Patti LuPone’s comments have landed her in hot water with the Broadway community yet again.
This time she lashed out following a conflict over distracting noise through a shared wall from another Broadway production.
LuPone, 76, was starring in The Roommate opposite Tony-nominated Mia Farrow earlier in the Broadway season when she took issue with the loudness of their neighboring show, the Alicia Keys jukebox musical, Hell’s Kitchen. The sound was reportedly bleeding through from theater-to-theater, causing an issue for LuPone.
After calling up Robert Wankel, the head of the Shubert Organization, the issue was addressed, and LuPone sent flowers to the musical’s crew to thank them.
LuPone was then surprised when a performer from Hell’s Kitchen, Tony winner Kecia Lewis, posted a video on Instagram about the issue. Lewis, speaking as one Broadway “veteran” to another, deemed LuPone’s actions “bullying,” “racially micro-aggressive,” and “rooted in privilege,” as she called “a Black show loud.”
When asked about the incident in a recent profile by The New Yorker, LuPone didn’t hold back.
“Here’s the problem. She calls herself a veteran? Let’s find out how many Broadway shows Kecia Lewis has done, because she doesn’t know what the f*** she’s talking about,” LuPone ranted to the outlet.
“She’s done seven. I’ve done 31. Don’t call yourself a vet, bitch.”
The New Yorker did fact check the numbers and reported that Lewis has done 10 Broadway productions, while LuPone has done 28.
LuPone then continued to address the sound issue, saying: “This is not unusual on Broadway. This happens all the time when walls are shared.”
Many have called the three-time Tony winner out for her comments about Lewis.
“Patti does not come out of this looking good. What a hater,” someone wrote on X.
“Calling Kecia [a] bitch really just took me out, like I actually can’t believe the audacity,” someone else shared, to which another responded: “Unwarranted and nasty.”
“Patti is so tactless and tone deaf … like, girl,” another said.
“It was so unbelievably uncalled for and honestly so jarring to read. The nerve to diminish Ms. Lewis’ legacy and accomplishments and then call her out of her name in that way is unacceptable. I’m actually really hurt to see that from her,” someone else wrote.
“The article just got worse the more I read. Oh my god. How disheartening,” another shared.
LuPone also refused to comment on the current revival of Gypsy.
The production stars six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald as Rose, a role LuPone won her second Tony for in 2008. When asked her thoughts on the production — which features a Black woman as the central character for the first time ever — LuPone “stared in silence for 15 seconds,” according to The New Yorker. She then changed the subject.
LuPone has infamously put her foot in her mouth before, riling the theater community on multiple occasions. She has taken cellphones from audience members daring to use them during her performances, and has blasted American politicians — including the current president — at red carpet events.
One recent incident in 2022 came during a talkback for the revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, in which she played Joanne , which earned LuPone her third Tony. LuPone lashed out at an audience member who wasn’t wearing their mask correctly in the days when Covid restrictions were still commonplace in theaters.
“Put your mask over your nose … That is the rule,” she commanded. “If you don’t want to follow the rule, get the f*** out!”
