Seems, Patti LuPone’s alleged feud with fellow Broadway icon Audra McDonald could also be one-sided.
On Thursday, “CBS Mornings” unveiled a teaser video of co-host Gayle King’s upcoming interview with McDonald, who obtained her eleventh Tony Award nomination for the present revival of “Gypsy,” during which she makes historical past as the primary Black actor to painting Momma Rose.
Within the interview, set to air subsequent week, King asks McDonald for her response to LuPone’s declare, which appeared in The New Yorker’s bombshell profile of LuPone, that there’s a rift between the 2 actors.
“If there’s a rift between us, I don’t know what it is,” McDonald mentioned. “That’s something you’d have to ask Patti about.”
She went on to notice: “You know, I haven’t seen her in about 11 years just because we’ve been busy, just with life and stuff. So I don’t know what rift she’s talking about, but you’d have to ask her.”
LuPone’s suggestion of feud between her and McDonald was amongst a number of eyebrow-raising assertions made by the “Agatha All Along” actor in her dialog with The New Yorker, revealed Monday.
The topic got here up when journalist Michael Schulman requested LuPone a couple of 2024 incident during which she contacted the stage administration group of the Alicia Keys musical “Hell’s Kitchen,” which boasts a predominately Black solid, to ask that the present’s sound cues be adjusted. On the time, LuPone was showing within the play “The Roommate” at a neighboring theater, and alleged sure sounds in “Hell’s Kitchen” had been audible throughout her present’s performances.
The “Hell’s Kitchen” group appeared to accommodate LuPone’s request shortly. Nonetheless, the trade ― in addition to LuPone’s public complaints about “Hell’s Kitchen” being “too loud,” as seen on TikTok ― prompted certainly one of its Tony-winning stars, Kecia Lewis, to accuse LuPone of “bullying” and “racially microaggressive” habits in an Instagram video.
In her chat with The New Yorker, LuPone referred to as Lewis a “bitch” and prompt the actor, who’s Black, didn’t have the fitting to deem herself a Broadway “veteran” regardless of having starred in “Dreamgirls” and “Once on This Island,” amongst different musicals.
Luis Sinco through Getty Photographs
When instructed that McDonald had responded to Lewis’ Instagram video with supportive emojis, LuPone replied, “That’s typical of Audra. She’s not a friend.”
The outlet notes LuPone additionally alluded to a “long-ago rift” between her and McDonald earlier than showing to shade McDonald’s “Gypsy” efficiency. Notably, LuPone performed Momma Rose within the 2008 Broadway manufacturing of “Gypsy,” successful a Tony.
Although LuPone’s remarks about Lewis have been essentially the most incendiary, her declare about McDonald additionally shocked many followers, given the 2 girls have carried out collectively on a number of events.
Since The New Yorker piece was revealed, quite a few actors, writers and different members of the Broadway neighborhood have rallied behind Lewis and McDonald whereas denouncing LuPone’s feedback.
“I’m actually thankful for the article, because now the industry and the world can see Patti LuPone for who she truly is,” playwright Bryan-Keyth Wilson wrote on Instagram. “The way she spoke about these incredibly talented Black women — calling them out of their names, diminishing their contributions — it was disgusting. If a Black woman had behaved the same way, she would’ve been crucified.”
Actor and singer Shoshana Bean, certainly one of Lewis’ “Hell’s Kitchen” co-stars, felt equally.
“Our government is threatening the very existence of art and creators on a daily basis, our funding, our validity…while simultaneously trying to erase the history and contributions of Black people in this country,” she wrote on Instagram Tales, in line with Playbill. “We won’t allow attacks like this within our own community.”
