LuPone Issues Response To Showstopping Vegas 'Texting' Incident — Page 8

Matt, I have two friends who were working at The St. James during the run of Gypsy. From what they told me Patti was no where near as nice to them as she could have been. Thus they weren't doing things that Patti asked the usher to do just to spite her. Things such as standing in a line across the front row during Rose's Turn etc. The group mindset was if she wasn't going to be nice to them, why would they go out of their way to be nice to her?

If I worked at the box office during Gypsy and she had one of her signature hissy fits then I would be more then happy to give someone a refund. It doesn't matter if it is LuPone at a performance of Gypsy or Richard Griffiths during the run of The History Boys. When people pay for a ticket they pay to see the person play a particular character not to break it.

I remember being at a performance of Rabbit Hole, which, if you don't know is a VERY emotional play specially at the last scene. During said scene someone's phone went off. Cynthia Nixon and her acting partner were having an emotional exchange when it happened. But, like the professionals they are they stopped, didn't say anything, stayed in character and when the guy shut up his phone pretty quickly they both took a deep breath and continued as if nothing happened. Now, that is professionalism if I have heard of it.

---

It's not about "niceness" it's about doing their jobs. Patti's job is not to make nice-nice with the ushers. But, the ushers are expected to keep the house unde control to a degree. Not doing your job just to spite someone else is cause for termination IMO. There are so many people out there w/o a job who would be perfectly willing to do as they are asked.

I'm not excusing Patti's alleged rudeness. But they were out of line.

---

Matt, I have two friends who were working at The St. James during the run of Gypsy. From what they told me Patti was no where near as nice to them as she could have been. Thus they weren't doing things that Patti asked the usher to do just to spite her. Things such as standing in a line across the front row during Rose's Turn etc. The group mindset was if she wasn't going to be nice to them, why would they go out of their way to be nice to her?

Wow. Immature AND unprofessional. How nice was Patti supposed to be? What are the parameters and how were they addressed to Patti? Or were they ever addressed at all? Methinks not. But it certainly says a lot about the professionalism to be expected of the house staff in Broadway theatres. So basically, they were not willing to take extra measures to see that 1) people adhere to the rules they are already supposed to be policing and 2) help prevent another outburst from the stage, because they prefer vindication for expectations they placed on a performer of which she may have been unaware? Sorry, but this really undermines the whole argument that it isn't Patti's place to police the audience and to take care of the situation offstage with the house staff. Clearly, in the case of the St. James theatre anyway, it sounds as if the house staff were not going to do much about it. We all have to work with people we don't like. That is not an excuse. The "group mindset" sounds like a bunch of teenagers who have yet to learn how to address conflict, which is exactly what ushers should be trained to do.

---

Updated On: 6/24/09 at 12:41 PM

Patti does not perform to make friends with people

Exactly!

Patti barely makes nice-nice with the fans who pay to see her perform. Is anyone surprised to hear that she doesn't with the ushers?

What is she supposed to do? Invite them to slumber parties where they braid each other's hair and play mad libs?

---

Updated On: 6/24/09 at 12:44 PM

To call her the greatest singer and actress of our time is just hilarious. Who's time anyways?

Yeah! Who is time more than one anyway?

---

And if a performer can't even make a little bit of nice-nice with the fans, I think that tells you what kind of a person they.

Yeah! That tells me what kind of person you.

---

Sorry sweets, edited my post before you got a chance to post your snide remark.

Updated On: 6/24/09 at 12:52 PM

Just wanted to add what was edited and changed so my response wasn't too confusing.

---

Updated On: 6/24/09 at 12:54 PM

Who were your friends, Winston? PM me.

Updated On: 6/24/09 at 01:28 PM

I worked at the St. James and Patti never asked us to stand in a line in front of the stage to spite us. She asked that the ushers come down to the front of the house to watch for cameras only during Rose's Turn. In the case of the orchestra ushers, we stood to the sides by the curtains, and in the mezzanine, by the large vases up at the rail.

Winston didn't say Patti was trying to spite the ushers, but that the ushers refused to do it to spite Patti. Because she wasn't as nice to them as she could have been. And according to him (or them, I suppose), you were part of the "group mindset".

---

Mister Matt wins this thread, in my opinion.

---

...I'm not an angry person and could really care less about what Patti does because in my eyes she is not deserving of the praise she gets from the mostly middle aged lispy queens on this board.

I don't know what people are talking about. That doesn't sound angry at all. It is merely bigoted and offensive.

---

It's the truth. Sorry if you find that bigoted and offensive.