Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
#1Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 2:24pm
per The New York Post:
In his review of "Gypsy" on Broadway, the Times critic Ben Brantley noted that the star Patti LuPone had gotten her role down so brilliantly that "she had made me eat my hat." Previously, he'd given her a lukewarm review.
Indeed, after he saw Patti blow the audience away at the St. James Theatre, Brantley gave her the rave she deserved. The next day she sent him a chocolate cowboy hat in a deluxe hat box, with the note, "I hope you're laughing."
oh Patti.
link:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04272008/gossip/liz/new_parents_happy_to_the_max_108250.htm
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
#2re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 2:26pm
Oh my God! I love it! Only she can get away with it.
I know I'M laughing.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#3re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 4:36pm
that's the kind of thing that makes a diva for the books.
that and a killer voice.
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WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#5re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 5:07pmI'm surprised she didn't send him a real hat, with a note saying "EAT IT!"
#6re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 5:20pm
I think that's more you than Patti, PJ 
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#7re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 5:56pmThat's actually really cute. I love it.
BkCollector
Broadway Star Joined: 2/6/08
#8re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 6:00pmI think that's really bitchy.
#9re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 6:01pmThat's pretty funny.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
#10re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 6:07pm
That's great
Only Patti.....
"You will understand that Bww is a forum that allows Theatre people, Fussy old Queens, and chorus boys of Mama Mia to release their everyday life's frustration by being Snarky, B**chy, and sarcastic."
-BwayBoundJoe
#11re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 6:08pm
No, BK, that's you. In nearly every comment you make on this board.
How the hell is her gesture "bitchy"? It was a cute gesture between two people, acknowledging the humor of the whole situation. More than that, it was also probably a way of Ms. LuPone saying thank you.
#12re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 6:19pm
How is that bitchy?
I find it cute, hilarious, down to earth, and did I mention hilarious?
The note in particularly makes it NOT bitchy.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#13re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 6:27pmA chocolate hat sounds yummy.
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
#14re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 6:36pm
I think Patti did it in good sportsmanship and humor.
And a chocolate hat does sound delicious. Especially if Matt Morrison or Bobby Steggert was wearing it.
DG
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/2/05
#15re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 6:37pmI'm not really a Patti fan - but I thought that was perfect.
MCfan2
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/06
#16re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 6:47pm
It's not like it was a hat made of liver. A chocolate hat can only be interpreted as classy. 
#17re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 7:01pm
Thats so, so, so cute!
Patti eats live lobsters on stage and Ben eats chocolate hats!
#20re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 7:39pm
Haha! That is adorable!
So funny and classy.
Theatre is a safe place to do the unsafe things that need to be done.
-John Patrick Shanley
#21re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 8:22pm
Another nice gesture by Ms LuPone -- she sent flowers over to Xanadu after they put the joke about Gypsy in the show (I happened to be at Xanadu that day and the actors were talking about it at the stage door).
"What was the name of that cheese that I like?"
"you can't run away forever...but there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start"
"well I hope and I pray, that maybe someday, you'll walk in the room with my heart"
Updated On: 4/28/08 at 08:22 PM
#22re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 8:25pm^ That's awesome. I love Patti!
#23re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 8:27pmWhat's the Xanadu joke?
Theatre is a safe place to do the unsafe things that need to be done.
-John Patrick Shanley
#24re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 9:47pm
They say something like The quest for Xanadu shall end shortly and happliy. and Mary Testa says. Short and happy? Over at Gypsy Patti LuPone's only alienated her first daughter!
Or something like that. There are folks who can give the line verbatim but it's been a while for me.
#25re: Ben Brantley actually got a hat to eat
Posted: 4/28/08 at 10:02pm
The line is
"Short!? Next door at Gypsy, Patti LuPone hasn't even alienated one of her daughters yet!!!"
"He found something that he wanted, had always wanted and always would want— not to be admired, as he had feared; not to be loved, as he had made himself believe; but to be necessary to people, to be indispensable."
-F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise
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