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Published Sunday, June 21, 2009 | 10:18 p.m.
Updated Sunday, June 21, 2009 | 11:39 p.m.
Broadway star Patti LuPone hadn't even finished lowering her arms in the iconic introduction to the song "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina," when she waved to her 10-man orchestra to stop the music. LuPone was already at the lip of the stage, chewing out some doofus in the third row, who was brave and foolish enough to be caught using an electronic gizmo during her show at the Orleans showroom.
"What were you doing?" LuPone demanded of her captive. "I promise not to be mad at you. Just tell me, what were you doing -- videoing? Taking photos? Texting? I really want to know."
No answer -- who would be brave/fool enough to then sass back at the woman who so ferociously played such maneaters as Eva Peron, Norma Desmond, Mama Rose and Mrs. Lovett?
Eyes blazing, LuPone stalked the stage and went on a bit further about the rudeness to herself and to the rest of the audience, threatening the offender that she'd have him or her tossed out if it happened again. The crowd applauded with loud approval, and the bond between performer and audience seemed even stronger as LuPone picked up the "Evita" number again from the beginning, working through a bravura suite of songs from "Anything Goes," "Oliver!" and her recent revival of "Gypsy."
LuPone, who has starred in movies and TV as well as the stage, became an Internet sensation earlier this year when she stopped the show during her penultimate performance as Mama Rose in the Broadway revival of “Gypsy” and freaked out at some jerk who was taking flash photos during her big song. LuPone’s tirade was seen by hundreds of thousands on YouTube, and was applauded by many of her fellow performers, who suffer such indignities daily, but may not have LuPone's, um, guts.
Sitting near me in the capacity crowd was freelance journalist and blogger Steve Friess, who was itching to post about the eruption to his Twitter feed. "I want to text right now so bad it's killing me!" he whispered, laughing. Friess quickly jammed out a blog post and a tweet, apparently while waiting for the valet to retrieve his car.
When she returned for her encore, LuPone winked at the event and her reputation as the Terminator of poorly-behaved audience members. While she sang "The Way You Look Tonight," she was snapping photos -- with a flash! -- using a disposable camera. The crowd waved and cheered and posed.
It's beyond cliche to close with "My Way" in Vegas, but LuPone dared it, and walked away triumphant. But then, she does every song her way.
Twitter is going to be the death of us all.
lol
hey nice to see she has done some nude work in her time too...
Dammit! Why did I have to be out of town for this? I guess when she's back in Vegas next time, I'll make sure to turn my phone off. ;-)
Saw her on Broadway in Sweeney Todd. She was so good I'd gladly listen to a tirade a night to get to the songs.
What an immense talent!
I appreciate her taking these boors to task. They ruin the show for all the other people in the audience.
Now if we could only get rid of the people who have to scream out "woooooooo!" at concerts. I paid a fortune to hear McCartney play Yesterday and some clown was screaming in my ear during the whole song. Oh! For more performers like Patti LuPone!
The bit with someone in the audience was just that - a "bit." She made news a few months back yelling at someone in the audience and now she's incorporated it into her act. No one in that area of the audience was guilty of anything.
Other than that, it was the same show she did back in 1992.
Key words in this article are "doofus" and "jerk." Why should we, or the performers, have to put up with bad--and prohibited--behavior. The house manager is actually the person I think should be held responsible for policing this kind of thing, not the performer.