Patti LuPone called a privileged, racially microaggressive bully by Hell's Kitchen cast member — Page 8

And unless LuPone decides to stick her foot in her mouth, this is really one narcissistic actor having a spat.

Kad said: "Ensemble1698878795 derailed another thread just last week by asserting that Dear Evan Hansen was the “definition of white supremacy” so either they have a hammer and see everything as a nail or they’re an extremely specific troll."

I'm genuinely sorry that I'm not allowed to be in these spaces to challenge your white ways of thinking. I'm all torn up about it. Please paint me as a villain. This message board would be much safer without any varying views. I know that's how you'd like it. Grow up. Theater isn't just for you and neither are these boards. Now you sound like Patti.

Ensemble1698878795 said: "Kad said: "Ensemble1698878795 derailed another thread just last week by asserting that Dear Evan Hansen was the “definition of white supremacy” so either they have a hammer and see everything as a nail or they’re an extremely specific troll."

I'm genuinely sorry that I'mnot allowed to be in these spaces to challenge your white ways of thinking. I'm all torn up about it. Please paint me as a villain. This message board would be much safer without any varying views. I know that's how you'd like it. Grow up. Theater isn't just for you and neither are these boards. Now you sound like Patti."


Edit: yknow what, nevermind.

Updated On: 11/4/24 at 05:41 PM

Jay Lerner-Z said: "I could be just reading too much into a username, but isn't "kad" a name for Korean adoptees?

Anyway, assuming everyone who is not Black is white seems kinda wrong."

To clarify for the 5th time. White supremacy is about a state of mind. It can be championed by any race.

Updated On: 11/4/24 at 05:55 PM

This is now as exhausting as Lewis trying to spin this into some racist thing.

Is she entitled? Yes. Is Denzel entitled too because of his career and clout? Yes. Could he ask a production nicely to alter their sound if he deems it too loud while working on Othello? Sure. Does that make him racist? No. Because this isn’t about race. It’s about volume. Shows with white casts, black casts, Asian casts, and diverse casts can all be loud or soft. Not sure why this is even a thing.

Chrishuyen has my upvote.

binau said: "How would I feel if I said your reaction sounds about black? You are a racist."

Oh, Binau, no. No, no, no, no, no.

I’m a little confused by the framing of the issue by Lewis- she seems to imply Patti used her “privilege”, I’d prefer to use the term relationship with the theatre owner to complain which sounds informal. She later states it was a formal complaint which seems to be the proper way to handle the situation. We are all over looking that the issue at hand has to go through many channels before it is acted upon- we’re not talking about a volume dial on a stereo. It would come to the production team, hours and compensation come into approving actor and creatives and show staff to implement these changes. Clearly who ever is in charge at HK thought this was a reasonable request and a way to “respectfully collaborate” to use Lewis’ term. This is a community. Patti can be cantankerous, but there is no alleged racist behavior that has ever come out with her alleged other bad behaviors of which there have been many. Sometimes if it walks like a duck it’s a duck- meaning maybe sound is the issue and not anything else. As far as gifting flowers, this may be antiquated, but the florists haven’t gone out of business. The biggest issue here is Lewis completely undercuts her argument by handling it this way and putting the other party immediately on the defensive and what progress or difficult conversation can be fruitful when that precedent is set. I also don’t think Lewis is choosing her words very carefully, but expecting Lupone to do so- the show she is in while it is celebrating a black artist’s story and music, let’s not forget the tension is between a black daughter and a white mother who’s relationship is at odds over her mother’s decision to involve the authorities on a black man she doesn’t see fit for her daughter. That is an important conversation and what mother and daughter learn from it strengthens their relationship because they eventually understand each other’s motives- that does not “a predominantly black” show make- especially when the creatives make up many races- I took HK to be a microcosm of the streets of NYC and every race is represented in the story they are telling and how their community in the neighborhood of HK looks out and interacts with each other, good and bad- to say otherwise is really alienating your audience. In conclusion, if Mia had made this complaint would we be hearing about it?

Updated On: 11/4/24 at 08:19 PM

To your last point, I’ve now seen multiple people claim that Mia also sent flowers and that Kecia omitted that. I can’t corroborate at all, but if true that’s certainly interesting. And would also line up with the producers clarifying this was a company-wide issue effecting actors, crew, and audience. I still think it’s very likely Patti led the charge on this issue, but it does seem increasingly unlikely that this was a one-woman crusade where she went above everyone’s heads to address this.

Bill Snibson said: "This all could've and should've been handled differently but then again we are dealing with Patti. This whole thing feels very "textbook" Patti LuPone. Her show has opened and all the glitz and glamour has faded away. No more press appearances etc. The show is now just up and running which bores Patti and forces her and her ego to lash out in some way to get back in the zeitgeist and get people talking abouther. We have "Who do you think you are?", "Chris Harper pays my salary!", "I've resigned my Equity card" and now this. She is wildly talented but oh soepically exhausting."

You do realize she did this privately? What is "textbook" Patti about it? Kecia Lewis is the one who decided to draw attention to the request by posting her video. Nobody would have been aware of this if not for this post.

I wonder if anyone in management at The Roommate ever reached out to management at Hell’s Kitchen about the sound issues. These problems should have been documented in performance reports, and everyone associated with the show would have known something was amiss. The logical next step would have been for management at The Roommate to contact their counterparts at Hell’s Kitchen to bring attention to the issue and start a friendly dialogue to resolve it. That conversation should have started as soon as they realized the disturbance wasn’t a one-time event. If management failed to create that dialogue or chose not to for some reason, one might see why Patti, out of frustration, would want to take matters into her own hands.