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Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Patti LuPone in concert at the Fox
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW: “Patti LuPone: Matters of the Heart.� At the Fox Theatre. Through Sunday, May 15.
Patti LuPone tells us that ”Matters of the Heart” — her evening of singing that runs at the Fox Theatre through Sunday — is about love in all its infinite variety. Unconditional love. Unrequited love. The kind of love that fills us with joy and peace, then crucifies us. Oh, happy, happy love that makes us so unhappy.
If LuPone were just a rainbow-hugging, lollipop-tossing Broadway chanteuse, she probably would not be a very interesting performer. But this singer-actress, who won Tony Awards for “The Robber Bridegroom� and “Evita,� created the role of Norma Desmond in “Sunset Boulevard� and is expected to play Mrs. Lovett in the Broadway revival of “Sweeney Todd� this fall, is a stunningly talented artist who derives her power from a well of vulnerability, shattered dreams and a kind of pathological longing.
If she’s not the most complicated and charismatic pop singer today, she comes close. (Barbara Cook is in a class unto herself, but she’s a generation older than LuPone.) Though LuPone could easily retire, or succumb to those middle-age doldrums of marriage and motherhood, she has continued to lead a vital and varied professional life.
All of which brings us to her Fox Theatre engagement. Appearing in triple layers of pants, long tunic and a short, sheer outer top with sequined appliqués, LuPone looks something like a zaftig butterfly. Honestly, her Dorothy Hamill wedge is a bit dated, and those gushy, breathless, I’m-trying-as-hard-as-I-can-to-be-adorable mannerisms sort of make you think the show is in trouble before it begins.
But give her a little time. Let her have a corny-as-Kansas ”Wonderful Guy” moment, preen at her string quartet like a proud kindergarten teacher, do a campy number for her gay fans. (This raises a salient question: Does Atlanta have enough gay people to fill up eight performances at the Fox?)
LuPone may be a musical-theater luminary, but she’s smart enough to offer material outside the repertoire. You kind of expect choices like Judy Collins’ ”My Father” and Cyndi Lauper’s ”Time After Time.” But for me, the show begins with Brian Wilson’s ”God Only Knows” and ”Easy to Be Hard,” the song from ”Hair” that was recorded by Three Dog Night.
With Joni Mitchell’s ”The Last Time I Saw Richard,” an ode to the ”pretty lies” of dark cafes, and Randy Newman’s ”Real Emotional Girl,” LuPone proves herself a virtuosic storyteller. She’s also a kindred spirit of Stephen Sondheim, who is represented by a withering ”Not a Day Goes By” and a walloping ”Being Alive,” the terrifying anthem of loneliness from ”Company.”
Given that this is a one-woman show, it’s fitting that the central conceit is the state of being alone. As Sondheim puts it: ”Alone is alone, not alive.” Thus Beth Nielsen Chapman’s “Sand and Waterâ€? gets a haunting workout, as does Gilbert O’Sullivan’ chirpy but devastating ”Alone Again (Naturally).”
Unobtrusively accompanied by pianist Chris Fenwick, LuPone proves herself more a bruised rose than a sparkling wit. That she reveals so much about the damaging underside of love, without veering off into soul-draining anger and contempt, is an act of courage and grace.
THE VERDICT: Gorgeous singing.
THE 411: 8 p.m. today-Saturday. 2 p.m. Saturday. 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. $15-$36. Broadway in Atlanta, Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-817-8700, www.foxtheatre.org.
