Patti LuPone at 54 Below - just saw it- Page 4

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 6/13/12 at 9:31am

My friend and I were at last night's concert and absolutely loved it. Patti was in excellent voice and the song selections were incredible. The tweeted encore last night was As Long As He Needs Me, and she sounded great.

RippedMan, the only songs she's singing that she previously recorded were Come to the Supermarket In Old Peking (that's on her Live album) and I Regret Everything (Matters of the Heart). I really think this act needs to be recorded, because she just sounds so damn good.

[Rainbowhigh23]

Posted: 6/13/12 at 11:38pm

If I may quote Tom 497 - the songs below are what Patti played tonight and her encore was Meadowlark (when she read it she said, "Sh*t!" but did a wonderful job singing it. Someone named Joe sitting in the front had tweeted it, and his reaction when Patti said he won was priceless.

Mandy was there but did not sing with her. I was sitting at the bar and saw him walk in!

Bilbao Song
- Faraway Places
- By the Sea
- I Regret Everything, sung with a fake French accent as the comic flipside to Edith Piaf's Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
- Medley of Water Songs, starting with a bit of Brecht/Weill's "Oh the sea is blue, so blue...." and maybe including I Cover the Waterfront.
- Pirate Jenny
- Nights on Broadway
- Weill's Black Market
- Come to the Supermarket in Old Peking
- Hymn to Love
- Travellin' Light

[castlestreet]

Posted: 6/14/12 at 1:24pm

Do guys need to wear a jacket?

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 6/14/12 at 1:27pm

I saw Jackie Hoffman's first show and there was no dress code. Assuming it's the same for Patti.

[Rainbowhigh23]

Posted: 6/14/12 at 1:38pm

^no dress code but it's such a nice place you may want to wear something nice. A fan in front of me had jeans and a plaid shirt but he was so sharp he made it look classy.

[dshnookie]

Posted: 6/14/12 at 11:14pm

I just got back from tonight's show and WOW.

I had a seat at the bar which was a great view, but looking forward to sitting at a table for the Dec. Megan Hilty show. Sitting at the bar means you'll hear a lot of drinks being shaken, poured, waiters walking across you - but no complaints here, just FYI.

Tonight was the first night they were serving actual food, not a full dinner menu but their offerings were decent and I had the poached chicken with carrot puree which was delicious! two glasses of Sauvignon Blanc and vanilla ice cream and I was very satisfied - bill $49

Patti was incredible, I had seen another solo show of hers last year at the Boston Symphony and I appreciated this brand new show, only carry-over songs from that first solo show were I Regret Everything and Gypsy In My Soul.

The encore song was Being Alive which, if the place had a roof, would've blown right off, Patti did not sound better all night than she did in that song (she even forgot how to start it, and cued the pianist to begin again) - the applause was thunderous. She was also VERY funny in the moments she spoke to the audience, joking about how she misses and loved NYC from the 70s when she had to crawl over bodies to get into the stage door, from feeling like she was at home by seeing the mustaches on the women when traveling to Sicily for a movie shoot, and being instructed by the director to step into the water just as two dead brothers were being pulled out, to how Anything Goes used to play up there < now down here >, and Evita up there < and now down here > and how her breasts used to be up here < and now...She also commented on if she had not been an actor, she would've still pursued a career that made her pack a suitcase, like how she'd be perfect as a stewardess TURN OFF YOUR PHONE RIGHT NOW! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? - she was just great, Patti at her most playful and relaxed.

Someone even shouted out during the show for her to sing With One Look, to which she scoffed and said "in another life", and went back to it when Being Alive was pulled, that if she couldn't remember the words she'd sing With One Look instead..."I don't think so" or something like it. :)

Scott Wittman was standing across the room by what I think was the light cue board, and her new Anarchist costar Debra Winger was also in the audience, whom she introduced and expressed how excited she was for the play.

Many many thanks to Just_John for posting that a few tickets had opened up for tonight a couple weeks ago, I would've hated to have missed this.

Updated On: 6/14/12 at 11:14 PM

[binau]

Posted: 6/14/12 at 11:20pm

She sounds like such a fun person. But I don't quite get the jokes about Anything Goes and Evita...was she criticising the current productions?

[dshnookie]

Posted: 6/14/12 at 11:28pm

She was just referring to how she performed both shows further uptown than where they are currently playing (even though Evita is only 7 blocks from its first home) and that her breasts have followed a similar pattern - they were once up and now.. she never quite finished the line, but the implication was pretty funny.

She also expressed how much she would've loved to play Edith Piaf, and how she read everything about her, watched every documentary, and even took a few sailors home.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 6/14/12 at 11:40pm

dshnookie, I was at the bar tonight, too. I actually think I'd always prefer to sit there (and I sat at a front table for her dress rehearsal). The sightlines are great, and you get served quickly and constantly!

I agree about "Being Alive." It was jaw-dropping, and the place went nuts.

[dshnookie]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 12:09am

I think the best seats are the ones in the bar area, that are regular seats as opposed to stools that have their own little table. You're elevated above all the other tables in the main room and face the stage directly - a completely unobstructed view, and very close proximity to the bar and restroom. Too bad the couple sitting at one of them kept turning around to leer at the bar staff for making noise. It's cabaret, people have to eat and drink!

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 12:48am

During "Nights of Broadway" make sure you look behind the bar! It's a glowing rainbow light wall! They do it on the stage too, but it's harder to see. It's cooler at the bar.

[dshnookie]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 10:05am

I remember one more from last night, something along the lines of "This club is in what once was the epicenter of nightlife (in th world). It brings back a lot of nostalgia. And if you managed to survive the 70s, which I think I did - then you would know that this wasnt the only thing going on beloooow."

[Rainbowhigh23]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 10:25am

The bar seats were definitely a nice, unobstructed view of Patti, but those tables near the stage were very nice.

Her talk about the 1970s and old New York made me tear up - I was too young for the original Studio 54, but in my college days it was called the New Ritz (when they stopped having concerts at the 11th Street location for some reason) - saw many a great show there and then stumbled out to another party somewhere in the deep, dark city, the likes of which you don't get anymore.

[BrassBandBoy]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 11:56am

Guess we all were seated at the bar yesterday...
I was there as well, with my mother, all the way from the Netherlands.

We both had a great night: 54Below is a gorgeous place, the staff is very friendly and Patti, of course, was phenomenal!
I almost fell off my seat when I heard the twitter encore would be "Being Alive"... Amazing performance!

My mother didn't really know Patti beforehand, but she too had a wonderful evening and enjoyed every second of it.
So, yeah, thanks for the heads up on the extra bar seats.

[BrassBandBoy]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 11:57am

Oh yeah, forgot to say that some of the waiters and fellow audience members were worth it as well. :-P

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 12:03pm

We should figure out the bar lineup for last night!

My friends and I were in the four seats on the far right as you faced the bar.

[Tap]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 10:04pm

Going tomorrow night. Do most people get there at 6, when the doors open? Are there lines waiting to get in? I was hoping for Being Alive as her encore, maybe she will sing it again.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 10:12pm

There certainly was no line on Thursday night. But even on Saturday, I doubt it. There are only X number of seats, and it's not a large number.

Seating is first come, first served (except for reserved tables for VIPs, I imagine). Half our party got there for our bar seats at 6:30; the rest closer to 7:00. I'd say it was full up by 7:30.

But truly, there are no bad seats, so I wouldn't fret about it. If you have a ticket, you're going to get a good view of the show.

They would have you believe the encore is selected in the moment. Don't know if that's true. But all of the encores I've heard about have been blockbusters.

[Tap]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 10:23pm

Thanks, can't wait till tomorrow night. I cannot get there before 6:30. I feel a little less nervous.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 6/15/12 at 10:40pm

Going tomorrow night. Do most people get there at 6, when the doors open? Are there lines waiting to get in? I was hoping for Being Alive as her encore, maybe she will sing it again.

We were there a little before 6 on Tuesday night, because my friend and I really wanted to sit as close as possible (and we certainly did). Patti actually got there while we were waiting outside on line, so that was fun.

But since there's no bad seat in the place, there's no need to get there that early.

[BrassBandBoy]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 2:41am

Re: the bar line-up on Thursday, we were seated next to you and your friends, Reg.

Really bummed that I live that far from New York, since the line-up for the rest of the year is great...
Oh well, I'll treasure the memories of last Thursday and if they keep going like this, I will be back there someday in the next (couple of) year(s)!

[castlestreet]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 8:50am

Saw the 11 o'clock show last night- the club & Patti both were beyond amazing! I had bar seating and the previous comments about it being great seats were right.

In attendance last night were Lithgow, Norbert Leo Butz, Tony Sheldon, and of course Scott Whitman. The staff there are fantastic as well.

Encore was Ladies Who Lunch and then her two encores closing with September Song. Truly a magical experience that I will cherish always- the woman is in perfect voice and had the audience in the palm of her hands from the word go!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/17/12 at 3:48pm

Maybe she'll come back.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 6/17/12 at 5:51pm

PalJoey, it must've traveled from your mouth to God's ears, because it was just announced that she's extending to the end of this week, replacing an ill Andrea Martin. Ticket prices were bumped up to $75 for bar seating and $85 for table seating.