Cabaret Review by Brian Scott Lipton . . . .
At almost age 75, Patti LuPone has absolutely nothing to prove to anyone—not her (adoring) audiences or even, I suspect, herself. Still, her newest concert act, Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes, which stopped at Carnegie Hall on Monday, April 8 as part of a national tour, did manage to prove a few things.
First and foremost, Equity card or no Equity card, no living musical performer can command a stage with the strength of LuPone, especially when she’s singing tunes from her proverbial wheelhouse. Opening the second act of this musical memoir—filled with songs she considered “touchstones” of her life—LuPone literally left the crowd stunned as she sang three of her biggest Broadway ballads back-to-back: “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” (from Evita), “I Dreamed A Dream” (from Les Miserables), and “The Ladies Who Lunch” (from Company), with extraordinary power, emotional connection, and intensity. This small section alone was a master class every singer or actor could learn from.
Second, LuPone proved to be just as comfortable when delving into the pop arena, from opening the show with a heartfelt rendition of Leon Russell’s stunning “A Song for You,” to closing it with the Beatles’ gorgeous “In My Life,” and thrilling us in between with glorious takes on Burt Bacharach’s “Alfie,” Janis Ian’s melancholy but beautiful “Stars,” and impressing us with two of Bob Dylan’s classics—the aching “Make You Feel My Love” and the buoyant “Forever Young” (on which she was joined by close pal Bridget Everett and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City).
Those who know LuPone also know she lives by the code of “never apologize, never explain” and that applied in some ways to Jeffrey Richman’s script. Much of the show’s first half was devoted to the first 20 or so years of LuPone’s life, but not every song came with an explanation. The ever-catchy “Come-on a My House” was a testimonial to her early days in Northport, Long Island; “Some People” (from her Broadway smash Gypsy) was used to explain her leaving Long Island as a teenager for the Big Apple, and Kate McGarrigle’s “Saratoga Summer Song” was an apt description of her summers spent upstate with The Acting Company and the New York City Ballet.
But other selections, such as Marc Blitzstein’s “I Wish It So” and James Shelton’s “Lilac Wine”—both beautiful—didn’t come with specific references. Nor did her blistering rendition of Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin’s “The Man Who Got Away,” though I would bet good money it referred to the end of her long-time love affair with her Juilliard classmate Kevin Kline.
And if, as likely as not, you were waiting for more of LuPone’s Broadway blockbusters than the ones I mentioned, well, this concert was the one she wanted to put on because it mattered to her, not necessarily the one you wanted to hear. No “Meadowlark” this time. No “Worst Pies in London,” or any other Sondheim. She wanted to sing the 1969 pop novelty “Those Were the Days”—twice, in fact—so she did!
Still, whatever was done was done beautifully, thanks to Scott Wittman’s savvy direction, Joseph Thalken’s immaculate music direction and arrangements, and the stunning work of multi-instrumentalist Brad Phillips. Moreover, LuPone has rarely looked more beautiful, especially in the ethereal Oscar De La Renta evening gown she donned for the second act.
While LuPone admitted, with customary matter-of-factness, that she has many more days in her rear mirror than those in front of her, this concert was clearly no final bow or career summation. It was merely an acknowledgement of her past and her present, and also a guarantee (of sorts) there’s still a bright future on the stage ahead of her.
Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes took place Monday, April 8 at Carnegie Hall (881 Seventh Avenue, between West 56th and 57th Streets). www.carnegiehall.org
Photos: Chris Lee
