Patti LuPone interviewed in Time Out New York last year:

TONY: The great musical-theater stars from your generation—you, Bernadette Peters, Betty Buckley—have very specific performance styles. That seems to be less true of the younger generations: Almost nobody has a definable persona. What are your feelings on that?

Patti LuPone: That’s charisma, is what it is. It’s star power. It’s sex appeal. How do you develop that? First of all, you either have it, or you don’t. And I think they elevate people to a level of stardom before they develop their craft or their persona—or they don’t have one, but the marketing develops a star. It’s bad for the industry that the people who are in the star positions aren’t qualified to move an audience, to take the audience on a journey. Audiences need actors who are going to relax them when they sit in the seat. And you can’t do that without experience, and you can’t do that without talent. You need certain things to create the environment for a theatrical experience.

TONY: Many actors these days give studied, contained performances that do what they’re supposed to do but don’t risk anything beyond than that. But you seem willing to go to bigger, riskier places. Is that built into the way that you are?

Patti LuPone: Yes. And it’s been a struggle my entire career. It’s not acceptable in this country. Who I am, my face, my persona, if you want to call it that, is at home and comfortable and anonymous in Italy. In America, it stands out, because it’s raw, it’s big, it’s emotional. My face is raw, big and emotional. It didn’t work for the longest time. All my career, I’ve said this: Critics and producers think audiences want actors that only present the silhouette, and hit the points in the silhouette. What I do is too dangerous. I guess it isn’t anymore. [Laughs] I guess it’s okay. Look at the audience’s response in Gypsy! And I’m not holding anything back.

When TONY asked her to complete the sentence, “New York is…” she responded: “…my hometown. My workplace. My breath. My craft. My culture. My education. A lot of my fears. My blood and soul.”

On Feb 14, Patti LuPone and another New York icon, WNYC’s Leonard Lopate, will be here for The Broadway Life, a discussion of her illustrious career as a performer and her roles both onstage and off. Purchase tickets here.

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