Patti LuPone dishes out a dramatic career

Broadway diva's breezy new memoir accounts for major hits and misses

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

BOOK REVIEW

Broadway doesn't kick into its new season until later this month, so now's the time to kick between the covers of "Patti LuPone: A Memoir" (Crown Archetype. $25.99).

Tops among reigning stage divas, the feisty, formidable two-time Tony winner delivers a breezy account of her tumultuous career so far.

Bookending these quick 324 pages with "Gypsy" — her first, at age 15 as Louise at her high school in Northport, Long Island and her final three as Madame Rose, one more triumphant than the last, in 2006-2009 — LuPone wastes little time on childhood remembrance.

By the third chapter she's studying at Juilliard, lipping off to John Houseman and igniting a seven-year romance with classmate Kevin Kline.

Contentedly married for 22 years, LuPone remains pretty zipped on details regarding her former love life (who's the unnamed Canadian hockey player?) but certainly doesn't spare any professional associates who've done her wrong. Chaim Topol during "The Baker's Wife," Bill Smitrovich in the "Life Goes On" TV series and the dancing ensemble of "Anything Goes" are among hashes LuPone settles, if not burns.

LuPone's star-making turn in "Evita" turns out to have been a hellish experience — complete with a ghostly visit from Eva Peron — but she would suffer worse in her next Andrew Lloyd Webber venture.

Two dishy chapters are devoted to the agony that became "Sunset Boulevard" in London when LuPone was scandalously passed over for the New York production in spite of a contract that ultimately cost "unmitigated coward" Webber a reported million dollar payoff. (The swimming pool she built with part of the dough is among this handsome book's nearly 100 photos.) At last word, LuPone has yet to forgive the composer and remains none too fond of Glenn Close.

Written with Digby Diehl, the bio's conversational tone is characteristically snappy — even snappish at times — as LuPone briskly recounts her hits and misses. The creation of remarkable shows like the 2005 "Sweeney Todd" and her evolving portrayal of Madam Rose are especially informative passages. David Mamet, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents are among the legends making cameo appearances.

Admitting to smashing up two dressing rooms in Sicilian rages over the years as well as other bad habits, the actress earnestly depicts the eight-a-week stresses of making live theater and the constant need to improve one's craft. Youngsters seduced into show biz by "Glee" and "American Idol" might want to pay particular attention to LuPone's long struggle with vocal problems that proved far deeper than mere diction issues.

Even as her bio comes out, LuPone is rehearsing a leading role in the new Broadway musical "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" for previews beginning in early October. So LuPone's memoir obviously is somewhat premature, but otherwise it's an enjoyable read for all genuine Broadway babies.