LuPone / Webber

[Joshua488]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 9:50pm

I did a search and didn't find anything. I apologize if I didn't search thoroughly enough.

What happened between Patti LuPone and Andrew Lloyd Webber? I'm very uninformed.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 9:56pm

Patti did the London staging of Sunset Boulevard, with a clause in her contract saying that if the show came to the States (and NY), she'd star. After the transfer was set, they fired her and replaced her with Glenn Close. Patti sued Webber for breach of contract and won an undisclosed amount, which, in turn, paid for her swimming pool in Connecticut.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 10:01pm

It's been said that she received a cool million.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 10:04pm

Good for her.

Patti rocks.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 11:00pm

Wow. That's really awful on Really Useful Group's part. Why was she fired? They wanted a "bigger name"?

RUG didn't think she'd sue for breach of contract?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 11:12pm

The London critics found Lupone too young for the role (among other things), so her reviews were lukewarm. Meanwhile, Glenn Close got across the board enthusiastic raves for doing Norma in LA. Webber was coming off two consecutive Broadway flops (Aspects of Love and a Joseph revival) and got nervous that Sunset with Lupone might suffer the same fate (which it actually did sort of did anyway a few years later when it ended its run deep in the red). In his mind he couldn't afford another flop, so he quietly flew to LA, offered the Broadway run to Close who accepted, and then came back to New York and gave Patti the bad news. She didn't take it very well, to say the least.

I have no idea if he actually thought he could get away with firing her without paying her off, but I suppose, being a multimillionaire, he figured whatever it cost, it would be worth it if Close could make Sunset a hit in New York.

Updated On: 6/13/06 at 11:12 PM

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 11:19pm

and then came back to New York

I thought Patti was still performing in London when that happened?
I heard an anecdote that on Patti's final night in London the "house" set was stuck in midair, preventing Patti's entrance, and the joke around the house was that she wasn't coming out until she got another million.

It was just an anecdote, so I could easily be mistaken.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 11:31pm

Sorry about that. Yes, I meant to say "came back to London."

[Alex LaVelle]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 11:37pm

Also, during the whole debacle, Webber tried to convince Patti to take the role in NYC after Close left; obviously, she didn't care much for this idea. It got to the point where he begged Betty Buckley (who was in London preparing to replace Patti at the end of her run there) to try to convince her to take the offer. Buckley didn't like the idea, and neither did Patti.

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 11:42pm

Betty was on Seth's Broadway Chatterbox last night, and this was just ONE of the many hilarious stories she told. The whole broadcast was a hoot.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 12:32am

Yes, LuPone won a million.

However, Webber insists that it wasn't his idea to fire LuPone, but Sony's idea. He says that Sony insisted on a bigger name for Broadway.

In addition, Faye Dunaway was supposed to play Norma (Hell, she IS norma) in LA, but was fired days before her opening night. She sued for 6 million, but it was settled out of court for 2 million.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 12:40am

Webber lost a lot of money on this show, wow. I think this is his best score (but I know many disagree), I wish they would revive it, but I guess with all the drama around it, he doesn't want to touch it.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 12:42am

How on earth do you cast Faye Dunaway in a singing role and not ask her to sing beforehand?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 12:46am

I'm sure they did. I'm sure they thought she would improve. Who knows.

I would have killed to see her in SUNSET.

"With one look
I can cut your hair
With one look
NO MORE WIRE HANGERSSSSS!"

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 1:35am

I thought the story was that they had just asked her if she could sing and she said she could. I can't imagine that woman being able to carry a tune.

[Fiction Writer]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 5:11am

munkustrap178: HILARIOUS!

You're a riot.

[musicman89]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 5:39am

It was not conflicts with divas that ultimately did Webber and SUNSET BOULEVARD in, but instead it was the outrageous running costs that it took to keep the show running. It had to sell within 80% in order to turn a profit each week, a feat that was extremely difficult to pull off, especially in a theatre as monstrous as the Minskoff. That, and it was just not that great of a show to begin with. It is probably the most mediocre and monotonous of his scores.

[musical_devotee]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 6:04am

Yes, the score is repetitive, but I think it's one of his best. And for me Patti was the definite Norma, Glenn Close was a bad replacement, IMHO.