By Joel Applegate
For one performance only, the Broadway legend, Patti LuPone, filled the De Jong Concert Hall on the campus of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah with fans and a whole lotta love.
A vase stuffed full of red roses
spotlighted atop a Steinway grand piano hints that we are in for a dramatic
evening. LuPone starts off with an old Cole
Porter song, “Please Don’t Monkey With Broadway”, which bemoans how “Old
Broadway” was changing too much – back in 1940.
Ms LuPone patters about the changes she’s seen, watching historic
theaters being torn down and indulges in a dig at the Disney-fication of
Broadway. Along the way, she weaves in her own story of how she fell in love
with Broadway in front of the TV at age three listening to the famous belter, Kate Smith.
From the beginning of this career retrospective, LuPone is relaxed, effortless, and brings a sense of fearlessness to her performance. As if the audience that came to see her on this night didn’t love her already, she curtsied side to side on her entrance, sending up her own stardom, and then, bowing deeply, shows how appreciative she is of her audience. I felt warmed and welcomed. Along for the stroll, with LuPone throwing in jokes among the verses, I thought what a magical treat it is to be in the presence of such a versatile, supple performer with masterful control over her voice. Making it look easy is hard work over a long, dedicated career.
LuPone tells the story of how she became part of the first acting class at Julliard, started by John Houseman, when the school was then known as a music conservatory. After graduating she was cast in the first touring company of Sweet Charity. Teasing her young naive self, she confesses that she didn’t realize she was auditioning for the part of a hooker. “Big Spender”? “Ten cents a dance” Really?! How could I not know this?” Then she auditions for Hair.
It’s LuPone’s storytelling that makes her a performer as well as a singer. In wry tones, she talks about Studs Terkel’s musical, Working, in which she was the only actor in the cast in a non-singing role. Early in her career, she was cast in a new musical called The Baker’s Wife that, despite good reviews, never made it to New York (until much later in other revisions.) Performing at the Kennedy Center in DC, the cast got the bad news that the show was cancelled two days before its scheduled opening on Broadway. Maybe someday, the show will make it there. I hope so, because it features a spectacular song called “Meadowlark” that brought LuPone one of the most enthusiastic ovations of the evening. “But I was in hit shows, too!” she says, and launches into “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina”, fulfilling my expectations for this concert and receiving, of course, another adoring ovation.
LuPone’s early career saw her continually being cast as “brassy women” though she tells us she never felt she was one. She just had – and has – a brassy voice. She uses it to belt all right, but she can also whisper in breathy tones and bounce an effect off her soft palette that could bear a yodel if pushed a little further. She’s certainly a born belter, but one of the skills she reveals in this concert is that she keeps it simple. No need for embellishments here, she just sings her heart out. She tells us it never bothered her that she wouldn’t be cast in a man’s role, “I’ll just cast myself!” and goes on to select a wide repertoire from Broadway history, naming Rogers and Hart among her early influences.
Among the 20 to 30 songs on the program, LuPone selects songs from South Pacific to The Robber Bridegroom to Sweeney Todd and other Sondheim standards, and three songs from West Side Story, “my all-time favorite musical”. They demonstrate qualities that soften her vocal effects and wind up for the big finishes. With each song, I fantasized that I was delivering it myself in killer auditions that never fail to land the role. I can dream, can’t I?
It was delightful to watch a dream come true for students of BYU’s musical department. A small ensemble joined Patti LuPone on stage after intermission to accompany her. This concert is part of the BRAVO! Series that BYU has mounted for decades. Bringing world-renowned artists to the campus, students get master classes, seminars, and mentoring in performing arts that are rare and unforgettable. Onstage, LuPone actually conducts the students herself. Her care and respect for them are palpable. She gave them thumbs up after each number, and I loved her attentiveness to the small chorus. She spoke movingly about the kids and how valuable the arts are to new performing generations.
Joseph Thalken, the musical director for this concert, also accompanies LuPone on the Steinway. This, too, is a special occasion for the audience, as Thalken has a resume at least as impressive as LuPone herself. The accompaniments are complex and his playing is showcased in various interludes throughout the evening. Thalken’s history reveals him as a major force in composing and conducting. He has made arrangements for luminaries from Julie Andrews to Renee Fleming to Michael Crawford and Joshua Bell.
Appropriately enough, LuPone begins the wrap-up of the concert with “Give My Regards to Broadway”. This slides into a lovely dénouement with “The Ladies Who Lunch” and finishing with no microphone, she gave us two encores that included the BYU chorus. I was thrilled to have nothing between us and her extraordinary voice. If I had to reduce this review to two words, I would chose extraordinary and brave. Click on the link for more information about BYU’s Bravo series–don’t miss an event!
BRAVO! Professional Performing Arts at BYU Presents Patti Lupone—Don’t Monkey Around With Broadway.
Brigham Young University, de Jong Hall, Harris Fine Arts Center, 800 E Campus Dr, Provo, UT 84602
Phone: 801-422-2981
BYU Arts Facebook Page
Patti Lupone—Don’t Monkey with Broadway Facebook Event
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