Who misses LuPone as Evita?

[BJC899]

Posted: 9/24/04 at 11:02pm

I watch the Evita clip on "Lost Treasures" almost every week. She really is amazing.

What's she up to these days. I believe she just gave a concert in September. Updated On: 9/24/04 at 11:02 PM

[alterego]

Posted: 9/24/04 at 11:18pm

Interesting Patti Lupone appearance on the Tony's (1981?) where she does a little of Buenos Aires from Evita. She was brought over to Australia to appear in the Sydney production as a stop gap for a couple of months between one exiting Evita and a new one coming in.(To boost interest in the show which was flagging).She took three days leave from the show to fly over for the Tonys (taking her Australian costume with her, it had a fuller skirt which she liked), leaving Oz on the Friday and returning to the show on the Tuesday.

[Glebb]

Posted: 9/24/04 at 11:26pm

Had the pleasure of meeting her a few weeks ago at Ravinia and it reminded me how much I loved her in EVITA. I used to stay up until four in the morning for the long version of the EVITA commercial.

[alterego]

Posted: 9/24/04 at 11:51pm

Is she still called 'Hot Lips'?

[Skempp]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 12:30pm

I know I date myself, but I saw LuPone in Evita when the show first opened on Broadway...truly amazing performance. I think she channeled the real Eva Peron.

[Broadwaylady]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 2:06pm

I also saw Patti in Evita and thought she was wonderful. They still sell the Evita CD. I have recently been listening to it again because I am going to see Mandy Patinkin in concert. He played Che.

[Marquise]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 2:27pm

never saw her in Evita, but I do remember her in it because of all the commercials on TV, not to mention all the posters of her in the subways at the time. i also own the OBC..she's phenomenal in the role. i recently read somewhere that she was one of the only actresses who could actually tackle the score as written in the original keys.

[Al Dente]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 2:30pm

There will never be anyone greater in the role.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 2:31pm

Don't let Matt_G hear you say that, Al.

[Marquise]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 2:36pm

i hope Matt_G doesn't prefer Madonna in the role...

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 2:37pm

Marquise, you KNOW he does.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 2:49pm

Seeing her and Mandy in the original cast was one of the greatest theatre-going experiences of my life. She absolutely took my breath away - ALL the power!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 3:48pm

I'll join the chorus. Patti was simply incredible in the role. And yes, she, and maybe Nancy Opel, are two of the very few who could sing the role exactly as written, in the original keys (and it does make a difference because the score just isn't as effective when it's transposed -- the alterations and simplifications they had to do for the movie just so Madonna could even get through the role undermined the entire piece). Lupone et al with the brilliant Hal Prince staging made for one of the greatest productions I've ever seen.

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 3:52pm

On the subject of Evita, is there any info on who they casted for the Troika tour?

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 3:54pm

Ok, before I begin let me say that I have never seen the show and/or clips from the show. That being said, I liked Lupone in EVITA but LOVED Madonna. I know......."boo, hiss." Mandy Patinkin........you already know what I am going to say. Maybe if I would have seen the show I would have a different opinion but just by listening to the cast recording, give me the movie soundtrack any day.

[Marquise]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 3:58pm

spiderdj..i'm surprised i credited you with more taste. LOL (just kidding).

[Marquise]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 3:58pm

double your posts..double your pleasure Updated On: 9/25/04 at 03:58 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 3:59pm

Interestingly, Spider, I never listen to the OBC - it's WAY too tied up in the experience of seeing it for me. I do agree with Margo, however, that too much of the impact of the score was lost in the transposition.

I will say that Madonna looked FABULOUS (no other word seems appropriate) in all those costumes.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 4:01pm

Mandy Patinkin is the main reason why I cannot stand the cast recording. Lupone I liked, don't get me wrong. I just think she put WAY too much force into her singing. It wasn't deceptive or.......I can't think of the right word. I mean if a woman was singing to me with that much power, I would have to throw something at her. When she did Ms. Lovett, it was powerful but well balanced. If she would have done it like that on the EVITA cast recording then it would have been perfect. Also, like I said I am going all based on the cast recording. I have never seen the show live and I saw the movie long before I was a broadway fan so it is one of those things were you like what you are familiar with kind of thing. You know?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 4:37pm

It's fine Spider, but remember that many Broadway performers won't, can't or don't know how to adjust their stage performance for a recording studio. Lupone's perfomance live was a revelation and didn't seem "way too much" because it was being projected out to one of the largest houses on Broadway (1800 seats). Lupone putting out that same energy and force in a recording studio I guess sounds overwhelming to you listening to it on the cast album, as opposed to Madonna who's entire life is about singing into a microphone in a studio so, of course is going to sound "better" on record (and let's not forget all the "sweetening" and overdubbing and pitch correction they have to do to Madonna's voice in the studio to get it to sound that way; they didn't do those sorts of recording tricks on cast albums in 1980, since they were usually recorded on the cheap -- still are -- so what you're hearing is Lupone's raw unvarnished sound with no softening effects or reverb or anything else that might have made her sound more pleasant to yur ear).

With Madonna, you're getting Evita recorded as a pop album and Madonna giving a performance she could have never begun to replicate in the Broadway Theatre eight times a week (or six, actually, since Opel did Lupone's matinees). With the Lupone recording, you have a record of one of the greatest performances in the history of the musical theatre, preserved for posterity. No compromises were made to make her or anyone else sound more "pop" for the record buying public. It is the same performance Lupone gave in an 1800 seat theatre, unaltered -- if it's too much to your ears listening on headphones then so be it; it was thrilling and powerful and phenomenal seeing it live.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 4:42pm

Thanks for responding Margo, and it is not too much for my ears, it's just.........I don't know. Like I said I liked Lupone as EVITA, but I saw the movie first and got familiar with that before I ever heard of the name Lupone. If it was reversed in the timeline I would probably love Lupone's version. Again, I have never seen it and I would really, really have liked to. Mandy Patinkin......different story, but that is another thread.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 4:46pm

Spider, I'm not a particularly big fan of Patinkin myself (I know, blasphemy!), but, as you said, that's another thread.

[Glebb]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 5:03pm

When I went to the box office of the Broadway Theatre to buy my EVITA tix, it was during a matinee and I heard the show going on. I decided I couldn't wait six months to see the show, so I bought a matinee ticket for the following week and also a ticket for six months later. So I saw Terry Klausner in the matinee and Patti LuPone six months later. I don't remember a Nancy Opel. I'm known for my good memory, what's going on?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 5:08pm

Opel was the original Evita understudy and took over as matinee Evita during the first year and played the role for those perofrmances for at least a year if not two (remember the show ran for nearly four years).

[Glebb]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 5:11pm

Weird, I thought I saw it pretty early on.