Patti LuPone: A Memoir
by Patti LuPone, with Digby Diehl
Crown Archetype. 324 pages, $25.99
PATTI LUPONE, who became something of a gay icon in the total role of Gypsy in its 2008 Broadway revival, was born into a Long Island family filled with drama. Rumor had it that her maternal grandmother was a bootlegger who had something to do with Grandpa’s murder. One of LuPone’s aunts was a belly dancer. LuPone’s own parents were divorced at a time when divorce was uncommon. With all this drama in the family, it should come as no surprise that LuPone knew by the age of four that she wanted to become a performer.
LuPone denies that her mother was a “stage mother,” but it’s also true that Patti and her older twin brothers performed as a dance trio at Long Island functions and even on TV. But when the LuPone Trio was defeated on The Amateur Hour—under suspicious circumstances—Patti LuPone turned to music. Although she really didn’t want to go to Julliard, LuPone auditioned, was accepted, and was given a scholarship. She studied opera to develop her voice but never planned to become an opera singer. After her first year, during which she mostly resisted the training she received, she auditioned for the newly formed Drama Division at the school and was accepted. This was the event that changed her life. The actor John Houseman was one of her teachers at Julliard, and he became a big influence on her career by igniting a love of theatre. Following graduation from the iconic school, she and some fellow classmates traveled the East Coast in a repertory company they had assembled. She honed her skills, learned, and gathered contacts. Because of her talent onstage, she was noticed by the “right” people and hired for a series of disastrous but career-building roles on and off Broadway. Her career took off. One of LuPone’s favorite childhood memory was playing the lead in a backyard performance of Gypsy. The play has always had a gay following, if only because the lyrics were written by Stephen Sondheim and the book by Arthur Laurents (with music by Jule Styne). Her early fantasy would eventually turn into a Tony Award for her performance in the 2008 revival. Author Patti LuPone’s memoir starts off about as clunkily as a partially restored 1959 Edsel: shiny looking on the surface, but unlikely to reach the finish line. Do we need to know, for example, the names of all the teachers she studied under nearly fifty years ago? or about the bit player in a 1975 repertory group who’s no longer acting? or about the time one member of the group vomited on another? While occasionally amusing, such details sometimes appear to be nothing but a chance for name-dropping and shout-outs. LuPone does have a well-tuned sense of the absurd, and there are some funny scenes, but there’s an awful lot of complaining here, too. It’s hard to ignore the catfights, the infighting, or the dressing-room-smashing fits of pique that LuPone happily recounts about cast members she didn’t get along with, decisions she disagreed with, and times when she felt slighted. This memoir is most likely to be a winner if you’re a die-hard theatre fan or if your name is specifically mentioned in the book. For the rest of us, not so much. Terri Schlichenmeyer is a freelance writer based in Wisconsin.
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