Patti Lupone-Matters of the Heart-finally saw it!

[ElTico68]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 1:06am

Patti Lupone is coming to town. I know she's great... is this something I should be getting tickets for or I'll regret it if I don't?

Updated On: 4/14/05 at 01:06 AM

[broadwaynut20]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 1:22am

I just saw it in Pittsburgh. It was great seeing Patti Lupone. But I could have done without it. It's not something you absolutely need to see. The production is not memorable at all except for Patti.

[pattifan2]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 7:16am

Beautiful concert. it really shows off Patti's range...a great choice of material - a great night. But then, I'm biased.

[KMF_NYC]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 7:47am

GO SEE HER -- you will not be disappointed -- this is a great collectionof songs!

[JBSinger]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 8:26am

Saw the original run at Lincoln Center and adore the album. It is a great concert with a wide variety of material. She's terrific - you must go! :)

[wildcat]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 9:49am

Is it the same songlist she recorded about five years ago under that title?

[Matchi]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 11:46am

It is nearly the same as her MotH CD. She does add a few songs such as Being Alive, Time After Time, and The Way You Look Tonight.

ElTico - I also just saw her in Pittsburgh and thought it was a lovely evening. I definitely recommend attending if you can.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 11:48am

If you know she's great, then you know you should see it. I saw the show. It was great.

[peterjoshua]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 11:57am

Absolutely go see it! Like Matchi said, it is almost the same songlist from her "Matters of the Heart" CD, but with a few additions/changes. For me, it was worth it just to hear her do Being Alive, but then, yes, I'm a little biased. Her versions of Time After Time (yes, the Cyndi Lauper tune) and The Way You Look Tonight were simply beautiful. She's also wickedly funny on songs like I Never Do Anything Twice.

I highly recommend it!

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 12:06pm

In a word?

FRIGGIN' YES!! :)

I saw it at Lincoln Center a few years ago, and it reconfirmed to me that she is my supreme diva of choice. Gorgeous concert, featuring an unparalleled song list and near-definitive arrangements. Just fantastic!

[junglered]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 12:58pm

I'll be seeing this show when Patti arrives in Atlanta in May!

[ElTico68]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 1:31pm

"If you know she's great, then you know you should see it."

Thanks for your feedback... the reason I asked is because I thought I'd read somewhere, sometime, somehow... who knows... that this wasn't one of her best, so I was reluctant to spend the money and be disappointed by her.

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 2:27pm

^^ So far, she's the only "star/diva" who hasn't let me down after seeing her several times. I've seen her in Matters of the Heart, Coulda Woulda Shoulda (at Carnegie Hall), Noises Off, Sweeney Todd, and in a cabaret-setting at the Plush Room in SF. She never gives less that 100%, and has never failed to have the audience enthralled. And personally, I think Matters of the Heart is her best work.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 2:32pm

I saw the concert at the Donmar in London. Wonderful show. I wouldn't miss it if I were you. Watching her perform Shattered Illusions was simply hysterical.

[IveGottaBeME]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 2:54pm

at the Patti Lupone concert in Pittsburgh, there were several people complaining and walking out saying stuff such as "I can't believe this is the Broadway series"... seriously, the Broadway series has been terrible this year... Oliver was so boring. Hopefully, Hairspray and Little Shop will be good.

Everything sounded the same.. why not sing the songs that you're most famous for? Evita and Anything Goes? Come on. An audience who isn't familiar with these songs she sang... If you were late you had to wait for like 5 songs to go in because it disrupted her.

[peterjoshua]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 11:05am

"why not sing the songs that you're most famous for? Evita and Anything Goes? Come on. An audience who isn't familiar with these songs she sang..."

Because she's been singing those songs for 25 years. God forbid an artist might want do some different material once in a while. Better be careful, you might accidentally turn an audience on to some beautiful new songs they weren't familiar with, when what they really wanted was just to hear the one song you made a hit in 1979. Seriously, though, I could sit and listen to Patti sing "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" any day of the week, but even I love hearing her do some other material as well.

"If you were late you had to wait for like 5 songs to go in because it disrupted her."

Many, many shows have specific places after the show has begun where late-comers are allowed to be seated. It's much less distracting -- to the other audience members, that is -- than for ushers to spend the first 15 minutes of the show seating the constant trickle of people who couldn't be bothered to get there on time. Especially in a more intimate concert-type setting. Hell, even in a big spectacle like Ragtime, if you got there late you had to wait until the entire 10-minute opening sequence was over before you could be seated.

OK. Stepping down off my soapbox now...

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 12:39pm

"Everything sounded the same.. why not sing the songs that you're most famous for? Evita and Anything Goes? Come on. An audience who isn't familiar with these songs she sang..."

Because the concert is not called Patti's Greatest Hits. She actually knows how to sing other songs. She has sung her most famous songs for years and enjoys singing something else for a change.

"If you were late you had to wait for like 5 songs to go in because it disrupted her."

It's called "late seating" and it occurs in nearly every Broadway show. The box office sold me a ticket to The Lion King in 1997 after waiting 3 hours and because they sold it just at the curtain, I had to watch the entire Cirle of Life number on a video monitor. Arriving late is one thing, but when the box office sells a ticket at full price while in communication with the front of house knowing that the person will miss the first 10 minutes of the show is something else entirely. I was furious.

Posted: 2/25/05 at 2:52pm

I saw her and loved her. She was the greatest!!!

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 2:56pm

I've seen "Matters of the Heart" about 15 times and can honestly say it's been splendid each time. No two performances are exactly the same because Patti may add or drop a song on any given night.

I wonder how the show is now that pianist Dick Gallagher has passed on>

[IveGottaBeME]

Posted: 2/26/05 at 8:52am

there's nothing wrong with trying new songs, but they all began to sound the same, she sounded nasal, she hardly moved or anything.. being alive was the best. most of the crowd only knows her for evita, maybe if this was like just in nyc where a lot of people know her as an "artist".. but no one else cares. she should do popular songs, not a concert filled with boring music.

[eva's boy2]

Posted: 2/26/05 at 11:01am

RUN!...dont' walk...it is a GREAT nite with GREAT Star. Fun and poignant!

[Luvinbroadway]

Posted: 2/26/05 at 11:06am

"at the Patti Lupone concert in Pittsburgh, there were several people complaining and walking out saying stuff such as "I can't believe this is the Broadway series".

Remind me to skip Pittsburgh! Sounds like one sophisticated crowd! Even more so because the show includes songs from: "South Pacific", "Merrily We Roll Along", "Company", "Ragtime", "Carnival", "The KIng and I", "Meet Me in ST. Louis", etc.

Time to expand our listening options!

[peterjoshua]

Posted: 2/27/05 at 3:12pm

"maybe if this was like just in nyc where a lot of people know her as an "artist".. but no one else cares. she should do popular songs, not a concert filled with boring music."

On first reading, this post really pissed me off, and I was going to reply with some really b*tchy comment, but frankly, this statement just saddens me. Like Luvinbroadway said:

"the show includes songs from: "South Pacific", "Merrily We Roll Along", "Company", "Ragtime", "Carnival", "The King and I", "Meet Me in St. Louis", etc."

The fact that IvegottabeME and, evidently the rest of Pittsburgh, can't broaden their horizons enough to consider hearing such classics from an artist when those aren't the songs that she's "known for" makes it clear to me why the arts are in the condition they're in these days. It's just sad, really.

Oh, and as a side note, IvegottabeME, out of the two times I've seen Patti in concert, neither time was in NYC. Both were, in fact, in my home state of Texas where Patti and her material were greeted extrememly enthusiastically and appreciatively. So you might not want to just throw around your blanket statement of "no one else cares" because it's obviously incorrect.

[chitownbob]

Posted: 3/3/05 at 6:58pm

This reminds me of a funny story -

I saw this show about six years ago in Toledo at the reopening of the Valentine Theatre. It was a gala event with a pre and post show reception. I was 19 or 20 at the time, and all the other people at the event were well into their silver years.

I was a little bored since the pre-show reception lasted an hour, but I could drink the champagne. I was drinking several glasses with a nice young girl around my age. She seemed well off, and my observations were confirmed when she said "I come to these things all the time, but at least we can drink for free!" We laughed and chatted for a few minutes. She was from Toledo, but visiting.

We all filed into the theater after some toasts were made, and the head of the Valentine restoration committee came out to welcome the audience. He then said, "I would like to also welcome to the stage our very own Toledo celebrity, Miss Katie Holmes!"

You can see where this is going...

And on the stage walked the girl I had been speaking to. I didn't know her from Adam because I never watched Dawson's Creek, but in retrospect, it was pretty cool.

The show itself was fabulous. I still think the best performance I ever saw of Patti’s was at Ravinia’s Martin Theater this fall when she performed “Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda.” An out of this world performance.

[ElTico68]

Posted: 4/9/05 at 5:57pm

Finally got tickets yesterday to Wednesday night's performance. So very excited! Got center orchestra, row U. Which leads me to believe it's not selling very well...