Patti LuPone will ‘never watch Cats,’ thinks Barbra Streisand is too old for ‘Gypsy’

Patti LuPone In Rehearsal for 54 Below Concert

Patti LuPone has been around forever and she knows everybody and she hates almost everyone. Nearly every time we’ve covered her, she’s been talking sh-t about everyone and anyone from Madonna (“couldn’t act her way out of a paper bag”) to Uma Thurman to Andrew Lloyd Webber. So who is on Patti’s chopping block this week? Patti – Ms. LuPone if you’re nasty – appeared on Watch What Happens Live via video-conference and she fits so much sh-t into a clip which is less than three minutes long, it will make your head spin:

To get Patti LuPone to “spill the tea,” Andy Cohen played a few games with the actress that touched on a variety of topics, including Cats, Barbra Streisand’s Gypsy remake, and the story behind the infamous photo of LuPone having drinks with Glenn Close. When asked how shocked she was that Cats bombed at the box office and if she would ever watch the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical, LuPone said she refused.

“I will never watch it. I just saw the revival of it and walked out after the first act. I saw it originally in London and hated it, so I’m not surprised that it bombed onscreen. From one to 10, how about zero,” she said. When asked whether she regretted turning down the role of Evita’s mother in the film adaptation of Evita starring Madonna, LuPone burst into laughter and confirmed that she had no regrets.

As for a photo of LuPone and Close having drinks at the Bar Centrale in New York went viral — at the time, the pair was reported to be feuding — LuPone told Cohen that narrative wasn’t the truth. “We didn’t grab drinks. She crashed our table,” she said. “It was in the paper the wrong way.” She went on to explain that while she was at dinner with Jon Hamm and Andrew Rannells, Close came to sit down next to Hamm. LuPone even recalled advice she gave to Hamm that same night. “I said to him, ‘If you go home and you f—k her, I’ll never speak to you again,'” LuPone recalled (later adding that Hamm and Close never had any close encounters).

As to her thoughts on whether Streisand would ever adapt the musical Gypsy for film after years of struggling to, LuPone said she wasn’t sure. “I’m sure there’s technologies so that she could do it. I think maybe 50 years ago she would have been a brilliant Madame Rose. I think she’s too old,” she said.

LuPone also reflected on the time she trashed her dressing room after learning she was fired from Sunset Boulevard. “I took a floor lamp and I used it as batting practice,” she said. “I smashed up my waiting area and then took the floor lamp and threw it out of the second floor window.”

[From THR]

I too will never watch Cats. Life’s too short and I’d rather watch A) my Bones marathon, B) Ancient Aliens, C) all of the sh-t I have saved on my DVR, D) paint dry. I don’t understand how people can knowingly go into something that terrible – like Cats – just to hate-watch it. As for the Glenn Close story… is Glenn supposed to be a massive B or something? I thought most people liked her. And why did LuPone need to warn Jon Hamm not to sleep with Glenn?? So many questions. And yeah, of course it’s flat-out insulting to think that LuPone would have played Evita’s mother when Evita was being played by Madonna’s thin AF voice. And considering all the sh-t LuPone talks, I didn’t find the Streisand stuff all that insulting? Barbra is too old to play Gypsy Rose’s mother, they would have to “de-age” her.

Patti LuPone In Rehearsal for 54 Below Concert

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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14 Responses to “Patti LuPone will ‘never watch Cats,’ thinks Barbra Streisand is too old for ‘Gypsy’”

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  1. Darla says:

    OMG, I wish I had been there to see Hamm’s face.

    I’ve been reading about Patti since I was literally a child. My family were huge NY Rangers fans, and when I was a kid she was dating Ron Duguay. It was on Page Six of the NY Post which I used to sneak away from my dad to read! It had what in NY at the time was known as the best sports pages, so he got it daily. And I had developed a childish crush on Duguay, so when I saw stories about him and Patti I was fascinated by her. I still kind of am! But I’d be totally scared of her, lol

  2. Grant says:

    This may be an unpopular opinion but I think Patti LuPone, not Glenn Close, may be a massive B. I also think Patti sings too loudly.

    • Darla says:

      Oh, she’s definitely a huge B. I don’t think she’s trying to hide that! Glenn Close I don’t know about. I like her as an actor though.

  3. Lisabella says:

    Miss Patti is my IDOL!!! I LOVE HER!!!

  4. Florence says:

    Patti’s voice is horrid THERE I SAID IT

    Her Ladies Who Lunch makes me cringe.

    • Lightpurple says:

      Speaking of “Ladies Who Lunch,” the Sondheim tribute with national treasures Christine Baranski, Audra McDonald, and Meryl Streep with large containers of alcohol was delightful.

  5. Lightpurple says:

    I would love it if at some point Patti would talk about her days on the set of Oz with Betty Buckley, Joel Grey, JT Simmons, Eamon Walker, Chris Meloni, Edie Falco, Harold Perrinau, Ernie Hudson, Kyle Acevedo, Ed Herman, Luke Perry, Bobby Cannavale, and so many more.

  6. Mumbles says:

    I’m of mixed views. I do love people who are candid and honest. But at the same time some of this seems to be woman-against-woman crime. And it doesn’t help that it’s Andy Cohen encouraging this, I think he is a misogynist who gets off on women attacking each other, verbally and physically.

    • klutz says:

      people also seem to forget how much she adored lena dunham, guested on Girls & was her all around championer.

      yea, I appreciate candor, but hers veers into obnoxiousness.

      I was assuming the Gypsy film version, Streisand would direct not star….I mean, she directed what was that other film?

      anyway, patty, you’re exhausting. and tbh, before Girls I had no clue who she was….and you likely wont find many ppl under 30 who do….

  7. T says:

    Patti is queen, and I will stan her next-level shade forever and ever.

  8. Regina Falangie says:

    “Ms. LuPone if you’re nasty“ Bwa ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!!!

  9. Meg says:

    Patti was fired from the original production of Sunset Blvd by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who hired Glenn Close to replace her. He was very shady about it. So she hates Andrew Lloyd Webber to begin which puts the comments on “Cats” in perspective a bit.

  10. Nancypants says:

    She’s a mess. A hot mess but still a mess and I do admire her.
    She’s going to spill it before she goes and we might need a hazmat suit and big bucket of Pine-Sol to clean it all up.

    Remember her in Driving Miss Daisy? I love that movie and I don’t think she was acting too far from the truth.

    However, she reminds me a little of my mom when my mom was her age.
    My mom – one of the toughest and somewhat meanest women I’ve ever met – said she couldn’t wait to get old because she would say whatever she wanted to whomever she wanted and not care.

    I told her that was fine but she would die alone because no one would put up with that.
    I gave up on her a few years ago. She’s OLD now.
    Her surviving sisters and brother and their families gave up too.
    Living across the street like Rachel’s mom? No way but I wish we could have had that.