story time: meeting patti lupone🥺🥺
patti had loved the museum they filmed “the artist” in so much that she visited again with her closest friends and asked how she can help support the museum. they said they’re short on funds so she offered to do a charity concert. that’s where i come in. i bought a ticket to her concert that had only 55 audience members and took place inside the drawing room of the hillstead museum. she sang for an hour (songs like “the worst pies in london” “west side story medley” “trouble” “some other time” “alfie” etc.) eventually she brought her hat over to me (show was songs from a hat) and said “i saw you raise your hand” i responded “oh did i?” and she goes “yes then you put it back down, i saw it” so i said “well i didn’t see it!” so she says “did i imagine it?” and pulled my song which was “i dreamed a dream.” later when she sang “i wish it so” i was mouthing the words, so after the song she said to me “oh you know the words!” (i was maybe 3 feet from her the entire night) so i said “i do! you’re my top artist on spotify!” she said “where?” i said “spotify wrapped from last year!” she said “who is?” i said “YOU!!” and she goes “what?! oh you’re such doll!!!”
(my feet to show you how close i was)
after the show there’s a small reception and i talked to the other audience members (charity donors) who loved my story about what patti means to me and what i’ve sacrificed to come here, so some amazing older women talked to the museum coordinator to try to get me to meet patti. they told her how i wanted a picture. someone comes back a few minutes later and says “patti heard your story and has agreed to meet you” so i said “i’ll be quick i promise!”
i’m already tearing up as i walk in the hallway and she’s standing there waiting for me. she says “hi!!!” and i say hi back but immediately i start crying, so she started crying too and said “no don’t do that!” i responded “i just love you so much!” so she hugged me and we cried for a little while hugging. i got into the room (but don’t remember much at this point) and she said “let’s take a picture! someone take the picture!” richard grabbed my phone and i asked “is the lighting okay?” he said actually yes it’s pretty good. then i said “gotta make sure my hair looks okay” and she laughed. when he grabbed my phone patti said “oh i signed your phone!” i said “no it’s a business card from your show!” i realized my purse was on my arm so i said “wait let me put my bag down” and kicked it to fold over where it said “lupone” (embarrassed at the tackiness) and said pay no mind to that!
after the picture i told her i made that scrapbook for her birthday last year. she said “the one from all the countries!” and i said “yes it took me weeks! it was freaking hard but i wanted you to know how much you mean to us. i see the way you think of yourself sometimes” (and at this point i start breaking down) “and i want you to never think bad about yourself ever because we love you so much” and she hugged me while i cried again.
i said “is it okay if we take a selfie? then i’ll leave you alone i promise!” and she said “of course we can!” so i took a selfie but realized there was someone behind us so i said “no there’s a man in the background hang on!” then i asked “is flash okay?” she says “yes of course!!”
(man in the back)
(with the flash)
after the selfie i said “okay i’m done!” and she asked “what’s your name” i said “it’s baylee!” she says “oh my gosh baylee!!” as if she knew me. i said “thank you so much!! and i wanna show you my keychain really quick… it’s you as a catholic saint” and she said “NO IT LOOKS LIKE THE TRUMP JESUS” i said “it’s not it’s you!! it’s you!!” and she laughed and said no it looks like trump jesus😂
(the infamous keychain)
i said thank you so much again i appreciate this so much!! (don’t remember exactly what happened here either) and started crying as i left. at the end of the hall there was a group of older ladies waiting to cheer me on as i cried tears of joy. two of them drove me to the train station so i could get home. it was the most perfect day.
