Memorial Day may have been a dark day for Broadway shows, but on the internet, the theatre community was abuzz after the dropped a lengthy profile of Patti LuPone. The article ostensibly meant to promote LuPone's appearance on the third season of HBO's And Just Like That, but it went viral due to LuPone's other remarks about her fellow Broadway actors, namely Kecia Lewis and Audra McDonald.
Last year, LuPone was on Broadway in The Roommate, a show that shared a wall with Hell's Kitchen, where Lewis performed (and won a Tony for). There was a noise complaint, where the cast of The Roommate asked if the Hell's Kitchen sound design could be modified to minimize sound bleed. After a video of LuPone disparaging Hell's Kitchen for being loud made the rounds on social media, Lewis took to Instagram to ask for an apology from LuPone and said that calling a show with a majority Black cast loud was a "microaggression."
When asked about the incident in the New Yorker, LuPone had some harsh words for Lewis, calling her a "bitch" and saying "she doesn鈥檛 know what the fuck she鈥檚 talking about...This is not unusual on Broadway. This happens all the time when walls are shared.鈥�
New Yorker writer Michael Schulman then brought up six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, who had supported Lewis' video. And LuPone said: 鈥淎nd I thought, You should know better. That鈥檚 typical of Audra. She鈥檚 not a friend." Schulman then asked LuPone what she thought of McDonald's performance in Gypsy (a show that LuPone had also starred in on Broadway and won a Tony for), and the former Madame Rose declined to answer the question.
Those two actors weren't the only entities that LuPone criticized in the 6,000-word profile鈥攕he also said that the Kennedy Center under President Trump 鈥渟hould get blown up" and made it clear she hadn't forgiven Glenn Close for starring in Sunset Boulevard on Broadway, a part that had been promised to LuPone. But in the day since the New Yorker article was published, a number of outlets have dissected the purported between McDonald and LuPone (even though McDonald has never spoken about LuPone in interviews).
Meanwhile, LuPone's comments have made waves through the theatre industry as Broadway and other entertainment professionals rallied around Lewis and McDonald鈥攚ith many calling LuPone's comments
Lewis' Hell's Kitchen co-star, Shoshana Bean, wrote a long post on Instagram, saying: "Speaking this way about any woman is unacceptable to me. Let alone a Black woman. I don't care how many shows or Tonys or years....Their mere existence should be honored and revered as a miracle! As white women, we will never know even a fraction of what they have had to live." She ended her post with: "This community is already under attack. 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. We won't allow attacks like this within our own community. This woman is not who WEEEEEE [sp] are."
about Lewis and McDonald: "I don鈥檛 play about the women who set the blueprint and inspired generations of artists, specifically, Black women...So many of us wouldn鈥檛 have dared to try if it weren鈥檛 for you. I thank you, Queens."
Screen actor Yvette Nicole Brown emphasized the importance of speaking up in support, : "Have we not learned what Malcolm X so eloquently tried to teach folks about Black women being the most disrespected and unprotected group of people? When one of us is mistreated and we don't speak up and fight for them, the malignant belief that the continued abuse of us is okay鈥攑ermeates. I say...no, WE say: Not On My Watch !"
In response to Brown's post, Viola Davis commented: "Love, love them!! I will fight for them as fervently as I fight for anyone I love."
Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., : "Thank you for your artistry, commitment to excellence, and consistent bold brilliance. You are one of one."
Playwright Bryan-Keyth Wilson wrote a longer, , saying that while he had previously been a "fan" of LuPone, "I鈥檓 actually thankful for the article, because now the industry and the world can see Patti LuPone for who she truly is. The way she spoke about these incredibly talented Black women鈥攃alling them out of their names, diminishing their contributions鈥攊t was disgusting. If a Black woman had behaved the same way, she would鈥檝e been crucified."
Tony winner Donna Murphy also chimed in support of McDonald and Lewis, : "I do not understand why we cannot use our moments on this earth to lift and support one another. Especially when, as fellow artists, we know the vulnerability and challenges of day to day survival. We live lives of uncertainty. Add to that being women of color who have historically been undervalued, mistreated, and worse. Praise them, raise them up, honor them. And in my case: love them. Sending my love & deepest respect to these two superstars."
Neither McDonald nor Lewis has publicly responded to LuPone's remarks鈥攖hough on May 28, Lewis shared a video on her Instagram where she noted that a number of shows on Broadway are currently led by Black women: Gypsy, BOOP!, Purpose, and Hell's Kitchen (she also characterized Sunset Blvd. as a Black-led show鈥攚hile Nicole Scherzinger is not Black, she's partly Asian and Hawaiian, her standby Rashidra Scott is). : "We're living in good times here on Broadway."
