Patti LuPone appears to be spending Tonys night at home — perhaps taking a dip in the Andrew Lloyd Webber memorial pool, or making a Nixonian enemies list of the 500-plus Broadway artists who signed an open letter asking for her accountability. The 78th annual Tony Awards have a LuPone-shaped cloud over it, thanks to the disparaging remarks she made in The New Yorker about Broadway stars Audra McDonald and Kecia Lewis. Specifically, she called Lewis a “bitch,” said McDonald was “not a friend,” then pointedly refused to comment on McDonald’s Tony-nominated performance in Gypsy. LuPone apologized for her remarks on May 31, after 500 Broadway artists signed the open letter to the American Theatre Wing, which runs the awards. Her absence at the Tonys would indicate she’s still in the “listening and learning” section of the accountability process.
LuPone’s name was still on a lot of lips. Girls5Eva star Renée Elise Goldsberry delivered a Brittany Pierce–esque call for peace among the divas. “When you’re talking about people as talented as Patti LuPone and Audra McDonald and Kecia, I just love all of those women so much,” she told Variety on the red carpet. “I know that if they were all in a room together there would just be love in there.” James Monroe Iglehart, nominated for his performance in A Wonderful World, was fully on Team Audra/Lewis. “I know there were times in the ‘before times’ where folks could act crazy and say whatever they want. You can say whatever you want, but there will be consequences. Let’s just treat everybody with respect,” he said. And McDonald’s Gypsy co-star Danny Burstein asked to be excluded from the narrative. He told Variety that his first thought after reading The New Yorker article was simply, “I’m staying out of this.”
Related
- The 2025 Tony Winners
- The War of the Momma Roses
- Patti LuPone Said Sorry for the First Time in Her Career
It’s as if she never said hello.
