Patti LuPone: ‘The US should export its culture rather than spend money on the military’
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.”
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.
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.”
