Long regarded as one of the great ladies of Broadway, Patti LuPone has been equally at home in both musicals and stage plays. A founding member of John Houseman’s troupe, The Acting Company, she made her 1973 Broadway debut in repertory, appearing in a series of five different plays, including works by Chekov, Shakespeare, and Molière. LuPone made her singing debut in yet another production of the series, as Lucy Lockit in John Gay’s eighteenth-century musical play, The Beggar’s Opera.
Under the auspices of The Acting Company, Patti LuPone originated her first Broadway musical role as Rosamond in Alfred Uhry and Robert Waldman’s musical adaptation of the Eudora Welty novella, The Robber Bridegroom, in 1975, again in repertory. LuPone was nominated for both a Tony® and a Drama Desk award for her performance. After appearing in the short-lived musical adaptation of Studs Terkel’s Working in 1978, Patti LuPone played the title role in the original Broadway production of the Webber and Rice musical, Evita. For that role, she won both the Tony® and the Drama Desk Award for Best Starring Actress in a Musical in 1980.
In 1983, back with The Acting Company, LuPone played the roles of Sister Mister and Moll in a touring production of Marc Blitzstein’s musical, The Cradle Will Rock, and in 1985, originated the role of Fantine in the original London/Royal Shakespeare Company production of Les Misérables, for which she won an Olivier.
Since then, she has appeared in revivals of Cole Porter’s Anthing Goes, earned a Tony® nomination for her portrayal of Mrs. Lovett in the 2005 revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, and most recently won a Tony® as Mama Rose in the 2008 revival of Gypsy.
Patti LuPone also appears as part of the chorus in the 1963 Los Angeles cast recording of Lionel Bart’s Oliver!
