LuPone stops Vegas show — Page 4

Re: the earlier post in this thread about Rosemary Clooney....

Right there is the difference between a professional performer with class and an out-of-control narcissist. Clooney had to deal with a loud drunk in a cabaret. She spoke to the maitre-de, paid the drunk's bill and had him succinctly removed without berating the rest of the paying customers. Lupone stops the performance, does all she can to humiliate the target of her diva-rage while everyone just sits there, then treats the rest of the paying customers to her ranting. People accept this because it's dear "Patti" but that doesn't make her behavior any less coarse or trashy.

What you have described is a common occurence in theater. The person taking notes could indeed be a critic, or a lighting designer, sound designer, or any number of a creative team, doing their job. None of what they do shows disrespect and the performer knows it.

---

You know, this debate is silly. Some of the people on this thread actually sound like they might be excusing what is going on in the audience, or if not excusing it, making light of it.

IT SHOULDN'T BE HAPPENING. THANK GOODNESS PATTI'S NOT AFRAID TO SPEAK OUT. SHE'S PROBABLY WELL AWARE THAT HOUSE MANAGEMENT IS VIRTUALLY HELPLESS IN THESE CASES. SHE REALIZES THAT SHE HERSELF HAS MUCH MORE CLOUT. HERE'S TO HER!!!!!

ok, sorry for the caps, but it's the truth. goodbye troops.

---

madbrian I agree with you. And, I am not saying that I think that this is wrong because it is Patti doing it and I am not a fan of hers. I am a fan of Pink Floyd and of Roger Waters and Waters is known for expecting nothing more from his audience then them sitting quietly and applauding at the end of every song. And, keep in mind that a rock concert set in a major arena is a different atmosphere then a Vegas showroom setting that LuPone was performing in.

As I said in one of my posts in a LuPone thread during her run of Gipsy. If it were her who was acting out of line then there is not a problem with it. However, had it been chorus boy number 4 then there clearly is a problem and he will get fired whereas LuPone would have nothing happen to her at all. Face it, despite what some people on here think, she isn't that special nor is she any more so then any other performer on stage.

---

"she isn't that special nor is she any more so then any other performer on stage"

The people who hand out the Tony, Drama Desk, Olivier, and Outer Critics Circle awards might disagree with you.

I just hope Shoshana Bean doesn't stop PEEPSHOW in Vegas. That would be a tragedy.

---

Do you think she was angry that the texting was disruptive or just that he wasn't sitting in rapt attention of her?

The former. I also believe a lot of the responses to her "outburst" has a lot to do with individual tolerance for this sort of disruption. I am highly sensitive to any sort of light or sound disruption and it can have me climbing the walls. I'm not afraid to shush people and have been maligned here for a very aggressive outburst towards a couple of chattering teenage girls who would not be quiet after an hour of asking them repeatedly to be quiet. It was a 3000-seat hall with continental seating in which I was seated in the center. Getting up to find an usher or house manager would have disrupted tons of people and we were too far away from the stage for the performers to even be aware of what was happening. what I wouldn't have given to have Patti with me at that performance. I'm fed up with rude self-centered audiences as well as we all should be, but face it, most people do nothing about it but sit in silent resentment. And if your rudeness is so much that it can distract the performer on stage, then they have just as much right as an audience member to address it. The problem is, it is more difficult to accomplish this discreetly from the stage in the middle of a performance. At what point in a solo concert would it have been appropriate for Patti to do something? If she goes off stage, she still has to stop the show and at best only the offender would be spoken to and no one would be the wiser only to have to stop the show and do it all over again when the next offender does the same thing. And then again. This stuff keeps happening because it's not being openly addressed and the behavior is only getting worse. Patti stops the show, gets the point across not only to the offender, but the rest of the audience, and then continues. And I'm guessing it probably doesn't happen again during the rest of the performance.

---

I must say that her behavior is silly. She needs to get over herself. I actually decided to go see her perform LIVE a few weeks ago and she has NO RIGHT to stop a show just because she is annoyed. At least until she works on her dictation (horrible!) and learns to sing so she doesn't sound like she is doing bad karaoke! Seriously!!!! She is barely talented anymore, I just don't understand what her attitude is for and why people praise her so much. The audience behavior is NOT okay, but her response to it is far worse. Definitely the most overrated performed I've ever seen. Almost something from an AMERICAN IDOL reject episode.

Updated On: 6/22/09 at 10:09 PM

At least until she works on her dictation (horrible!)

Dictation?

DICTATION?!?

She does dictation in her show now?

Ethel Merman once demonstrated her skills as a stenographer on the Merv Griffin show, but Patti LuPone does DICTATION?!?

She IS a diva!

---

Updated On: 6/22/09 at 10:19 PM

I think everyone should work on their "dictation".

(This is really becoming priceless!)

---

Pal Joey and Patti used to work as temps together in an office. Patti once asked PalJoey if she could use his dictaphone and he said, "no use your finger like everyone else in this office."

---

Hmmm...not sure what the "dictation" thing is about with you guys...but her dictation/enunciation of her words is horrible. I could barely understand what she was singing half of the time!

---