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Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing.

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Speaker 1: According to the online Urban Dictionary, today's guest has become

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Speaker 1: a verb. To LuPone is quote to give an outstanding

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Speaker 1: theatrical performance, to make an audience revel in, open mouthed

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Speaker 1: awe at your unparalleled brilliance. Unquote. Won't fry for me

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Speaker 1: a gentry in a The truth is I left you

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Speaker 1: all through my wild days, my mad existance, I kept

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Speaker 1: my proms your distance. Paddy Lapone as twenty six Broadway

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Speaker 1: credits to date and has won two Tonies, one for

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Speaker 1: a Vida and one for Gypsy in London. She originated

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Speaker 1: the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard and Fantine

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Speaker 1: in Le Miserabla, for which she won an Olivier Award.

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Speaker 1: She's worked in film and on television, most notably as

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Speaker 1: the mom on the ABC drama Life Goes On. Before

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Speaker 1: all this success, Patty was in the first class of

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Speaker 1: the Drama Division at Juilliard, in which seems like a

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Speaker 1: reasonable place to start dreaming of a career in the theater.

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Speaker 1: But Patty lapone story really begins even earlier. I knew

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Speaker 1: when I was a kid that I had a Broadway voice.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to be a rocker because I grew up

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Speaker 1: in that era, transistor radios at the beach, The Rascals

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Speaker 1: we started in the fifties, Little Anthony and the Imperials.

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Speaker 1: I mean, all through the fifties and sixties and seventies,

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Speaker 1: I knew I didn't have a rock voice. Though I

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Speaker 1: knew I had a Broadway voice. This this is all

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Speaker 1: instinctual behavior, completely instinctual behavior. And my mom listened to

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Speaker 1: opera and my dad listened to jazz. He was a

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Speaker 1: principle of an elementary school on Long Island and Northport,

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Speaker 1: and my mom was a housewife, a homemaker. HOWI twin

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Speaker 1: brothers and me, you know, typical in a ranch house

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Speaker 1: on Long Island. Yeah, exactly. And I was enrolled in

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Speaker 1: dance at four years old, and I fell in love

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Speaker 1: with the stage. But that wasn't really the first inkling

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Speaker 1: of some sort of connection to the stage. My mother

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Speaker 1: used to troop me out in front of guests to

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Speaker 1: do my Marilyn Monroe imitation. And I don't even know

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Speaker 1: how I came up with this, but I would come out,

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Speaker 1: they'd laugh, and I'd go, oh, this is cool, Like

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Speaker 1: you know, I was. I was pretty astute when I

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Speaker 1: was very very young and pretty. So I started dancing,

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Speaker 1: and I fell in love with the audience, and so

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Speaker 1: the performance aspect started very very young in dance. When

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Speaker 1: Juilliard happened, it didn't happen. Well. My my brother attended

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Speaker 1: the dance division of the Juilliard School and told me

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Speaker 1: that they were starting a drama division. I actually had

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Speaker 1: moved into New York City and was auditioning for musicals

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Speaker 1: and working. And I just wanted to be in musicals

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Speaker 1: and hang out in New York City and party. And

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Speaker 1: I auditioned and I got in. And what happened in

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Speaker 1: the four years the course of the four years of

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Speaker 1: the Juilliard schools, I fell out of love with musical

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Speaker 1: and in love with classical theater. And I was actually

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Speaker 1: trained as a classical actress. So we did know a

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Speaker 1: lot of other great classical actors. Yes, Kevin Klein, David Stires,

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Speaker 1: David Schram, Mary Louisato, and then of course the classes

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Speaker 1: below me have gained more recognition than my class did.

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Speaker 1: We were the very first class. But that girl from

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Speaker 1: Northport who's doing Marilyn Monroe impersonations in the ranch House

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Speaker 1: with your family. What's that like for you, that transition

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Speaker 1: to be in that very heavy, sophisticated well, it was.

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Speaker 1: It was tough for me because I was not a

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Speaker 1: favorite at school. My best friend, who I met in

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Speaker 1: the first year, Nancy Nichols, was a favorite and I

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Speaker 1: was not. But Nancy and I would always pile around

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Speaker 1: together and make trouble, but Nancy would get the roles

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Speaker 1: and I would not. And that went on for several years.

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Speaker 1: I think it was only my third year when I

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Speaker 1: realized that they were trying to throw me out of school.

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Speaker 1: And what they did. They couldn't throw me up because

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Speaker 1: I didn't like my personality. But what they did was

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Speaker 1: that through every conceivable role in my direction to make

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Speaker 1: me fail as an actor. But what happened was they

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Speaker 1: why do you think that they didn't like Yeah, they

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Speaker 1: didn't like me. They or that you know, I didn't

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Speaker 1: get cut every year students got cut, So we started

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Speaker 1: with her. Over the years, we ended up with the

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Speaker 1: seventeen of the original thirty six. In the fourth year,

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Speaker 1: I never got cut. So I'm confused as to why

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Speaker 1: that actually happened, because why didn't they just cut me,

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Speaker 1: possibly because every role I played I succeeded in. But

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Speaker 1: what they did was they trained one actor in my

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Speaker 1: class and versatility, and the rest of them were pigeonholed,

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Speaker 1: as you know, life will pigeonhole you into exactly the

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Speaker 1: supret the leading lady, the character woman. But I went

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Speaker 1: back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, which

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Speaker 1: taught me that I could. There were no boundaries, no,

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Speaker 1: And if you look at my history, I've done more

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Speaker 1: places than I've done musicals. But because I guess the

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Speaker 1: voice is a powerful instrument, do you know what I mean?

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Speaker 1: And it's an American cultural event. The American the brought

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Speaker 1: the musical, not the broad Also the music that you've performed.

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Speaker 1: When someone is as successful as you, And I've said

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Speaker 1: this to people who have careers of music beyond the theater,

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Speaker 1: as as leading actresses in the theater. Music distinguishes things

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Speaker 1: because it's a product you can consume anywhere. You know,

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Speaker 1: your career goes to another level where I can drive

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Speaker 1: in my car and listen to the soundtracks anything goes.

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Speaker 1: I can be on the beach and I can listen

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Speaker 1: to the soundtrack from Sweeney Todd Music performers will always

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Speaker 1: have the upper hand on actors. But you were saying,

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Speaker 1: how you um the versatility thing? You you were almost

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Speaker 1: forced to embrace this versatility to survive. And you graduate

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Speaker 1: from that program the first class graduates. What year and

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Speaker 1: where do you go? John Houseman? So in our third

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Speaker 1: year he presented a season to um the prominent people

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Speaker 1: in New York theater and critics, and mel Gussa was

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Speaker 1: the one that said. Mel Gussa was a second string

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Speaker 1: critic for the New York Times, and he was the

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Speaker 1: one that said, why break this company up? Why not

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Speaker 1: form a permanent acting company? Which was John's q And

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Speaker 1: when we graduated, he handed us our equity card and

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Speaker 1: four years. But we stayed for four years of touring

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Speaker 1: the country performing classical plays in true revolving rep, which

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Speaker 1: is a different play every single night. So we got

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Speaker 1: even more training because in our first year we lost

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Speaker 1: several bookings because we didn't know how to tour, We

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Speaker 1: didn't know how to maintain a performance. We only did

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Speaker 1: three at Juilliard and we had no idea what happened

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Speaker 1: on the fourth And that sounds crazy, but it's we lost.

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Speaker 1: Do you think this acting company idea, and the worry

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Speaker 1: was what Housman had up a sleeve the whole time

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Speaker 1: when he instigated the Juilliard program. No, I don't think so.

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Speaker 1: You know, the training was intense and emotionally intense, psychologically intense,

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Speaker 1: physically intense. But there was one production where the company

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Speaker 1: formed an invisible circle of support around each other, and

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Speaker 1: that was his. He saw the ensemble and I remember,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I know it was. It bores Tomorrow's production

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Speaker 1: of of You from the Bridge, and oh, I could

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Speaker 1: cry now thinking of it. It was an extraordinarily powerful

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Speaker 1: experience to be a student actor but in a professional mindset.

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Speaker 1: And I remember our curtain call and the pride and

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Speaker 1: the power, and it was an amazing moment that changed

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Speaker 1: the course of all of us. And we understood what

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Speaker 1: ensemble mean, and we understood what support meant, and we

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Speaker 1: understood the power we had as individuals and as actors.

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Speaker 1: And John saw that in his actors. There's been a

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Speaker 1: couple of experiences that I've had that it's that same

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Speaker 1: ensemble mentality. So that's the other thing I have to interject.

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Speaker 1: When I left Juilliard and left the acting company, and

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Speaker 1: then of course landed musicals. We all did, by the

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Speaker 1: way David Stys did, Kevin did, um many did. We

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Speaker 1: all ended musicals. But there's only a couple of times

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Speaker 1: where I felt I had that kind of ensemble. And

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Speaker 1: one was Limas in London because it was a Royal

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Speaker 1: Shakespeare Company actors, and the other was Gypsy, where every

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Speaker 1: actor owned their part, big or small, and gave themselves

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Speaker 1: to the play every single night. The other one was

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Speaker 1: Sweeney Too, because and our stage manager said in Sweeney

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Speaker 1: that we acted more like a band than a bunch

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Speaker 1: of actors. So the acting company thing less for how

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Speaker 1: long you didn't have I did it for four years.

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Speaker 1: Nobody goes in for four years anymore. We all did

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Speaker 1: it for four years, and you know, I thought about

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Speaker 1: the I don't know why we stayed, except we thought,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure we all went we are not going to

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Speaker 1: be able to play these parts in real life. And

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Speaker 1: that was back in a time when they were the

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Speaker 1: very last vapors in the air here in New York

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Speaker 1: of the Old Way, and the old way was you

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Speaker 1: went downtown and you carried a spear for Joe, where

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Speaker 1: you carried a spear in the park, and there was

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Speaker 1: an apprenticeship in the theater, and if you didn't have

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Speaker 1: credit in the theater, Raoul and Chris Walking and Sigourney

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Speaker 1: and you and Kevin and everybody, everybody who were the

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Speaker 1: princes and princesses and Mandy of the theater in New York,

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Speaker 1: that's where you headed. So when you finished the acting

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Speaker 1: company and you've decided, you know, you've done enough, it's

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Speaker 1: four years, which was a typical of people, Then where

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Speaker 1: do you go? Then? Um, we came home, Kevin and

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Speaker 1: I came home. And so you you're with Kevin Kevin

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Speaker 1: and you're Kevin and you were a couple for seven years.

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Speaker 1: We broke up, we got back together, we broke up,

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Speaker 1: we got back together, we broke up, we got backing.

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Speaker 1: Can you imagine the children you would have had for him?

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Speaker 1: Could God in Heaven, good God, would have a theater

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Speaker 1: big enough to house that person's ego and talent. So

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Speaker 1: we both came home and Kevin went off and did

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Speaker 1: a play. And I had auditioned for and didn't get

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Speaker 1: The Baker's Wife Steven Schwartz musical The Baker's Wife based

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Speaker 1: on Marcel But I got a telephone call from David

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Speaker 1: Merrick's general manager, Helen Nickerson, and to ask if I

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Speaker 1: was free, because they wanted me to come out to

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Speaker 1: LA to replace the leading lady. And I wanted to

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Speaker 1: do this musical so badly. So I went out and

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Speaker 1: I did my first big, gut wrenching rip out of

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Speaker 1: your body, squished heart, the most horrible, vulnerable experience of

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Speaker 1: my life. The baker's wife, Who does he think he is?

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Speaker 1: Who could be as handsome, who could be as smart

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Speaker 1: as he thinks he is? He just had to snap

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Speaker 1: his face. Good women fall uppart? What does he think

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Speaker 1: that a single way with them rise? And it was

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Speaker 1: an unbelievable disaster and we were on the road for

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Speaker 1: six months. That is that's the big question. It is

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Speaker 1: a great idea, it's a great film, and had Stephen

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Speaker 1: Schwartz music, It had John Milzino's last sets, Jennifer tipped

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Speaker 1: into the lights and theonyologist did the costumes. David Merrick

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Speaker 1: was producing. It had all the potential to be a

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Speaker 1: smash hit, and it got progressive. I joined two days

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Speaker 1: after they opened in l A. And it got progressively worse.

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Speaker 1: For you while you were doing no I thought it

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Speaker 1: was gonna be okay, but I didn't realize that nobody

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Speaker 1: realized what was really going to happen to us and

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Speaker 1: it and what did happen, Well, six people were fired.

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Speaker 1: The show never got better. David Merrick came out. One

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Speaker 1: of the most theatrical moments I've ever had in my

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Speaker 1: career was David Merrick showing up in San Francisco. We

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Speaker 1: were performing in San Francisco with no director. We were

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Speaker 1: told to stay after the show. They assembled us on

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Speaker 1: the stage and there was it was not lit except

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Speaker 1: for the ghost light. David Merrick shut up and stood

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Speaker 1: in front of the ghost light, so he was totally

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Speaker 1: back lit. Couldn't see his face, only saw the outline

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Speaker 1: of a long coat and a bowler hat, and proceeded

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Speaker 1: to ask us to go into rehearsal for nothing, so

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Speaker 1: that we could save this wonderful show. And it was

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Speaker 1: so dramatic, because he's incredibly dramatic, and so in the

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Speaker 1: light of day, everybody went, what we had just gotten

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Speaker 1: out of rehearsal for nothing. We were in rehearsal every

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Speaker 1: single day, performing at night for six months, and what

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Speaker 1: we rehearsed that day when in that night only to

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Speaker 1: rehearse the next day, and that stuff would come out,

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Speaker 1: some new stuff would go in that was not better

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Speaker 1: than what we had just taken. A little laboratory. We

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Speaker 1: were not but people were dying. The rats were dying.

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Speaker 1: That's losing air. Oh my god. It was so horrible.

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Speaker 1: And you know, there's an expression, Larry Gilbert's expression, if

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Speaker 1: Hitler were alive today, his punishment should be to send

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Speaker 1: him out on the road with a musical in trouble.

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Speaker 1: I did a movie once in the movie was going

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Speaker 1: really badly and said, this is as if the government

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Speaker 1: made movies. You know you, I've always said there's a

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Speaker 1: fine line between a hit and a flop, and it's

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Speaker 1: you don't know what it is. You don't know why

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Speaker 1: it is a hit, and you don't know why it

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Speaker 1: is a fun. You know, if it's really terrible, you

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Speaker 1: know right off the bat and you're not going to

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Speaker 1: take the job. But if it has the potential to

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Speaker 1: be a hit and ends up being a flop, you

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Speaker 1: can't figure it out. So you do this show and

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Speaker 1: when you come out of that, like, what's the lesson

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Speaker 1: for you? Was there something you said to yourself? Never

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Speaker 1: again am I going to know? I went into a

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Speaker 1: depression for nine months. I was on valium to sleep

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Speaker 1: for the six months and I went into a valium

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Speaker 1: depression for nine months, gained forty pounds, woke up, went

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Speaker 1: what the hell just happened? And I couldn't say. You

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Speaker 1: think like you? You care a lot. There's nothing casual

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Speaker 1: about you, there's nothing amateurish about you. You know, you're

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Speaker 1: very serious and you're very dedicated. You're very hard working

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Speaker 1: along with being very talented, and you feel these wounds.

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Speaker 1: Why do you think that is why? Well, our business

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Speaker 1: is subjective. It's all subjective, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: You talk to anybody from the baker's wife and they

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Speaker 1: can remember it as if it was yesterday, and there's

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Speaker 1: blood spilled and we became blood, a blood family. I

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Speaker 1: just ad to me Jerome, who's in phantom now and

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Speaker 1: we see each other, and that what we recall is

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Speaker 1: that bonding in that horrible experience and we can talk

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Speaker 1: about it as if it was yesterday. I think it's

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Speaker 1: because you know it happened to us. Of course it

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Speaker 1: happened to the creators, but they're not on stage. We're

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Speaker 1: on stage, succeeding or failing in front of an audience.

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Speaker 1: We're on stage being judged by the audience. Were the messengers,

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Speaker 1: We're the ones who take the hit. We take the

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Speaker 1: hit all the time. This was really abusive. It was

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Speaker 1: just horrible. I woke up one morning and my face

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Speaker 1: was filled with what looked like white heads. The entire

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Speaker 1: face had raised bumps on it. I didn't know what

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Speaker 1: it was. I went to sleep, woke up and the

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Speaker 1: entire face. Maybe it was from the value. I have

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Speaker 1: no idea what I was. Things were happening to us,

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Speaker 1: physically happening to us. And when does the sun come

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Speaker 1: out for you? When does the sun come out for

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Speaker 1: Patti Lapone? Career wise, I think when I go back

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Speaker 1: to work with David Mammitt, I go back and work

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Speaker 1: with David, I go into and go back. David and

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Speaker 1: I did a play in Chicago. Wh was that? After

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Speaker 1: Baker's wife? Was that? I see, I'm trying to keep

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to keep it straight. What play does you

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Speaker 1: do with him? First? The very first play I did

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Speaker 1: with him was a thing called All Men or hors

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Speaker 1: Kevin Sam Chiefs and I did it at Yale rep

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Speaker 1: for one night. I said, Hey, Dave, we opened it

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Speaker 1: closed in new Haven, and new Haven used to be

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Speaker 1: one of the circuit. Uh. You know, when you took

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Speaker 1: a show out of town, your first stop was new

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Speaker 1: Haven and it was a big deciding factor. So we

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Speaker 1: opened and closed, we bombed well and him there. He

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Speaker 1: gave me a play called The Woods. And what happens

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Speaker 1: when you do the Woods, Well, I go back to

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Speaker 1: what I was trained for, and I go back to

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Speaker 1: an honest environment pretty much, and you're back to the

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Speaker 1: circle of trust, having feels right. This is more like it.

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Speaker 1: And it's a risk. It's a big risk. And when

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Speaker 1: every time I work with David, I learned so much

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Speaker 1: as a human being, approximate And I think nineteen late

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seventy seven, you had a relationship with him, Yes,

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Speaker 1: well we met him five years Yes, yes, and I will.

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Speaker 1: I will drop everything to do a play by David everything.

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Speaker 1: I don't care how risky it is. I learned so

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Speaker 1: much from David and I instinctually have the mam At speak.

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Speaker 1: That's something that I know how to do. His his

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Speaker 1: rhythms um and I think it's because, as someone said,

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Speaker 1: I cut my teeth on David. David's words when you

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Speaker 1: know starting with Allmen or Horse and the Woods and

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Speaker 1: the Water Engine and Edmund. I had finished Evita and

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Speaker 1: I went down to the must play us at the

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Speaker 1: opening of Um Edmund, and I said, why couldn't I

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Speaker 1: have been in this in the back of my head?

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Speaker 1: And not two weeks later I got a call from

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Speaker 1: Gregory Mosher and David saying, would you replace Linda. Linda's

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Speaker 1: a Chicago actress and she wanted to go back to Chicago.

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Speaker 1: She was playing the wife. She came on and she

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Speaker 1: was at the beginnings and broke the dish or whatever

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Speaker 1: it is exactly. I'm leaving you. She's what do you

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Speaker 1: mean you're leaving? Of course we'relieving, We're really geting dressed.

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Speaker 1: We're thinking, No, I'm leaving you. What do you know this?

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Speaker 1: You know? I begged Mama to give me the right

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Speaker 1: to do the movie, but he gave it to Bill

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Speaker 1: Macy and so I um joined the company and my

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Speaker 1: agent was so furious with me. He said, this will

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Speaker 1: hurt your negotiational you know ability, And I went for

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Speaker 1: what you know, If anybody in the business knows who

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Speaker 1: I am, they know that this is where I came

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Speaker 1: from before I did Evita, and they did not want

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Speaker 1: me to go backwards. They didn't want me to go

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Speaker 1: to the Gut three to do Rosalind and As You

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Speaker 1: Like It. But I was able to work with leave

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Speaker 1: you Chule, a great Romanian director, or just passed outrest

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Speaker 1: to sell in his internationally famous production of As You

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Speaker 1: Like It At the Gunman. I was raped over the

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Speaker 1: calls by the critics. One critics said, you know, basically,

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Speaker 1: what was Evita doing here? And it was It was difficult,

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Speaker 1: as you say, to straddle that, but I kept doing

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Speaker 1: it because I was given the opportunity to do it.

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Speaker 1: And I wasn't going to say no, I have to

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Speaker 1: wait for the next VI to part to come along.

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Speaker 1: If I waited for the next part to come along,

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Speaker 1: I'd still be waiting. Is Evita the next big thing

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Speaker 1: for you? Is the big thing that was? But how

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Speaker 1: does that happen? I auditioned um Joanna Merlin is how

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Speaker 1: princess casting director and of course how directed, how directed?

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Speaker 1: And as I said earlier, all of those people had

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Speaker 1: come to see this acting company at Juilliard were aware.

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Speaker 1: They were aware, yes, And so I was brought in

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Speaker 1: for a preliminary audition and then I was told to

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Speaker 1: make myself free, make sure that I made myself free

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Speaker 1: for the final callback. And as I understand that how

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Speaker 1: wanted to cast actors in the role the roles as

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Speaker 1: opposed to just musical theater people. So I think that's

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Speaker 1: one of the reasons why I got in there, because

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Speaker 1: I knew they knew I was an actor. In between,

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Speaker 1: there were several plays. There was stage directions by Israel Horovitz,

354
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Speaker 1: John Glover, Ellen Green and Night Down at the Public.

355
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Speaker 1: While Merrill is doing, um, you're doing everything you can

356
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Speaker 1: to scratch that inch of yours and not become a star.

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Speaker 1: Now I get it. No, no, it was it was

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Speaker 1: It was the available work. We're about to talk about

359
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Speaker 1: the moment when perhaps one of the greatest musical stars

360
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Speaker 1: of the last fifty years is born on Broadway. So

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Speaker 1: let's talk about how that the moment this happens, How

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Speaker 1: Prince wants people who can act and sing, and you

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Speaker 1: go to the make yourself available to the final cullback

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Speaker 1: and what happened. How do you feel when you're in

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Speaker 1: that room. Well, I was very mad because I was

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Speaker 1: actually shooting and there was a little issue about yes,

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Speaker 1: about letting me go and the producer said, if you're

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Speaker 1: not back tomorrow or the next day, you're you'll never

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Speaker 1: work in Hollywood again. So I left Hollywood with those

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Speaker 1: words ringing in my ear, and I woke up in

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Speaker 1: New York to the nineteen seventy eight blizzard where they're

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Speaker 1: like two ft of snow on the ground. I couldn't

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Speaker 1: get back to l are you no? Um. Christopher Reeve

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Speaker 1: got me on the plane. I only missed three hours

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Speaker 1: of shooting. When they said howd you get here? I said, Superman.

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Speaker 1: I did. It's exactly. So I went to the final callback,

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Speaker 1: but I was really mad because I didn't want to

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Speaker 1: do this musical. I didn't like the music. I thought, Evita,

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Speaker 1: you didn't like it? What specifically? You're a smart woman,

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Speaker 1: what specifically didn't you like? Well, I didn't like I

381
00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:42,240
Speaker 1: heard the White album the Julie Covington David Essex called

382
00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:46,800
Speaker 1: Wilkinson very rocky, weird music, but right it rocked out

383
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Speaker 1: a lot, and I thought, what's rock? I want to

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Speaker 1: be a rocker. It was really really high. Didn't grab me.

385
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Speaker 1: I mean, I grew up on Rogers and Hammerstein. I

386
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Speaker 1: grew up on Julie Stein, Mereth Wilson, Stephen Sondheim. This

387
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Speaker 1: was not a musical to me, This was noise from Britain.

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Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean? It wasn't. It just didn't.

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Speaker 1: It did. So how did you go out there and

390
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Speaker 1: do it? I went out and and the final audition,

391
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Speaker 1: I was wet from my knees down. I was wearing

392
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Speaker 1: sneakers and jeans, not knowing it was going to snow.

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Speaker 1: Who you know, I did so stupid. I didn't look

394
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Speaker 1: at the weather report. I went out there and I blasted,

395
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Speaker 1: literally blasted through rainbow high Buenos Aires and don't cry

396
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Speaker 1: for me, Argentina. And there were tears in my eyes apparently,

397
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Speaker 1: and there were there were tears of rage, necessarily not

398
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Speaker 1: tears of And I left, and um, I got I

399
00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:35,040
Speaker 1: got a call on the set. I made it back

400
00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:36,520
Speaker 1: and I got a call on the set and the

401
00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:39,520
Speaker 1: makeup trailer and they said you've got the part. And

402
00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:42,040
Speaker 1: I started to cry again because I had promised David

403
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Speaker 1: that I would reprise The Woods at the Public Theater

404
00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:49,560
Speaker 1: with Hulu gross bar directing. What I love is that

405
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Speaker 1: you're gonna blow your Hollywood film career to go do

406
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Speaker 1: a musical. You don't even like, and then that when

407
00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:56,920
Speaker 1: they are for too, you don't sure you're gonna because

408
00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:59,119
Speaker 1: you gotta go do another little man play well. I

409
00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:02,360
Speaker 1: had been trained to be an actor, and I thought

410
00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:06,600
Speaker 1: my responsibility was to act at every possible opportunity, and

411
00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:12,240
Speaker 1: especially good opportunity. It put, you know, apply your craft

412
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Speaker 1: and if it's good material. And I David and I

413
00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:17,680
Speaker 1: forged a friendship and a bond, and I didn't want

414
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Speaker 1: to let him down. David and I became really really

415
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Speaker 1: good friends. David lived on twentieth Kevin and I lived

416
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Speaker 1: on twenty first Tree. He'd come over all the time

417
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Speaker 1: for breakfast. We'd walk around, we'dn't do anty. I'm gonna

418
00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:27,760
Speaker 1: start calling you out, by the way, because you keep

419
00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:31,600
Speaker 1: changing the subject. What happy with? How? How did the

420
00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:35,919
Speaker 1: hell get you to do that material? And and it

421
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:38,080
Speaker 1: became what it became? Well, No, I knew I had

422
00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:40,399
Speaker 1: to do it. I cried because I knew that I

423
00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:41,800
Speaker 1: would have to. I couldn't do the woods and I

424
00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:43,399
Speaker 1: had to do with the tip because I knew I

425
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:45,320
Speaker 1: wanted to work with how and I knew that it

426
00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:47,720
Speaker 1: would change the course of my career. You knew going

427
00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:49,639
Speaker 1: in that was going to be a hit. There was

428
00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:53,480
Speaker 1: so much hype before had they done it in London? Yeah?

429
00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:55,159
Speaker 1: What is it? Big hit in London? And you were

430
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:57,040
Speaker 1: in the American cast. It was huge in London, so

431
00:22:57,080 --> 00:22:59,560
Speaker 1: you knew this was a big opportunity and there was hype.

432
00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:02,040
Speaker 1: You can't That was my first indication that this was

433
00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:04,159
Speaker 1: going to be a tough experience because it was I went,

434
00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:06,320
Speaker 1: how am I going to get around the hype? It

435
00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:09,239
Speaker 1: was the first musical that I was aware of that

436
00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:14,960
Speaker 1: had so much pre opening the Modern Way, not even buzz,

437
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:21,159
Speaker 1: you know, not word of mouth, hype, media hype. And

438
00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:24,200
Speaker 1: it was created, of course by really isful, by Andrews company,

439
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:25,760
Speaker 1: do you know what I mean? That's how he operates.

440
00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:28,280
Speaker 1: And it was frightening and I had no vocal time.

441
00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,080
Speaker 1: So now this thing is all hyped up. You've been

442
00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:33,679
Speaker 1: through everything you've been through. You've had some good times

443
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,040
Speaker 1: and some tough times, and you've worked hard, god knows

444
00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:38,199
Speaker 1: four years in the road with Holisman in that company,

445
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:41,040
Speaker 1: and you stepped out for the Broadway opening, the opening

446
00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:42,760
Speaker 1: of Avida. What was it like for you? How do

447
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 1: that evening? Perfect? Of course you did? And I threw

448
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:50,400
Speaker 1: up in the sink before I sank. Don't cry from Argentina.

449
00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:53,480
Speaker 1: I'm sure it was a combination of I got, I

450
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:58,080
Speaker 1: got extremely bad notices opening in l a and extremely

451
00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:01,320
Speaker 1: bad notices opening in San Francisco. And Al came to

452
00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:03,320
Speaker 1: me and said, we're going to laugh about this in

453
00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:06,919
Speaker 1: twenty years, Patty. They pulled the entire company together, and

454
00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:08,560
Speaker 1: he said. There was an article coming out in Susie

455
00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:11,080
Speaker 1: Nicko Parker's column the next day that I was going

456
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:14,199
Speaker 1: to be fired and that actor's equity was waiting to

457
00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 1: clear Elaine Page to take my place, and this was

458
00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:20,119
Speaker 1: in the newspapers. Yeah, she's the one that originated in London.

459
00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:22,720
Speaker 1: I'm dealing with all of this press of me being

460
00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,320
Speaker 1: fired and me not being able to sing the part

461
00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:28,760
Speaker 1: and still going on from well that was that was

462
00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:30,919
Speaker 1: opening night, and so so you go out and do

463
00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:33,840
Speaker 1: the opening of What Happens? Bad reviews again? Actually they

464
00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:37,760
Speaker 1: weren't bad. Were They dismissed how and this is this

465
00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:43,120
Speaker 1: was an innovative This was an innovative concept and innovative production.

466
00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:47,919
Speaker 1: They dismissed how and they barely touched on Mandy and me.

467
00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:50,840
Speaker 1: And that's worse when you're ignored It's one thing if

468
00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:54,040
Speaker 1: they're passionate and you're back and passionate when you're good,

469
00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:57,040
Speaker 1: but when you're ignored. And Mandy and I at one point,

470
00:24:58,000 --> 00:24:59,200
Speaker 1: I said, you want to go out for a drink?

471
00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:02,000
Speaker 1: He said yeah, and we we were in fifty second

472
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:05,360
Speaker 1: I think that's where the the Broadway theaters, and we

473
00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:09,679
Speaker 1: walked down Eighth Avenue and simultaneously we burst into tears.

474
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:11,920
Speaker 1: I mean, we worked hard in those parts and then

475
00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:15,160
Speaker 1: to be ignored is tough. And then, of course nine

476
00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:17,440
Speaker 1: months later they give us the Tony's. When you win

477
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:19,960
Speaker 1: the Tony did? Was it any vindication for you at all?

478
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:24,600
Speaker 1: Or was it just anything? You felt good? Such a relief.

479
00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:29,040
Speaker 1: It was such a relief, because really have you? Because

480
00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:30,960
Speaker 1: I was still performing and still scared out of my

481
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,639
Speaker 1: mind every night. I envied Mandy because Mandy was just

482
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:36,680
Speaker 1: all over the place. He didn't have a problem singing it.

483
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:40,160
Speaker 1: So he literally he told me. He told me something

484
00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:42,159
Speaker 1: the other day we were talking about it beat in.

485
00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:44,080
Speaker 1: He said, well, how teld me to go? He wanted

486
00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:46,199
Speaker 1: me over there? And I said to how how do

487
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:48,560
Speaker 1: I get there? He said, I don't know, just get there,

488
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:52,399
Speaker 1: And so that's where he does a jatte across the stage,

489
00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:55,040
Speaker 1: and I went. I would see it every night, going

490
00:25:55,119 --> 00:25:58,640
Speaker 1: Whites Mandy doing that. And it was because How told

491
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,720
Speaker 1: him to get there, getting there, and he didn't care

492
00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:04,240
Speaker 1: how so many put it in and it became part

493
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,960
Speaker 1: of his performance and and so. And I suppose in

494
00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:12,600
Speaker 1: that respect How gives the actor freedom. But I didn't

495
00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:14,520
Speaker 1: have that freedom because I was so tied up and

496
00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:16,800
Speaker 1: a not because I didn't think I could sing it.

497
00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:28,160
Speaker 1: I wanna be when that who what I did? If

498
00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:30,760
Speaker 1: I haven't thought, if I hadn't known that, we would

499
00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:36,240
Speaker 1: stay to get really and you know when you in

500
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,840
Speaker 1: a rehearsal period, you know this, you have to do

501
00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:40,479
Speaker 1: it over and over and over again. So you're not

502
00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:44,520
Speaker 1: hitting that d in. Screw the middle classes once you're

503
00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:48,040
Speaker 1: not hitting that g in. Screw the middle classes once

504
00:26:48,119 --> 00:26:51,080
Speaker 1: you're doing it over and over again. I didn't have

505
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,920
Speaker 1: vocal technique to know that. I didn't have to hit

506
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:59,320
Speaker 1: those notes every day. I didn't have vocal technique. I

507
00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:04,520
Speaker 1: got it during the run by from a kid the chorus, Oh,

508
00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:10,120
Speaker 1: David Vosberg. I came off stage in Tis I they

509
00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:11,879
Speaker 1: got him a piano that put a piano in my

510
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:14,760
Speaker 1: dressing room, and he worked with me an hour every

511
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,479
Speaker 1: single day before the show. He would come to me

512
00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:20,679
Speaker 1: and um work out of the goodness of his heart.

513
00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:25,280
Speaker 1: David Vosper David vosperg he's in Ohio, he's a director

514
00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:28,840
Speaker 1: of opera. But he would um give me a vocal technique.

515
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:32,359
Speaker 1: He would warm me up. And the difficult thing was

516
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,199
Speaker 1: to be to apply what he had just taught me

517
00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:38,560
Speaker 1: that night. Because I would do one thing right, something

518
00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:42,119
Speaker 1: else would go disastrously wrong. But at least I was

519
00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:45,639
Speaker 1: getting a technique to sing that part. He saved my

520
00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:49,760
Speaker 1: job and they knew that, and they paid him. Now,

521
00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:52,040
Speaker 1: you say, when you talk about this, you talk about

522
00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:55,080
Speaker 1: the tension and the anxiety and the fear, and you

523
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,600
Speaker 1: don't really want to necessarily be doing a vide because

524
00:27:57,600 --> 00:27:59,359
Speaker 1: you got another David play and this and this and

525
00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:02,359
Speaker 1: that didn't start to become fun for you. Oh, anything

526
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:06,520
Speaker 1: goes with a ball because of the material and because

527
00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:09,000
Speaker 1: of the cast, and and it was hysterical, I mean

528
00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:12,640
Speaker 1: Jerry's acts. And Jerry did a great job of direct

529
00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:17,000
Speaker 1: Yes he is. And but however, these were the way

530
00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 1: musicals used to be written. You'd have a joke coming

531
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:25,320
Speaker 1: and then a gorgeous song. The material was so ripe

532
00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:28,760
Speaker 1: and so beautiful. If I was in a bad mood,

533
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:34,679
Speaker 1: all I had to do was hear that. Okay, I

534
00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:41,360
Speaker 1: know where I am tonight, just looking at the audience

535
00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:45,560
Speaker 1: and seeing tears of joy from laughter. The only thing

536
00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:48,240
Speaker 1: we are as actors are messengers. That's all we are. Correct.

537
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:51,440
Speaker 1: We are delivering the playwright's intentions through the concept of

538
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:54,800
Speaker 1: the director. And I come on stage if I feel

539
00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:58,400
Speaker 1: confident in the role, then I give it away. I

540
00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,720
Speaker 1: give it away anyway. But it's all about them, So

541
00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:04,760
Speaker 1: I have to go out there and love them, and

542
00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:07,600
Speaker 1: I do. And I think they see that they can

543
00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:11,240
Speaker 1: relax with me because they know I'm giving it to them.

544
00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:13,400
Speaker 1: I'm not. You know, there are some actors that don't

545
00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:16,800
Speaker 1: want to be on stage because you just nailed it.

546
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:18,960
Speaker 1: Because because Patty the pone to me as a woman

547
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:20,360
Speaker 1: who comes out there when the first thing does she

548
00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,040
Speaker 1: stopped here and she's like, you know, how's everybody doing it?

549
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:24,840
Speaker 1: It's like a little moment like a nightclub singer, like

550
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:26,760
Speaker 1: you know how you all doing tonight? Without saying how

551
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:28,360
Speaker 1: you all doing to it? Like just connect to them

552
00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:31,400
Speaker 1: and let them feel like there's no place else we'd

553
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,239
Speaker 1: rather be. Is there than here right now? Well, I

554
00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:37,960
Speaker 1: think our responsibility is to relax them. You've been in

555
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:40,600
Speaker 1: an audience. I've been in an audience where we're worried

556
00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:45,720
Speaker 1: for the performer and then we're not having experience. They're

557
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:47,680
Speaker 1: paying a lot. And if I'm worried for the performer

558
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:49,560
Speaker 1: and they and they should be worried for then I'm

559
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:50,920
Speaker 1: worried for me because I want to get the f

560
00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 1: out of there. Yeah. Hello, Our responsibility is a minute

561
00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:57,880
Speaker 1: we hit the deck, is to relax the audience. And

562
00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:02,160
Speaker 1: that is what is called command of the top. You're

563
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:09,520
Speaker 1: the col You're the top, You're the lou Museum, You're melody.

564
00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:20,280
Speaker 1: From how long did you do anything? Goes fifteen months?

565
00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:22,720
Speaker 1: I think, Oh I laughed my ass off, and that's

566
00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:25,200
Speaker 1: we had such a ball. And then and the same

567
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:27,280
Speaker 1: thing is, is this this idea that the someone said

568
00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:28,920
Speaker 1: to me, why do you like doing the theater? I mean,

569
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:31,320
Speaker 1: even now, did you get it? A lot of actors

570
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:32,760
Speaker 1: do it for a period and you get it out

571
00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:34,440
Speaker 1: of your system. I said, you know, the one thing

572
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:36,000
Speaker 1: I've never gotten out of my system is if the

573
00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:38,120
Speaker 1: play is the right play. I said, I go to

574
00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:39,560
Speaker 1: work at six o'clock. I like to get to the

575
00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:42,280
Speaker 1: theater early, kind of drain the day out of me.

576
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:44,240
Speaker 1: And then I go out on stage and I said,

577
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:45,920
Speaker 1: you know what I love. I said, I know exactly

578
00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:48,520
Speaker 1: what I'm gonna say. I know exactly what the other

579
00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:49,800
Speaker 1: guy is going to say for the next two and

580
00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:51,640
Speaker 1: a half hours. I don't know exactly how people are

581
00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:54,000
Speaker 1: likely going to react. I said, how often can you

582
00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:55,720
Speaker 1: say that in your life, that you know exactly what's

583
00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:57,880
Speaker 1: going to happen and it's a good thing for the

584
00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:00,760
Speaker 1: next two and a half hours of your life. I

585
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:03,400
Speaker 1: never get tired of that. No, and I it's magical.

586
00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:05,680
Speaker 1: It's magical. And you taught you said, draining the day

587
00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:07,640
Speaker 1: out during the day out to have a magical night.

588
00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:10,920
Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean? Really, to have experience

589
00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:13,280
Speaker 1: with a group of people. Do you know I mean

590
00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:15,480
Speaker 1: not just your your fellow actors on the stage, but

591
00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:17,920
Speaker 1: people that want that leave the theater going oh my.

592
00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:19,760
Speaker 1: I mean I've done that. I've walked out of a

593
00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:23,480
Speaker 1: production going oh my, oh what street we on? You know,

594
00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:26,800
Speaker 1: we've been transported, we've been taken away, We've drained the

595
00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:29,920
Speaker 1: day out of our life and we've experienced something that

596
00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:32,800
Speaker 1: has changed us. It's another thing I love about our

597
00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:35,080
Speaker 1: profession at the arts. I mean you can do that

598
00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:38,600
Speaker 1: in the in the movies too, as a woman, as

599
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:42,520
Speaker 1: an actress who was known for a raft. Now of

600
00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:47,520
Speaker 1: these heavy duty, you know, uh, powerful musical roles. Was

601
00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:50,600
Speaker 1: there another one that I'm missing? Between uh Evida and

602
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:54,320
Speaker 1: uh No? We did all? I did? Oliver? I did Oliver?

603
00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:57,240
Speaker 1: I did know Oliver? Here Lim is in London who

604
00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:01,440
Speaker 1: Oliver Ron Moody and Graham amble Guard rescissal. Ron Moody

605
00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:04,640
Speaker 1: was reprising his Royal Spagan. Yeah. He was great, beautiful

606
00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:07,880
Speaker 1: song as long as he needs me, one of the

607
00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:11,760
Speaker 1: most beautiful songs in all of Yeah, he wrote a

608
00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:14,160
Speaker 1: great score. Um. And then I went to London and

609
00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:17,280
Speaker 1: did Ley, miss Soley, miss you did only in London? Yes?

610
00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:21,000
Speaker 1: Why well? And this because I didn't want to do well?

611
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:22,880
Speaker 1: And it's a it's a it's a reason that I

612
00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,560
Speaker 1: have questioned my entire career. When I was at the

613
00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:29,840
Speaker 1: Barbicane rehearsaling the Barbicane was then the Royal Shakespeare Company's

614
00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:33,000
Speaker 1: London home, it felt so much like being in the

615
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:37,400
Speaker 1: hallways of Juilliard. It was amazed the rehearsal rooms. I

616
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:41,320
Speaker 1: just felt like I was at Juilliard. And Trevor actually

617
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:43,680
Speaker 1: said to me, if anybody belongs in this production or

618
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:46,920
Speaker 1: with the Royal Shakespeare Company, it's you, Patty, because Michelle

619
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:50,240
Speaker 1: sun Denis was an artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

620
00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:53,040
Speaker 1: Michelle Sundni was one of the co founders and an

621
00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:55,720
Speaker 1: artistic director of the Drama division of the Juilliard School.

622
00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:58,440
Speaker 1: So I came full circle two different countries. But I

623
00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,880
Speaker 1: had come full circle in training. The notice for you

624
00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:04,200
Speaker 1: when you did they miss in London. I don't even remember,

625
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:06,520
Speaker 1: but I wanted Olivier Award for Fantine. So I have

626
00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:08,800
Speaker 1: no idea. Everybody that I know that so you do

627
00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:10,560
Speaker 1: it said to you were breathtaking in that role, so

628
00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:13,400
Speaker 1: there was no desire you had. Well, this is what happened.

629
00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:16,480
Speaker 1: Two weeks after we opened at the Barbercan. I came

630
00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:19,160
Speaker 1: off stage in my barricade uniform because I was in

631
00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:21,280
Speaker 1: the barricade scene and I I can't do this in

632
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:23,400
Speaker 1: New York. It was an instinct, I can't do this

633
00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:25,160
Speaker 1: in New York. And I went to the stage door

634
00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:26,800
Speaker 1: to drop off a name to the stage doorman at

635
00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:29,800
Speaker 1: Cameron McIntosh, the producer you know besides the r SC,

636
00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:31,600
Speaker 1: was standing there and I said, Cameron, I can't do

637
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:32,920
Speaker 1: this in New York. I was the only American in

638
00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:34,800
Speaker 1: the company. He said, I know, the parts too small

639
00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:39,120
Speaker 1: and said, no, that's not it. I said, this is

640
00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:42,600
Speaker 1: my company. I realized when I came off the stage

641
00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:45,680
Speaker 1: that I was in the perfect theatrical environment, in the

642
00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:48,440
Speaker 1: perfect play, with the perfect cast, and I didn't want

643
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:52,040
Speaker 1: anything to touch that memory. And I made it It It

644
00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:54,160
Speaker 1: would be different in New York totally. It would be

645
00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:59,080
Speaker 1: a reproduction of this production. And I didn't think that

646
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:01,560
Speaker 1: I would seeing And you know, I've never known whether

647
00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:03,520
Speaker 1: I made the right decision or not. But what did

648
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:07,960
Speaker 1: you do after that? Lb J? I came back to

649
00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:10,960
Speaker 1: do lb J, and we've been didn't talk about film

650
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:13,920
Speaker 1: in your life now because in and around all of

651
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:18,400
Speaker 1: your historic career in the theater, what is going on

652
00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:20,880
Speaker 1: for you? Film was nothing. I wish it did nothing,

653
00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:23,000
Speaker 1: I mean but minor. But I don't know why I

654
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:25,000
Speaker 1: don't get cast or I don't know why that you know.

655
00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:27,160
Speaker 1: And now it's probably too light because I'm one of

656
00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:29,920
Speaker 1: those women that are too old for Hollywood, or maybe

657
00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:32,239
Speaker 1: maybe I'm coming into my film career now. I don't

658
00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:35,040
Speaker 1: know why it didn't happen, but it didn't. Um. I

659
00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:37,799
Speaker 1: did Driving Miss Daisy, and Alfred Jury was responsible for

660
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:41,040
Speaker 1: my casting in that. I did UM And that's the

661
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:44,760
Speaker 1: best experience you had making a film, all of them working,

662
00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:48,120
Speaker 1: especially working with the Australian directors Perspiras for it and

663
00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:50,000
Speaker 1: Peter Weir. What did you do with them? We did

664
00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:53,719
Speaker 1: Witness Peter Weir and I did Driving Miss Daisy with Perspiracy.

665
00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:56,920
Speaker 1: Ever worked with Lamette very little. I had a tiny,

666
00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:59,600
Speaker 1: tiny little part in something. I can't remember what it was,

667
00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:01,360
Speaker 1: but I thought, oh my god, it would love to

668
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:05,360
Speaker 1: have worked with him. I don't remember the whole experience.

669
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:07,560
Speaker 1: I was literally I had one tiny scene and I

670
00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:11,319
Speaker 1: can't remember if it was a movie or I can't

671
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:14,640
Speaker 1: remember television series. Could have been a television. But remember,

672
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:18,400
Speaker 1: life goes on for four years and then you know

673
00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:21,040
Speaker 1: guest spots here and there. But it was it's odd

674
00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:25,120
Speaker 1: that that that I haven't had that opportunity. Probably did

675
00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:27,440
Speaker 1: have that opportunity, but you passed on it. Correct. No,

676
00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:28,799
Speaker 1: I don't think I've diden the chance to do a

677
00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:34,400
Speaker 1: television series. Come your way. No, it's interesting. I'm a

678
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:41,320
Speaker 1: hard sell, Alec. I've been cut at the studio level

679
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:44,880
Speaker 1: on auditions in California because I didn't believe I was

680
00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:47,759
Speaker 1: I could do this or that. And you know, it's like,

681
00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:50,560
Speaker 1: it's I'm a hard sell in California. I'm a hard

682
00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:54,920
Speaker 1: sell in movies. I'm a hard selling TV. You know,

683
00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:58,719
Speaker 1: I'm always a hard sell. I could tell you a

684
00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:01,200
Speaker 1: story right now, but I can't. I've been asked to

685
00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:04,359
Speaker 1: audition for a musical, and it's twenty five years since

686
00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:08,319
Speaker 1: I'm auditioned for musical. When does it stop coming up?

687
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:12,000
Speaker 1: Patti Lapone talks about the most painful loss of her career,

688
00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:17,400
Speaker 1: her subsequent illness, and how she recovered from both. This

689
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:20,439
Speaker 1: is Alec Baldwin, and you're listening to Here's the Thing,

690
00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:32,399
Speaker 1: but the time is gone. The voice as soft as londer,

691
00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:44,920
Speaker 1: as they tell your whole as the time you dream

692
00:36:45,160 --> 00:37:16,320
Speaker 1: to shape. This is Alec Baldwin, and you were listening

693
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:20,480
Speaker 1: to Here's the Thing. Patty Lapone originated the role of

694
00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:24,400
Speaker 1: Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Weber's Sunset Boulevard in London.

695
00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:27,480
Speaker 1: She was set to move with the show to Broadway

696
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:31,040
Speaker 1: until she found out she was being replaced by Glenn Close.

697
00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:35,200
Speaker 1: To say she was devastated is an understatement. You know,

698
00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:39,160
Speaker 1: there's always going to be some kind of stuff going

699
00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:40,960
Speaker 1: on in a musical. That's just the nature of a musical.

700
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:43,080
Speaker 1: But it was a great company, We had a great time.

701
00:37:43,239 --> 00:37:46,120
Speaker 1: It was the exterior information that was coming to me

702
00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:49,080
Speaker 1: that was very painful. I mean, clearly, when I didn't

703
00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:51,880
Speaker 1: get the reviews Andrew wanted me to get, I was

704
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,200
Speaker 1: on the chopping block. But I didn't find that out

705
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:57,600
Speaker 1: until after Glenn Close opened in New York and Vincent

706
00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:01,080
Speaker 1: Canby gave her this review against my ad review. Meantime,

707
00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:04,520
Speaker 1: I'm getting standing ovations in in London and there's nothing

708
00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:06,719
Speaker 1: about me in the press in London because I show

709
00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:09,520
Speaker 1: up every night. I'm turning in my working Yeah, but

710
00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:11,640
Speaker 1: Andrew wanted something else, and the way they got me

711
00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:13,520
Speaker 1: out was the way they were going to get me

712
00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:17,080
Speaker 1: out was to have me quit because of the the

713
00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:21,640
Speaker 1: barrage of negative publicity, and my agents and the lawyers

714
00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:23,080
Speaker 1: said stay on stage. And I don't know if it

715
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:26,200
Speaker 1: was worth it, because it was really painful, and months

716
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:28,799
Speaker 1: before I closed, I got a telephone call from my agent.

717
00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:31,799
Speaker 1: I'm in the dressing room getting ready for the show.

718
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:33,680
Speaker 1: I called my my agent called. He said he's sitting

719
00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:35,880
Speaker 1: down and said yeah. He said, you've been fired. Glenn

720
00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:37,799
Speaker 1: Close was replacing you in New York and he went.

721
00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:40,719
Speaker 1: And I got up and had batting practice in my

722
00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:43,359
Speaker 1: dressing room with a you know, a floor lamp, and left.

723
00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:45,440
Speaker 1: Did They could hear me crying and screaming, and the

724
00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:48,560
Speaker 1: company came up and uh, company manager, I said, I've

725
00:38:48,560 --> 00:38:50,440
Speaker 1: been fired. I said, I'm leaving. I'm going by. I

726
00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:52,600
Speaker 1: can't take this anymore. And if people say, what would

727
00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:53,880
Speaker 1: you do for you saw Andrew again, I said, it's

728
00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:55,680
Speaker 1: not what I would do, It's what my husband would do.

729
00:38:56,920 --> 00:39:01,560
Speaker 1: Because whatever I had to absorb, I then took out

730
00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:03,799
Speaker 1: on my husband when I came home. And that was

731
00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:05,600
Speaker 1: like I went into therapy. I was on prozac. It

732
00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:08,000
Speaker 1: was like it was like a long healing process because

733
00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:09,799
Speaker 1: I had to absorb it and I couldn't. There was

734
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:11,200
Speaker 1: no place I could release it because I had to

735
00:39:11,239 --> 00:39:14,600
Speaker 1: perform every night and um that But that company was

736
00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:16,160
Speaker 1: extraordinary and we had a great time. We had a

737
00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:19,400
Speaker 1: great time. So after that you do Sweeney. Then the

738
00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:22,640
Speaker 1: next musical I do is Sweeney John Doe. Well, then

739
00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:26,440
Speaker 1: it's two thousand. This is interesting. I come home beat

740
00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:32,360
Speaker 1: up emotionally and also physically. I find out through a

741
00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:36,520
Speaker 1: routine eye examination that I am in the middle of

742
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:39,959
Speaker 1: detached retinas in both eyes. There's like four hundred shots

743
00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:42,839
Speaker 1: of laser and one eye two fifty in the other eye.

744
00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:46,920
Speaker 1: Kevin Anderson gets into a life threatening motorcycle accident, and

745
00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:49,760
Speaker 1: Bob Baby and the choreographer comes down with a really

746
00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:52,520
Speaker 1: really severe case of I don't shingles or something. So

747
00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:55,759
Speaker 1: three of us are manifesting illness at the end of

748
00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:59,319
Speaker 1: this experience, which was so bad. So I take time

749
00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:02,960
Speaker 1: to heal and I do a movie. I do bits

750
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:06,160
Speaker 1: and pieces. But the next big thing that comes comes

751
00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:09,520
Speaker 1: on the heels of breast cancer. They say, do you

752
00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:12,000
Speaker 1: want to play Nelly love It and Sweeney Todd with

753
00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:14,880
Speaker 1: the New York film Brent Turvill playing Sweeney. I went

754
00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:17,280
Speaker 1: first thing, I said to Steve no, because I've never

755
00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:20,279
Speaker 1: been cast in Asantei musical. They said, yes, he gives

756
00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:21,680
Speaker 1: the privileg said, of course I do. But this is

757
00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:24,000
Speaker 1: a year earlier. Within that year, I find out that

758
00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:26,960
Speaker 1: I have breast cancer. And what happens as I deal

759
00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:28,879
Speaker 1: with it. There's nothing else I can do but deal

760
00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:31,160
Speaker 1: with it and go through radiation. On my last day

761
00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:33,440
Speaker 1: of radiation, start rehearsal for Sweeney Todd in the New

762
00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:39,840
Speaker 1: York Film. And it's yes, the quintessential New York moment

763
00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:44,040
Speaker 1: the New York Philharmonic on a New York stage in

764
00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:48,440
Speaker 1: a New Yorker's production. And that was an unbelievable experience

765
00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:59,040
Speaker 1: from the oven. What is that? It's priest, have a

766
00:40:59,080 --> 00:41:03,360
Speaker 1: little priest? Is it really good? It's too good at least,

767
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:06,680
Speaker 1: then again, they don't calm it since all on the flesh.

768
00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:12,839
Speaker 1: That was pretty fresh. Now, let's talk about Mami's last play.

769
00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:16,520
Speaker 1: So here, your last venture in New York is you

770
00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:20,160
Speaker 1: with your old buddy. So he calls you. He's got

771
00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:22,759
Speaker 1: the play, and he called you. I called him. I

772
00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:25,840
Speaker 1: saw November, and I saw after the play. I saw

773
00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:28,919
Speaker 1: as his wife, Rebecca Pigeon. I said, Rebecca, I'm hitting

774
00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:31,640
Speaker 1: David up for a play. It's too long. It's too

775
00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:34,080
Speaker 1: long that we've worked together. And I wrote him a

776
00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:35,640
Speaker 1: letter and I said, I don't want a relationship to

777
00:41:35,719 --> 00:41:38,080
Speaker 1: end with the old neighborhood. I said, let's do something.

778
00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:40,040
Speaker 1: And then he called me and he said, do you

779
00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:42,960
Speaker 1: know who Cathy Bodin is? And I did, but he didn't,

780
00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:45,400
Speaker 1: and and then he started to tell me about he

781
00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:47,480
Speaker 1: was right. He was thinking about writing a play about

782
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:50,719
Speaker 1: the weatherman or the an anarchist. And I went, oh cool.

783
00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:53,279
Speaker 1: And then then I found out this was last year.

784
00:41:53,320 --> 00:41:54,600
Speaker 1: And then I found out that the play was being

785
00:41:54,640 --> 00:41:56,719
Speaker 1: done in London, and I went, no, no, no, man,

786
00:41:57,120 --> 00:41:58,840
Speaker 1: I said, I have to play this part. And I

787
00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:00,279
Speaker 1: wrote to him and I said, is this the we

788
00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:01,719
Speaker 1: were talking about? It? Said they don't want me in

789
00:42:01,719 --> 00:42:03,600
Speaker 1: London because they don't want me in London? But can

790
00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:04,560
Speaker 1: I do it in New York? And you call me

791
00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:07,239
Speaker 1: said screw London, let's do it now. So that's how

792
00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:09,600
Speaker 1: that happened. I knew it was a risk, but that

793
00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:11,680
Speaker 1: you know you, I always take a risk with David,

794
00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:15,000
Speaker 1: and I had You've been directed by David before a

795
00:42:15,040 --> 00:42:18,040
Speaker 1: lot more often than you, more comfortable with him in

796
00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:22,000
Speaker 1: both the aspects. And we talked about because I came

797
00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:26,240
Speaker 1: and saw you that last performance, and we talked about

798
00:42:26,239 --> 00:42:32,120
Speaker 1: how the financing and the financiers themselves have changed a lot,

799
00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:34,320
Speaker 1: which is if they don't get those results very very quickly,

800
00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:38,160
Speaker 1: they jump, They put the parachute. This is a risky play.

801
00:42:38,239 --> 00:42:41,000
Speaker 1: And you know what Broadway should be, what Broadway is

802
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:48,120
Speaker 1: supposed to be, which is a vehicle for every idea.

803
00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:54,239
Speaker 1: And I also am frustrated with the producers that have

804
00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:57,040
Speaker 1: made gobs of money. They should have a Levy text

805
00:42:57,719 --> 00:43:00,960
Speaker 1: attacks Levy against them. They should open a black box theater.

806
00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:03,560
Speaker 1: They should support all the new play rights and composers.

807
00:43:03,840 --> 00:43:05,799
Speaker 1: There should be a great deal of support. Art is

808
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:08,839
Speaker 1: the soul of a nation, and our art is not

809
00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:13,960
Speaker 1: being supported. They developed, yes, and it's very, very very depressing.

810
00:43:14,040 --> 00:43:16,479
Speaker 1: It's very depressing. If I go back on the stage

811
00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:17,880
Speaker 1: in New York, I'm going to find out who the

812
00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:20,239
Speaker 1: producers are and who their partners are, and I'm going

813
00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:21,920
Speaker 1: to sit down and talk to them. And I want

814
00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:24,000
Speaker 1: to find out what their marketing campaign is, what their

815
00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:27,400
Speaker 1: marketing you know, yes, you definitely, And I want to

816
00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:29,640
Speaker 1: pay and play, which you don't have pair play on Broadway.

817
00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:31,600
Speaker 1: You don't have that. But you know they don't think

818
00:43:31,600 --> 00:43:34,560
Speaker 1: we take the risk with them. We most certainly do.

819
00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:37,640
Speaker 1: Actually we book out the pair play concept is in

820
00:43:37,680 --> 00:43:40,320
Speaker 1: films is important because we book out and sometimes you

821
00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:42,319
Speaker 1: gotta take it deeper. I think maybe I shouldn't care

822
00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:45,080
Speaker 1: so much. I don't know whether that's true, Alec would

823
00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:48,800
Speaker 1: it would not, It would reflect in your performance, do

824
00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:50,200
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? I think that you can

825
00:43:50,239 --> 00:43:52,680
Speaker 1: see when people care and when you an audiences can

826
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:54,960
Speaker 1: see when they don't care, because you see, because you

827
00:43:55,040 --> 00:43:58,239
Speaker 1: see like someone in the years I've bumped into you,

828
00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:02,520
Speaker 1: run into you, known you, known you better. You seem

829
00:44:02,560 --> 00:44:04,960
Speaker 1: to care of the exact same amount as you used to.

830
00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:07,440
Speaker 1: I love what I do, and I love the audience,

831
00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:09,040
Speaker 1: and I love the fact that I get to do it,

832
00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:12,520
Speaker 1: and I love I love our craft very very much,

833
00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:15,880
Speaker 1: and it's it's a noble craft. We have a responsibility

834
00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:17,760
Speaker 1: to it and to the audience and to the playwright

835
00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:21,160
Speaker 1: into the message. I won't ever care less if the

836
00:44:21,239 --> 00:44:30,799
Speaker 1: sky you should fall into those and the storms all

837
00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:46,560
Speaker 1: laurron me the we have known. I will sing him

838
00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:51,759
Speaker 1: to Love. Next month, Patti Lapone will go on a

839
00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:56,359
Speaker 1: national tour with her concert entitled Far Away Places. This

840
00:44:56,480 --> 00:44:58,680
Speaker 1: is Him to Love from the c D of the

841
00:44:58,719 --> 00:45:02,920
Speaker 1: same name. Her book, Patti Lapone a memoir is now

842
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:07,000
Speaker 1: available both in hardcover and as an e book. So

843
00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:08,360
Speaker 1: the last thing I want to say to you is

844
00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:12,200
Speaker 1: a content and a question embedded in a content, and

845
00:45:12,239 --> 00:45:13,880
Speaker 1: that is and I want to say this as carefully

846
00:45:13,880 --> 00:45:15,280
Speaker 1: as I can, because I don't want to give myself

847
00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:18,399
Speaker 1: in trouble. Watching you perform, Patty, sometimes it's like having

848
00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:21,400
Speaker 1: sex with you, and it's like a sexual It's like sex.

849
00:45:22,239 --> 00:45:24,160
Speaker 1: When you do what you do, it's like it's like

850
00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:26,759
Speaker 1: and when you're done, I almost get this feeling like

851
00:45:26,760 --> 00:45:28,360
Speaker 1: you're looking at me personally, look at me, going you

852
00:45:28,360 --> 00:45:30,600
Speaker 1: really enjoyed that, dude? That was good for you, wasn't it?

853
00:45:31,280 --> 00:45:34,239
Speaker 1: Do you realize? My question is do you realize the

854
00:45:34,360 --> 00:45:38,160
Speaker 1: effect you have on people? Do you know when you

855
00:45:38,239 --> 00:45:40,600
Speaker 1: come out there? Can you feel how much they're digging

856
00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:43,000
Speaker 1: what you do? You must be able to feel it. Well,

857
00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:46,200
Speaker 1: I don't know. If I don't go out there going

858
00:45:46,280 --> 00:45:48,319
Speaker 1: they're gonna dig me. I go out there, and I

859
00:45:48,360 --> 00:45:50,919
Speaker 1: do know that the people that have come to see

860
00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:56,839
Speaker 1: me know that I have them in mind and that

861
00:45:56,800 --> 00:46:00,200
Speaker 1: they already have them on my side. They know that

862
00:46:00,280 --> 00:46:02,839
Speaker 1: I'm doing it for them. They It just it could

863
00:46:02,840 --> 00:46:05,480
Speaker 1: be a persona could be a body language thing, but

864
00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:08,640
Speaker 1: they know that I know they're there. And the differences

865
00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:12,799
Speaker 1: when when actors don't acknowledge the audience, the audience can't come.

866
00:46:14,080 --> 00:46:17,239
Speaker 1: When an actor acknowledges the audience, then you can have

867
00:46:17,360 --> 00:46:27,920
Speaker 1: a moment of ecstasy and I'm doing something talking and

868
00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:32,160
Speaker 1: a gipsy gips. This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening

869
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:33,319
Speaker 1: to here's the thing.