Patti LuPone: A Memoir (spoiler alert)
Patti LuPone: A Memoir (spoiler alert)
#1Patti LuPone: A Memoir (spoiler alert)
Posted: 9/2/10 at 1:50pm
So I'm about 80 pages into the book and if you want to hear Patti rant, you are going to love the book. I'm up to the point in her career where she did The Baker's Wife and she certainly has a lot to say about that show, I believe she called it "a turkey." She leaves no stone unturned, especially the strained working relationship with David Merrick. She really rips Topol too.
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Updated On: 9/3/10 at 01:50 PM
#2Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 1:52pmI didn't realize it had been released. Is it officially released or did you preorder?
#3Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 1:53pmIt isn't released until September 14th officially but I work for a small newspaper and one of our writers got a pre-release copy.
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#4Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 1:59pmmaybe there's such a thing as too candid? i mean, she does intend to continue working, right?
“Trust what gives you pleasure. Trust the emotions.
If you love something but can't explain why, that's enough.”
#5Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 2:02pmYeah I know what you are saying...but that's Patti for you
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BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#6Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 2:06pm
maybe there's such a thing as too candid? i mean, she does intend to continue working, right?
She's at a point in her career that she has NOTHING to lose. Her name AND reputation have been pretty well known in the industry for decades and it hasn't kept her from working -- her work ethic is impeccable, which speaks for itself.
She can do and say as she pleases... she's Patti LuPone AND always will be.
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#7Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 2:09pm
maybe there's such a thing as too candid?
I thought the same thing during that BookExpo America interview where she flat out called Andrew Lloyd Webber an alcoholic.
Author Stages: From Stage to the Page: Patti LuPone
#8Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 2:13pmSHUT UP, PATTI LUPONE!!! Shut your brassy magnificent trap!
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
#9Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 2:18pmbrodyfosse, don't get me wrong. i love Patti but even for a legend, a little tact never hurts. then again, tact does not sell books i suppose.
“Trust what gives you pleasure. Trust the emotions.
If you love something but can't explain why, that's enough.”
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#10Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 2:24pm
Does she talk about brother Robert at all? I know they don't get along.
Whatever happened to Italian clan loyalty?
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
#11Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 2:28pmShe really only mentions them being close growing up. Then she touches on Robert going to Julliard and convincing her to go to. And she mentions that in the first time in Tony history two siblings were nominated in the same year: Robert for A Chorus Line & Patti for the Robber Bridegroom. But then again I'm only about 1/4 through the book so I'm sure their falling out comes later.
http://backstagebarbie.blogspot.com
#12Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 3:08pm
i love Patti but even for a legend, a little tact never hurts
Oh pshaw! You can't be serious. You want a TACTFUL memoir, go read Rebecca Luker's. This is Patti Frigging LuPone--if the memoir were tactful, it would be a huge disappointment.
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#13Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 8:27pm
"She really rips Topol too."
What did Topol ever do to her?
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#14Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 9:09pmHe was an asshole.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
#15Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 10:43pm
"You want a TACTFUL memoir, go read Rebecca Luker's. This is Patti Frigging LuPone--if the memoir were tactful, it would be a huge disappointment."
^EGGZACKATALY!!!
I CANNOT wait for this in both hardcover and audio. The sample clip from the other day puzzled me for a minute, but it served its purpose - I am definitely more excited than I was before to hear this book read by Patti herself.
In fact, I was serious when I said I cannot wait. backwoodsbarbie, you're just going to have to go to your webcam or microphone and READ IT OUT LOUD TO US (in your best Patti LuPone, of course!) to tide us over for the next couple of weeks.
Go on, get started. We'll wait.
And no one grew into anything new, we just became the worst of what we were."
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#16Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 11:21pm
"He was an asshole."
What did he do? Were they ever in a show together?
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#17Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 11:22pmHe was the original Baker in A Baker's Wife.
And no one grew into anything new, we just became the worst of what we were."
#18Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/2/10 at 11:25pm
"He was an asshole."
What did he do? Were they ever in a show together?
When they first met each other when she came in to replace Carole Demas in The Baker's Wife, he grabbed her breasts and said it was to see how much meat she had on her bones. And I think he was generally a horrible person to work with.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
#19Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/3/10 at 12:02am
Whenever I hear Patti LuPone being "honest", I think of when author Caroline Myss said:
"There is an art to telling the truth."
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. - Eleanor Roosevelt
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#20Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/3/10 at 5:19am
And remember her truth is not always "the" truth.
You can't just say Topol was an asshole cause she says so.
(Though he may well be one, his "MEMOIR" could tell it differently.)
#21Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/3/10 at 8:30am
In terms of Topol...here we go (again, this is as Patti tells, I'm not judging, I'm just relaying what she says in the book).
The comment about him grabbing her breast to see how much meat was on her bones is true.
Also, apparently Topol hated the book so he ignored the script and played the character, The Baker, in a completely different way than the script called for. A minor character's dialogue actually called for him to provide exposition and Topol purposely played it differently in order to undermine the credibility of this actor/character.
Apparently Topol also hated the lyrics so at points during the out of town tryouts he would make up lyrics or just sing "bum ba dums" or "dee da dee" syllables in front of audiences.
He also (and again, this is according to Patti) sought to create animosity among the cast by choosing several chorus girls to favor and many of the cast members remember seeing chorus girls in dressing gowns leave Topol's dressing room half-dressed on a nightly basis.
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#22Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/3/10 at 9:42amOh wait, Patti also had a beef with Barbra Streisand.
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Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#23Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/3/10 at 11:34am
"He also (and again, this is according to Patti) sought to create animosity among the cast by choosing several chorus girls"
There's a chorus in The Baker's Wife? I thought it was just a small musical with four people in it?
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#24Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/3/10 at 12:28pm
So does this book have the potential to create some controversy, at least in the theatre community do you think?
I can't wait to read it. I am number one on the list for it at the library. (Was going to buy it but I have no more space to store books!)
Just give the world Love.
#25Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Posted: 9/3/10 at 1:15pmI mean I don't think she introduces any new controversial issues that she hasn't discussed before, she just delves more deeply into detail. As expected, there is a lot about the Sunset Boulevard debacle, not that we haven't heard of the Andrew Lloyd Webber memorial pool before. Other than Sunset, I would say that her discussion of her time in the Baker's Wife has the most potential to stir the stink a little bit, but then again that was so long ago. I'm almost finished with the book now (right around her time in Sweeney Todd on Broadway) where things seemed to calm down for Patti.
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