Don’t Monkey With Broadway

Patti Lupone is a Broadway legend. Making her Broadway debut in 1973, Patti Lupone has successfully played a wide variety of roles in plays and musicals. It is, however, her musical theatre performances for which she is most known and that secured her place in the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2006.

Amongst Lupone’s many acclaimed roles are Eva Peron in the original New York production of Evita, Fantine in the RSC’s production of Les Miserables, Reno Sweeny in the 1987 revival of Anything Goes, Norma Desmond in the original London production of Sunset Boulevard, Mrs Lovett in the 2005 revival of Sweeney Todd, and Mama Rose in the 2008 revival of Gypsy, for which she won her second Tony Award. This is only just a small selection from what is an extraordinary career.

Don’t Monkey With Broadway is essentially a pocket history of the Broadway musical, but in a highly personal way – Ms Lupone’s way. She talks about and sings the songs that have influenced her throughout her life. The first half of the show begins with some of the songs that inspired her to become a Broadway star when she was a child. This included a wonderful version of ‘Happy Talk’ from South Pacific, ‘I’ve Got a Lot of Living to Do’ from Bye, Bye, Birdie and a hilarious version of  ‘Big Spender’ from Sweet Charity. She also highlighted the work and influence of Rodgers and Hart, notably ‘There’s a Small Hotel’ and ‘I Could Write a Book’ from Pal Joey.

What Patti Lupone made very clear from the start is that she isn’t concerned with the specific gender or dramatic context of the chosen songs. She just liked these particular songs – so she sang them – brilliantly. Furthermore, she included songs from some of her most acclaimed roles, including ‘Some People’ from Gypsy and ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’ from Evita, which was the climax of the first half of this show. And what a climax! Whilst only being accompanied by a piano, Patti Lupone performed ‘Argentina’ as if it was a full production. The acting and the singing was magnificent, a truly thrilling goose-bumps experience that had the enrapt Adelaide audience cheering.

The second half began with Patti Lupone being backed by a chorus of young Adelaide Musical Theatre artists who were excellent. The opening number, ‘Trouble’ from The Music Man continued the dismissal of gender in the selection and performance of great Musical Theatre songs, and it was delightful. This opening section also included ‘Blow Gabriel Blow’ from Anything Goes, ‘Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat’ from Guys and Dolls, and  ‘Sleepy Man’ from the lesser known The Robber Bridegroom, which Patti Lupone had helped create during and after her time studying at New York’s Julliard College of the Arts. Patti Lupone mentioned that she was classically trained, in theatre and in musical theatre, which to a large extent accounts for her wonderful technical skill, longevity, and versatility. This is most noticeable in the apparent ease with which she can move from one style of song to another, from Cole Porter, to Rodgers and Hart, to Bernstein, to Stephen Sondheim.

One of the great highlights of the second half was four songs by Stephen Sondheim. This included ‘Nothing’s Gonna Harm You’ from Sweeney Todd, ‘The Ladies Who Lunch’ and ‘Being Alive’ from Company. It is these latter two songs that Patti Lupone has made disintinctly her own, and they were simply thrilling. Furthermore, undaunted by the fact a song may actually be a duet, Patti Lupone gave an extremely funny and brilliant version of the Maria/Anita duet ‘A Boy Like That’ from West Side Story. We were also given a beautiful version of ‘Somewhere’ from West Side Story, which Patti Lupone stated was her favourite musical.

As if this performance couldn’t get any better, the encore was a complete knockout. She was joined on stage by the chorus of young Adelaide Musical Theatre artists for a version of  ‘Some Other Time’ from On The Town. Not only was this sung acapella but also ‘off mic’. This was magnificent. You heard the pure unamplified voice. It makes a huge difference. The audience as a collective unit leans forward to listen more intently, and because there is no barrier, the natural voices make the experience profoundly moving.

It is such a shame that there was only one performance of this show. Nonetheless, the packed-out audience that did attend this performance were given a wonderful gift in seeing and experiencing a truly great musical theatre artist – Patti Lupone.

Tony Knight

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