry

(Here’s a picture of Patti as a thank-you for your help… 😜)

In short: my partner is coming with me to Patti’s concert in Madrid. She obviously knows who Patti is, but apart from AAA, SU and not much else, she’s not familiar with the majority of her work. She’s asked me to put together a YouTube playlist of the songs that might be played at the concert so she can start getting to know her music.

Some options are quite clear: Meadowlark, songs from 'Evita', 'Anything Goes', 'Gypsy', 'Company', … Other songs outside her musical theatre hits that I've seen in other “Songs from a Hat” performances from YT videos. Perhaps some songs from her albums?

To be honest, I’ve found myself a bit overwhelmed by everything available… I want to try and offer her the best possible option within each selected song, and I’m convinced there may be many obvious tracks that I might overlook.

This is where I’m asking for your help… if you had to put together a list like this, which YouTube clips would you choose? I’d love to see your favourite renditions from among those you think are likely to feature in the concert, because I’m sure many of you know of clips I haven’t seen yet and which are real hidden gems for me.

News report broadcast on Canal Sur (Andalusia’s regional channel) about the start of Patti LuPone’s Spanish tour in Málaga today, 10 June.

Antonio Banderas stands at the entrance to his Caixabank Soho Theater, facing that bloodless firing squad of photojournalists. At his side is a petite woman with short hair, an aquiline nose, and a gaze that’s as smiling as it is curious. It’s hot in Málaga, and both have chosen brightly colored clothes with eye-catching patterns. They laugh at the coincidence, and Banderas introduces his companion: “This is Patti LuPone, a true legend of Broadway and musical theater.” “Legend” is an adjective that, through overuse, has lost much of its meaning, but in the case of Patti LuPone (New York, 1949), it fits the reality perfectly. Her career includes more than sixty theatrical productions in both New York and London. She played Eva Perón in the U.S. premiere of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 'Evita'; she portrayed Fantine in the now-historic London premiere of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s 'Les Misérables'; and, also in London, she was the first Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 'Sunset Boulevard'. She has also played the leading roles in musicals such as ‘Gypsy,’ 'Sweeney Todd,‘ and 'Company,’ as well as in plays such as David Mamet’s ‘The Anarchist’ and Terence McNally’s ‘Master Class,’ in which she portrayed Maria Callas.

In fact, another legendary opera singer, Adelina Patti (who, although of Italian origin and raised in New York, was born in Madrid), connects Patti LuPone to Spain—she is her great-grandniece—a country where she has never performed until now. Today, June 10, she begins a tour with her show “Songs from a Hat,” which will then take her to Barcelona (June 12), Madrid (June 15), Tenerife (June 19), Gran Canaria (June 21), and Bilbao (June 24).

There’s another common thread: sixteen years ago, she took part in the premiere of the musical 'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown', based on Pedro Almodóvar’s film. “I love his movies; I was thrilled that David Yazbek and Jeffrey Lane created the musical, and I was even happier when they asked me to be part of it. But what moved me the most was sitting next to him during rehearsals. I couldn’t believe it! I thought, ‘I’m sitting next to Pedro Almodóvar!’”

“On Broadway, we don’t get a day off,” complains Patti LuPone. “On Mondays, which is our day off, there are always charity galas, and they usually ask us performers to take part. Someone once asked me, ‘Would you come sing for twenty minutes at a charity gala?’ And I thought, ‘Oh my God, now I have to figure out what to sing for twenty minutes.’ Then I came up with the idea of putting little slips of paper with song titles in a hat and pulling one out at random to sing. That’s how this show was born.”

More photos from Patti's first day in Málaga before she embarks on her concert tour in the city tomorrow.

Antonio Banderas welcomed the grande dame of Broadway, Patti LuPone, today.

The American artist will perform tomorrow at the Teatro del Soho with her show ‘Songs from a Hat’, in which she will perform her most famous songs as well as her personal favourites. The set list will be put together spontaneously from pieces of paper drawn at random from her top hat. Accompanied on the piano by her musical director Joseph Thalken, LuPone will perform Broadway classics, lesser-known pieces and popular songs at the start of her Spanish tour.

Antonio Banderas: ‘Patti LuPone is probably one of the most important legends in the entire history of Broadway. She is a woman who has played practically every major role of her era, and she still has a fabulous career ahead of her.’

LuPone is Broadway’s most decorated performer. She has won three Tony Awards, two of them for her performances in productions staged by the Teatro del Soho and directed by Antonio Banderas in their version in Spanish, which makes it particularly significant for this theatre to welcome Patti LuPone to its stage.

The American actress Patti LuPone, one of the great legends in the history of Broadway musical theatre, believes that her country should “export its culture, arts and sciences, rather than spending money on ammunition and the military”.

“It’s a tragedy, and it breaks my heart,” LuPone lamented in an interview with EFE. On Wednesday, she will open a tour of Spain at the Teatro del Soho in Málaga to perform her concert ‘Songs from a Hat’.

“I haven’t heard anything about American life since Obama. We used to perform concerts in the East Wing (of the White House), during both Bush administrations and the Obama administration, but now it’s been destroyed. The arts in my country receive absolutely no support,” she adds.

She says that, as an actress, she has always felt “like a third-class citizen”, and when asked about the current state of musical theatre on Broadway, she admits that it is “difficult to answer that question”.

Support for young writers

“I’ve seen it all, and some of them are fantastic. There’s a huge amount of talent on stage. I’m excited, but I hope that, in our country, producers will support young writers and composers. There’s a lot of talent that will never see the light of day, unfortunately, because (musicals) are too expensive.”

At 77, and after a career spanning more than half a century, she believes she remains motivated and enthusiastic because “she is Italian”, she says, referring to her roots. “I have energy, I love it, and I was born to do it.”

Although she has also worked in film and television, she has no hesitation in stating that the theatre “is the medium for actors”, because you receive a “direct response” from the audience.

“When you make a film, it’s finished; it might be a year before anyone sees it and you’ve already moved on to another project. You disconnect from the audience when you’re filming. I use the film crew, and if I feel I’m connecting with the crew, I feel I’ll connect with the audience. But it’s difficult not to have that direct response.”

‘Evita’ changed her life

Of all the musicals she has done, the one that changed her career was ‘Evita’. “It made me a star, even though it was very controversial because of its support for the Nazis. The audience made it a success, even though the show and I received terrible reviews. In Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York, the audience wondered who Evita was, and they became obsessed with her.”

“It also made people on Broadway realise that they hadn’t invented the musical, because the musical directors were British,” she adds.

Another highlight of her career is ‘Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’, the musical adaptation of Pedro Almodóvar’s film.

LuPone recalls that, when taking on this project, she watched “all of Almodóvar’s films”, and the director from La Mancha attended one of the first script readings. “I love him and his work; he’s unique,” says the actress, who hopes the filmmaker will attend her concert in Madrid on 15 June.

Her advice: study

To young people just starting out in musical theatre, her main piece of advice is to ‘study’. ‘There’s so much talent in American theatre and I’m thrilled, especially by the dancers – it’s incredible.’

“But do they know the history of what they’re doing? There are people who don’t know who Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera are. I’d tell them that, if they really want to do this, they should learn the history of musical theatre and study. Because what many people don’t realise is that it requires a particular kind of stamina, commitment and sacrifice to perform eight shows a week. That’s the main piece of advice.”

Patti LuPone doesn’t have any role she sees as unfinished business in her career, and she just wants to keep working: “Yes, sometimes I wonder what I’d do if I didn’t do this anymore, and I’ve got nothing. This has been my hobby and it’s been my life. What I want is to carry on.”

First photos of Patti LuPone (accompanied by Antonio Banderas) in Spain!

Another full set of ArchSiblings! 😇🤍

Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole, and what they admired about each other whilst sharing the stage in ‘War Paint’.