Better Together
Spanish swordsman, YouTube sensation and Broadway stars: The greatest hits ofPatti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin
Broadway stars Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin hit the Eisemann Center inRichardson for one night only September 15.
Mandy Patinkin says the revenge-driven Spanish swordsman Inigo Montoya in thePrincess Bride is still his favorite movie role.Photo by © 1987, 2009 Act III Productions, LP
During the Broadway revival of Gypsy, one audience member was bold enough tosnap pictures of LuPone’s performance, and she famously stopped the show in themiddle of her character’s climatic number. It became a sensation on YouTube.
You might think you don’t know Tony Award-winning Broadway legends Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, but trust me: you do. Even if you’re not a regular theatergoer, these performers have surfaced enough in pop culture over the years to burrow their way into your life.
The duo — who first performed together as Eva Perón and Che in the original production of Evita — bring their acclaimed Broadway concert An Evening With Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin back to the Eisemann Center in Richardson for one night only September 15. But, first, a quick look back at their careers to help you get up to speed.
Patti LuPone
With One Look, She Dreamed a Dream, But Don’t Cry for Her
You don’t become a theater legend without blazing a few trails. In addition to being the first to portray the famous First Lady of Argentina, LuPone created the stage roles of fading silent film star Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard and downtrodden prostitute Fantine in Les Misérables. To reiterate her versatility, those characters have since been portrayed in various mediums by, among others, Madonna, Glenn Close and Anne Hathaway.
She Looks Familiar …
Glee, Will & Grace, 30 Rock, Law & Order, Ugly Betty, Oz — you name a show, and LuPone has probably appeared on it. Whether playing herself or the complete opposite, her television career has taken a wide arc and even included a few Emmy Awards. This past year she came full circle and guest starred on Army Wives as the mother of Kellie Martin, her onscreen daughter from Life Goes On.
Don’t Mess With Mama
In 2009, one audience member at the Broadway revival of Gypsy! was bold enough to snap pictures of LuPone’s performance as pushy stage mother Mama Rose. She famously stopped the show right in the middle of her character’s climatic number “Rose’s Turn” to insist that the fan stop clicking and leave the theater. Ironically, other audience members recorded the incident on their cellphones, turning her outburst into a YouTube mini-sensation.
Mandy Patinkin
“My name is Inigo Montoya …
... You killed my father, prepare to die.” Patinkin’s iconic introduction as the revenge-focused Spanish swordsman is perhaps the most famous line in the quote-heavy movie The Princess Bride. Decades later, Patinkin still says it was his favorite film role.
Art Isn’t Easy
Following his theatrical breakthrough as Che in Evita, Patinkin tackled the dual roles of Georges/George in Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George. Complex and dense — it won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for drama yet received a mixed critical response — the musical is a fictionalized account of French pointillist painter Georges Seurat’s creation of his most famous painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, and how his legacy affected his descendents. And, yes, that’s the painting from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
He Looks (and Sounds) Familiar …
Starting with a spot on Chicago Hope in 1994 and progressing to his current role as Carrie’s mentor Saul Berenson on Showtime’s Homeland, Patinkin’s television career has been almost as steady as his theatrical work. Criminal Minds and Dead Like Me are two other standouts, but very little can top his turn as Lisa’s British fiancé Hugh Parkfield on a futuristic episode of The Simpsons.
