Additional Resources
- Related: "Broadway Babies Give a Grand Old Lady a Hand" The New York Times - New York, NY (Feb. 4, 2007)
Patti LuPone
Tony Award winner Patti LuPone recently concluded a critically acclaimed run in John Doyle's smash hit Broadway production of Sweeney Todd as the pie-maker Mrs. Lovett. Miss LuPone made her debut with the New York Philharmonic in that same role in a concert version of the Stephen Sondheim musical, before reprising her performance with the San Francisco Symphony, at the Ravinia Festival and on the Emmy Award winning PBS "Great Performances"telecast. While appearing in Sweeney Todd, Miss LuPone went into a recording studio to record her latest solo CD The Lady With The Torch for Ghostlight Records. Based on her latest sold-out Carnegie Hall concert which was conceived and directed by Scott Wittman, The Lady With The Torch features musical direction by Chris Fenwick and a 10 piece band performing an eclectic selection of torch songs, orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick. Tony Award winner Patti LuPone recently concluded a critically acclaimed run in John Doyle's smash hit Broadway production of Sweeney Todd as the pie-maker Mrs. Lovett. Miss LuPone made her debut with the New York Philharmonic in that same role in a concert version of the Stephen Sondheim musical, before reprising her performance with the San Francisco Symphony, at the Ravinia Festival and on the Emmy Award winning PBS "Great Performances"telecast.While appearing in Sweeney Todd, Miss LuPone went into a recording studio to record her latest solo CD The Lady With The Torch for Ghostlight Records. Based on her latest sold-out Carnegie Hall concert which was conceived and directed by Scott Wittman, The Lady With The Torch features musical direction by Chris Fenwick and a 10 piece band performing an eclectic selection of torch songs, orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick. She also returned to the Ravinia Festival where, during a three-week break from Sweeney Todd, she starred in the Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim musical Gypsy, garnering unanimous rave reviews for her performance as Mama Rose.
This fall she will star in the world premiere of composer Jake Heggie's new opera To Hell and Back for San Francisco's Baroque Philharmonia Orchestra and in January will make her debut with the Los Angeles Opera in its new production of Kurt Weill's Mahagonny.
Last year Miss LuPone starred in the title role in the Marc Blitzstein's Regina, a musical version of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center and reprised her critically acclaimed performance of Fosca in a concert version of Stephen Sondheim's Passion, starring with Audra McDonald and Michael Cerveris for Lincoln Center's American Songbook Series, which was also broadcast on PBS' Live From Lincoln Center. Around these engagements she performed a multi-city tour of her critically acclaimed theatrical concert Matters of the Heart, presented by Clear Channel Entertainment. She has toured Matters of the Heart throughout the United States and internationally, including runs at Australia's Sydney Festival, London's Donmar Warehouse Theatre and New York's Lincoln Center Theater. Her CD recording, based on this concert, was named one of 1999's best recordings by both The Times of London and Time Out. New York. On television, in addition to the Passion broadcast, she was featured, as herself, on the hit NBC comedy series "Will & Grace" and on the PBS "Great Performances"telecast of the NY Philharmonic's concert production of Leonard Bernstein's Candide.
During the previous season Patti LuPone garnered unanimous critical praise for her performance as La Mome Pistache in the City Center Encores! production of Cole Porter's musical Can-Can at New York's City Center and returned to the New York Philharmonic to co-star with Kristen Chenoweth in the Philharmonic's concert production of Leonard Bernstein's Candide.
In addition to The Lady With The Torch and Matters of the Heart, Miss LuPone also performs in a third solo concert, Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda. She made a triumphant solo concert debut at New York's Carnegie Hall in Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda resulting in a sold-out encore performance at Carnegie Hall, and performs the concert with major symphony orchestras around the country.
Patti LuPone's recent New York stage appearances include critically acclaimed performances in the City Center Encores! production of Pal Joey, as the Old Lady in Leornard Bernstein's Candide with the NY Philharmonic, in the smash hit Broadway revival of Michael Frayn's Noises Off, as Mrs. Lovett in the concert version of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, in David Mamet's The Old Neighborhood, Terrence McNally's Tony Award-winning play Master Class and in her own concert Patti LuPone On Broadway, for which she won an Outer Critics Circle Award. Over the past six consecutive summers, she's appeared in the Ravinia Festival's critically acclaimed Sondheim series, starring, in addition to Sweeney Todd and Gypsy, as Desiree in A Little Night Music, Fosca in Passion, Cora Hooper in Anyone Can Whistle, and was featured in two different roles in Sunday in the Park with George.
After completing her training with the first class of the Drama Division of New York's Juilliard School, she began her career as a founding member of John Houseman's The Acting Company playing a variety of leading roles, both on and off-Broadway and on tour throughout the United States. Her subsequent New York dramatic credits include Dario Fo's Accidental Death of An Anarchist; David Mamet's The Water Engine, Edmond and The Woods; and Israel Horovitz' Stage Directions. Miss LuPone's memorable performances on the New York musical stage include Vera Simpson in the City Center Encores! production of Pal Joey, Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, (1988 Drama Desk Award, Tony nomination, Best Actress in a Musical), The Cradle Will Rock, Nancy in Oliver!, Evita (1980 Tony and Drama Desk Awards- Best Actress in a Musical), Working and Rosamund in The Robber Bridegroom (1976 Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations, Best Featured Actress in a Musical).
In London, she created the role of Fantine in the the RSC production of Les Miserables, a role she subsequently played on the West End. For that performance, as well as the reprise of her performance in the London production of The Cradle Will Rock, she won an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Miss LuPone created the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (1994 Olivier nomination, Best Actress in A Musical), and recreated her Broadway performance of Maria Callas in the West End production of Master Class. Click here for complete list of theater performances.
Film: City By The Sea, David Mamet's Heist & State and Main; Just Looking, Summer of Sam, The 24 Hour Woman, Family Prayers, Driving Miss Daisy, Witness. Click here for complete list of films.
TV: PBS Great Performances' Candide, Oz , the TNT film Monday Night Mayhem, PBS' Evening At The Pops with John Williams and Yo Yo Ma, Falcone, Bonanno: A Godfather's Story (Showtime); Frasier (1998 Emmy nomination); Law & Order, An Evening with Patti LuPone (PBS), the NBC movie Her Last Chance, Showtime's ACE Award and Emmy nominated The Song Spinner (Daytime Emmy nomination, Best Actress), The Water Engine, L.B.J., AMC's Remember WENN and ABC's Life Goes On. Click here for complete list of television appearances.
Recordings include: Sweeney Todd (live performance recording on NY Philharmonic's Special Editions Label); Pal Joey (DRG); Heatwave with John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (Phillips Classics); Sunset Boulevard (Polygram); Patti LuPone Live (RCA Victor). Click here for complete list of recordings.
