Tennessee Williams on Patti LuPone

[benrimalower]

Posted: 11/5/12 at 5:09pm

Wow.

"I saw a production of The Robber Bridegroom, and Patti LuPone was--and is, I would imagine--everything I wanted.

Shattered from some particularly volatile and beautiful Italian marble, she was bold and barely controlled, but in the best way. All burners on. Genius, I have always believed, is terribly impatient, because it understands that its outlets are ephemeral. When an artist is working with a full commitment toward expression, nothing should be allowed to stand in its way. When you have a Laurette Taylor or a [Anna] Magnani or a [Marlon] Brando, you, the director, the designer, and--I'm sorry to say--the supporting players must circle around the primary talent, the primary instrument, and allow its work to be seen in the brightest possible light, the largest space available.

Attention, I believe another wrote, must be paid.

LuPone deserves the large, bright circle.

LuPone's is an impatient talent, occasionally touched, I must insist, by genius. There was genius in The Robber Bridegroom and there was genius in Evita, and in both instances the genius emanated from an actress who happened to be capable of singing. I know the difference. I've been around.

Hers is a ferocious talent, and I want to get my hands on it. I want to warm my hands and my heart around it. I want her to stand on a stage and demand my words and I will write powerfully again. She could play Serafina [in The Rose Tattoo], but I want to travel abroad with her to new places; avenues where I am a stranger.

I don't think she knows fear or the concept of limitation.

She needs a good director.

She needs a good writer.

I think I can be a good writer again, and I think I might be able to find a good director to harness her gifts.

Abundance is what she brings to a stage. The staggering beauty is talent: a harvest. It needs to be husbanded, conserved, directed, pushed into the proper place and upon a hungry audience."

- Tennessee Williams

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/5/12 at 5:25pm

Is this real??

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 11/5/12 at 5:38pm

Here's where the poster found this originally, I'm guessing. It seems like something very recently released: http://jamesgrissom.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/patti-lupone-all-burners-on.html

[benrimalower]

Posted: 11/5/12 at 5:45pm

Thanks, theaterkid1015! I thought I included the link...

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 11/5/12 at 5:45pm

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 11/5/12 at 5:45pm

I have actually always wanted to see Patti in THE GLASS MENAGERIE.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 11/5/12 at 5:57pm

Vieux Carré? It was about the same time as Robber Bridegroom.

[random person 112]

Posted: 11/5/12 at 6:28pm

She would have been amazing in the Rose Tattoo in the nineties and i think she would still be awesome today. She'd been a good Big Mamma. She'd be kill in I Rise in Flame though it's probably far too short to be gone professionally. Possibly Violet in Suddenly, Last Summer.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 11/5/12 at 6:30pm

I remember her vividly from WORKING and she didn't even sing a solo. She was simply that strong an actress. That Williams sang her praises doesn't surprise me.

[Tom1071]

Posted: 11/6/12 at 11:35am

I would love to know her response to his praise.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/6/12 at 12:05pm

Tennessee Williams was drinking heavily at the time. He wrote a similar review for a "one man show" about Sitting Bull that turned out to be a Fire Hydrant.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 11/6/12 at 12:14pm

LOL Joe!

I'd love to see her Seraphina!

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 11/6/12 at 1:04pm

That's disgusting.

[someone.else's.story2]

Posted: 11/6/12 at 7:46pm

Wow!! He loved her :)

[The Scorpion]

Posted: 11/8/12 at 2:45pm

This is fascinating -- thanks for posting!

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/8/12 at 2:57pm

Williams was actually more or less out of his "stoned age" by the time this was written (though I still get the assumption he was rarely sober), so I think it can be taken as high praise.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 11/11/12 at 9:42am

I agree with Williams that she's an unmistakably Italian presence onstage not at all unlike Magnani. Its a pity she never did THE ROSE TATTOO or ORPHEUS DESCENDING. It's also a pity no one ever does the Greeks anymore as she would most likely rock those as well. I'm still holding out hope someone thinks to cast her in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

Oh, Bart She-er...

[gavyj]

Posted: 4/23/15 at 1:27pm

This quote is making its way around the internet again. I think it is time to bring this thread back up. :)

 

[LarryD2]

Posted: 4/23/15 at 1:30pm

Appropriate, as LuPone's one-night-only THE ROSE TATTOO is this coming Monday.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 4/23/15 at 1:40pm

I'm surprised The Acting Company hasn't extensively referenced this interview to market the reading. (About which I am SO EXCITED.)

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/23/15 at 8:57pm

Also:  Maxine in Night of the Iguana.