I was there too, and I couldn't have disagreed with you more. I thought it was the worst show I have ever seen. It was incredibly sloppy, unenergetic and awkward. My official review of it is below:
A Waste of An Evening
An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin Review
An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, the absurd concert bore that opened this past Tuesday at PlayhouseSquare?s Palace Theater, left me wanting more and less; I wanted more of a show for Lupone and Patinkin to be in and less of them in the one I saw. The show was so preposterous and dry, that, in the second of two unbearable acts, I found myself becoming increasingly jealous of the fellow who was sleeping next to me, probably engrossed in dreams far more interesting than what I was witnessing on stage. The two seasoned performers, backed by only a piano and bass, seemed to think that they were in some kind of self indulgent, congratulatory evening in celebration of their past achievements, and that they didn?t have to try at all to engage the audience at this performance, and thus appeared lackluster. The whole thing came across as a never-ending talent show with only two people the entire time, oblivious to the fact that their act is so ludicrous. A bit of real-life dialogue between them might have helped. Instead, we get some book scenes from musicals and theater songs, with the show hastily transitioning, while the two move about the uninteresting set, which consisted only of some lights/microphones and a light-up wall. And while the lighting tried its best to make the darned thing at least somewhat interesting, even that didn?t help. The whole event seemed to be ill thought out, and it really showed.
That?s not to say that it wasn?t a good idea, though. I witnessed Patti LuPone give the performance of her career about a year ago in the recent Broadway production of Gypsy. As Mama Rose, she was nothing short of a revelation. However, in this production, she looks like a deflated balloon. Gone is the brilliant, award-winning energy she displayed in Gypsy; in its stead is a detached, uninterested demeanor. Even Gypsy?s own showstopper, ?Everything?s Coming Up Roses?, falls flat here. And Mandy Patinkin, with his distinct baritone, certainly tries to charm where he lacks vocally, but only seems manically pathetic. Together, the two have very little chemistry, and seem to be competing for who can give the worst performance. After the first song, in which it became evident that the two were either slyly parodying themselves or that the audience was in for a long night, I wanted both to go somewhere: Patti back to Gypsy and Mandy, well, just anywhere else.
The song list, which consisted mostly of Sondheim and Rodgers and Hammerstein ditties, didn?t have nearly enough diversity, and harped on songs that many people had no interest in, particularly a fatally long, incredibly boring Carousel section, complete with out-of-context, awkward dialogue. The only two numbers that had a moderately appropriate feel were ?Roses? and LuPone?s infamous Evita ballad, ?Don?t Cry for Me, Argentina?, which included the original hand gestures (Yes, those hand gestures). From the beginning, when LuPone and Patinkin jumped into the terrific Sondheim song from Company, ?Another Hundred People?, they simply stood awkwardly downstage and stared blankly into space. This essentially set the tone for the rest of my evening, as I often stared blankly into space, wondering where their talent and my time and money went. It really says something when the highlight of a show is one star (Mandy) hurling the other (Patti) across the stage while the two are on wheeling around on office chairs (don?t ask). Overall, while it?s obvious why LuPone and Patinkin became famous in the first place, with their natural stage presence, their talents are truly wasted in this ridiculous piece of garbage. I feel truly bad for the ushers who have to watch this for the remainder of its two-week run, which concludes on May 17th at the Palace Theater.
"Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos."-Stephen Sondheim
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