Catch Patti LuPone on Tour with 'A Life in Notes' and Get Ready with These YouTube Clips

Patti LuPone attends the 75th Annual Tony Awards Meet The Nominees Press Event at Sofitel New York on May 12, 2022 in New York City.

Patti LuPone is currently on a tour with a new solo show, called "A Life in Notes," that takes her to twelve venues throughout the country. Last week she premiered the show in Houston that was reviewed by Brett Cullum for Broadway World who raved: "If you get a chance to catch Patti LuPone in 'A Life in Notes,' it is well worth seizing the opportunity."

"Patti and her music director, Joseph Thalken, have perfectly honed a surprising collection of diverse songs. She even pulls out a Judy Garland standard that everyone gasped at the start," Cullum writes. "Hearing the twists and turns as she goes through the set with some real surprises for a Broadway gal is so fun. Lupone has always known how to merge pop culture with her theatrical training, and she can craft a story around any song she chooses. And that is why we come, to hear the storyteller tell her tale."

But what stories in song will she tell as she brings the tour to Boston next week on Tuesday, April 2 at Boston's Symphony Hall for a date sponsored by the Celebrity Series of Boston? (Remaining tickets are going fast, according to the CSoB. For more information about tickets and the event, follow this link. And on the tour's remaining nine dates, which include two dates in the New York City area (including Carnegie Hall on April 7); Palm Desert, CA; San Francisco, CA; Scottsdale, AZ; Los Angeles, CA; Kalamazoo, MI; and Hartford, CA. //pattilupone.net/tour.htmlFor dates and venues, visit LuPone's website at this link.

That question comes to mind because Cullum points out that because there was no program with a set list, much of the fun of the show comes with speculation of what just songs LuPone will perform from her six-decade career and the rich array of musicals she has performed in. LuPone has not only lived her life in notes, she has also has lived it in YouTube where many of her most iconic moments have been captured. Here is a sample:

'Meadowlark' from 'The Baker's Wife'

After graduating from Julliard, LuPone was an original member of The Acting Company, a professional touring group, where she appeared in a variety of classic roles. Her Broadway debut was with "The Three Sisters" in 1973, but it was her work in the musical "The Robber's Bridegroom" in 1975 that brought her a Tony nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical. The following year, she replaced the lead in the prolonged tryout of "The Baker's Wife," Stephen Schwartz and Joseph Stein stillborn musical based on a classic French film. It was not a happy experience, with both Stein and Schwartz leaving the show before it met its death at DC's Kennedy Center; and producer David Merrick wanting to Lupone's first act showstopper – "Meadowlark" – that has gone onto becoming a cabaret standard and audition standard.

"This could all just be myth," LuPone told the New York Times in 2020, "but let's hope it's true: He was heard in a bar the night before saying, 'I'll get that song out of the show if I have to poison the birdseed.'"

'A New Argentina' from 'Evita'

LuPone's next musical role was that of Eva Peron in Andrew Lloyd Webber's and Tim Rice's "Evita," which came to New York in 1979 following success in London. While it brought her stardom, it came with some grief. "'Evita' was the worst experience of my life," she told the Times in an another interview. "I was screaming my way through a part that could only have been written by a man who hates women. And I had no support from the producers, who wanted a star performance onstage but treated me as an unknown backstage. It was like Beirut, and I fought like a banshee." Nonetheless she gave a performance that won her a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Watch her and the company perform "A New Argentina" from the 1980 Tony Awards.

'I Dreamed a Dream' from 'Les Misérables'

Post-"Evita," LuPone was asked to appear in a new musical produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company in London. She jumped at the opportunity to play Fantine in the now landmark musical where she introduced another cabaret standard, "I Dreamed a Dream." She talks about how much she loved --and hated -- the experience in the introduction to singing the song in a 1997 concert. She also won her first Olivier Award for her performance. Her complaint may be why she didn't repeat the role when the show came to New York.