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On Patti LuPone


*TimeOut London says that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s greatest musical is “Evita.” I disagree. I’d put “Joseph” at number one. I’d go that route even though TimeOut says “Joseph” is number three.

*”Joseph” just seems to have better material. Heaven knows that the Old and New Testaments are inconsistent—in terms of storytelling skill—but who could fail to get excited by Joseph? Fraternal rage! Rising from the ashes! Shadowy conspiracy! Meetings with Pharaoh! Dream interpretation! Tense reunions!

*”Joseph” also has the bounciest Tim Rice couplets, which sometimes make me think of Dorothy Parker. “And when Joseph graced the scene, his brothers turned a shade of green!” “I look handsome; I look smart. I am a walking work of art!” “After that, the future doesn’t look so bright….Egypt’s luck will change completely overnight…”

*All that said, it seems worth tipping a hat to “Evita” right now, because Patti LuPone is returning to Broadway this year, and she is almost certain to win her third Tony Award. “Evita” is where it all started. Eva Peron, like Joseph, has outsized ambitions. She takes her squalid circumstances and builds something grand. I feel sure that Lin-Manuel Miranda owes a debt to “Evita”; Che hovers and comments bitterly on Eva’s life, start to finish, and we can’t help but think of Burr’s role in “Hamilton.”

*Do you know my favorite moment in “Evita”? It’s right after Eva has become First Lady. An oligarch with a bass voice mutters in the background: “Things have reached a pretty pass…when someone pretty lower-class…can be respected and admired….” And Eva will have none of this. She just grinds her heel into this guy’s face. She cuts him off: “Your despicable class is dead!” she shrieks. (And it’s Patti LuPone; we’re talking about actual shrieking.) Eva gestures to the shirtless masses. “Look who they are calling for NOW!!!!” Form matches content: the gap between oligarch and Eva is underlined by the gap between a bass voice and a soprano. I love that. Attention must be paid. Long live Patti; long live Eva!

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