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Patti LuPone

 A friend of mine would prefer a "loss" for Patti LuPone this weekend, at the Tony Awards. (LuPone's victory seems highly likely.)


The case against LuPone: She sits in a chair and sings just one song, and she is too old for the role.

It's hard to argue with this--but I think she does great work with the song, and it's one of the All-Time Brilliant Moments in the Sondheim catalog. And even if we see LuPone's third Tony as a "lifetime achievement" Tony, let's just recall what that life has entailed:

*Iconic roles in "Gypsy," "Company," "Anything Goes," "Sweeney Todd" (all first-rate musicals)

*Iconic roles in "Les Miserables," "Sunset Boulevard," and "Evita" (so-so musicals, but they have made a mark)

*Important voiceover work in "Title of Show"

*LuPone has immortalized the following sentences, which could now carry (should now carry) a Patti LuPone TM sign: "Silent music starts to play." "I beg to differ, Billy." "Let's get this show on the road; let's make it obvious. Peron is off and rolling...." "I love flannel on a man."

*Also: When "Les Miserables" was a rough draft, Fantine was supposed to remain on one note upon hitting the word shame. It is Patti LuPone who invented this staircase line, as we now know it: "Turn your dream to sha---aaaa---aaaa---aaa---aaaaaaame...."

*Patti is admirably philosophical about her career. "I'm a working actor; I take care of myself. I dress casually. It's silly to be undone by success. You have to do the job and go home." "Sondheim was a taskmaster, but he made me better." "After 'Evita,' I did good work in regional theater. I'm dead because I'm not in New York? Some of my best work came out of those wilderness years."

Look, I'm very fond of Shoshana Bean, but there can be only one winner per category (most of the time), and I liked "Company," and I liked Patti--and I'm ready to see The Third LuPone Triumph (on Sunday night).
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