Review: Patti LuPone at the Leicester Square Theatre

Patti LuPone 

Leicester Square Theatre

Reviewed on Sunday 16th June 2013

Patti LuPone is theatrical royalty. Not only did she win a Tony for playing Eva Perón in Evita on Broadway, create the role of Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard in the West End and win a second Best Actress Tony Award as Mama Rose in the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy, but she also won an Olivier award for creating the role of Fantine in the original London production of Les Miserables, the most successful musical in the world. Therefore it is understandable that the Leicester Square Theatre was buzzing with anticipation last night. It seemed everybody was incredibly excited to witness Patti's triumphant return to London. After two and a half hours and three standing ovations it seemed nobody was left disappointed.

The evening is hosted by the Grammy and Emmy nominated Seth Rudetsky who interviews Patti about her astonishing career, as well as accompanying her on a (broken) piano. The evening begins with Seth taking to the stage to warm up the audience, which he does terrifically! So often warm-up acts end up sending an audience to sleep but Seth is outrageously hilarious and knows how to work a crowd. He plays a selection of hilarious video clips, my favourite being a comparison between Patti and Madonna singing one of the big numbers from Evita. In fact, there is no comparison as Patti's voice is just out of this world.

After a short interval Patti finally took to the stage to perform 'Everything's Coming Up Roses', proving that her voice is stronger than ever. The set list is perfect, she performs a handful of well known songs as well as a few surprises. There seems to be an element of spontaneity as Seth claims each night he will choose different songs for Patti to perform. 

In between each performance Seth interviews Patti about her career which is incredibly interesting. The pair have fantastic chemistry and at moments it almost felt as if you were casually sitting in their front room listening to them having a gossip. It was absolutely fascinating to hear Patti discuss what it was like auditioning for Evita, creating the role of Fantine and being fired by Andrew Lloyd Webber. I also loved hearing Patti talk about the famous incident when she stopped mid-performance to tell an audience member to stop taking pictures.

My favourite performance of the evening was hearing Patti sing an emotional rendition of 'I Dreamed a Dream'. To witness the original Fantine perform that classic song provides a very special moment. She then went on to perform 'Fantine's Death' for the first time since she was in the show in 1985.

Not only is Patti very funny and honest, but her voice is unbelievably powerful. Any theatre fan familiar with Patti's career must catch this once in a lifetime opportunity to see her perform once again on a London stage. 

Reviewed by Andrew Tomlins (Editor)

andrew@westendframe.com

Patti LuPone performs at the Leicester Square Theatre until Sunday 22nd June.
Please visit www.leicesterquaretheatre.com for further information and tickets.

Photo Credit: Ethan Hill

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