The iconic Patti LuPone dishes on her upcoming show, A Life In Notes

Photo by Rahav Segev

Broadway legend Patti LuPone will be the first to tell you that music—or a particular song, for that matter—can evoke powerful memories. For most people, certain tunes can crystallize a moment in time.

That was the genesis behind her new concert, Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes, which she’s bringing to the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts on May 21. The three-time Tony Award winner has a slew of songs up her sleeve—many of which are “touchstones that marked a moment in my life,” she says.

Fresh off her recent Marvel TV series, Agatha All Along, LuPone is now returning to her storied stage career roots. She’s also gotten her proverbial band back together as many of the showrunners are long-time friends and colleagues. Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes was conceived and directed by Scott Wittman, written by Jeffrey Richman, and features musical arrangements and direction by Joseph Thalken. LuPone didn’t hesitate when we asked if the crowd could expect a few surprises during her KC performance. A hearty yes flew out of her mouth before we were even done asking the question.

The Pitch: You have a birthday coming up in April! Any big plans?

Photo by Emilio Madrid

Patti LuPone: I don’t know yet. I really don’t because I’ve been on the road. I haven’t even looked at the calendar. I think I’m home. I’m hoping I’m home. I actually yelled at my own agent. He keeps booking me when it’s my birthday, so I’m on stage on my birthday. But not this time.

Wait, so you’re a Taurus. Do you follow anything astrological? 

Well, I’m on the cusp of Aries and Taurus. So, I do battle with myself—the bull and the ram. You’d have to ask other people that question.

The most important question of the day—Where, oh where, is your Hot Ones Hot Wing Award currently? I feel like that should be prominently displayed. 

All of my awards are in a 1700s corner cabinet in the loft of our barn. That’s where they are. Not quite sure if it’s prominently displayed or not. It’s just in there with everything else. I don’t go and look at that stuff very often. I know where it is and I know it’s safe, really.

If you were a betting woman, what song have you sung the most times in your career? 

I think it’s a toss-up between “Meadowlark” and “Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina.”

Like, number of times? 3,000 times? Ballpark? 

They’re three years apart. 1976 and 1979, so that’s a long time. I couldn’t begin to guesstimate that. No, I would not. I can’t.

My bad. That’s on me giving you math questions early on a Sunday morning. I’m curious who you think is a real up-and-comer on the Broadway scene. Maybe somebody you’ve got your eye on that you really think has an “it factor” we need to know about?

Oh, the young girl in Maybe Happy Ending—Helen J. Shen. Yes, she’s wonderful. And it was her Broadway debut! I was shocked because I thought this girl has such presence on stage.

I think, all you want when you go to the theater is to be assured that the cast, the actors, are in command. And by command, I mean they simply own the stage, and you can relax and go on the journey with them. For someone this young—I don’t know how old she is—to make her debut on Broadway and be in that kind of command. And it wasn’t in any way false. It was true to the play, it was true to herself, true to the character. It’s wonderful to see. She was really, really terrific.

Any new shows we absolutely, positively must see? What’s Patti LuPone-approved?

I just saw Operation Mincemeat last night, so I’m obsessed with that. Operation Mincemeat was extraordinary. It’s part of the SpitLip theater company who wrote this and are performing it. They’re British.

David Cumming, Natasha Hodgson, Zoë Roberts, and Felix Hagen wrote it. You should do a deep dive on it. It’s been playing in London for a while, and it just basically opened here. And I think it’s a limited run. It is a true story about MI5 during World War II. It’s about a plan to divert Hitler’s troops from Sicily to Sardinia.

You should Google it. It is fantastic. It’s fresh, it’s so inventive. It is incredibly fast-paced. The choreography is extraordinary. The performances are extraordinary. It’s a true story. And so, I’m obsessed with these guys. I don’t think they’re newcomers. They don’t look like newcomers.

Has anyone asked you about The Kennedy Center? I’m guessing you have some thoughts about that legendary institution.

We’ve all discussed it. The place needs to—when he leaves—needs to get burnt down and start all over again. It’s really, it’s a sham. It’s horrible. I don’t think he’s running the country. Quite frankly, I think that he’s checked out. I think he’s probably mentally ill, and he’s checked out and he thinks he’s on TV.

Hopefully, the Kennedy Center will have a phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes moment. 

One hopes. One hopes.

I need you to be honest—Did you see the drag queen Plasma imitate you on RuPaul’s Drag Race? Thoughts?

Photo by Rahav Segev

Yeah, I did see her and I just saw her at the GLAAD awards. She was great. She just came to the table and introduced herself.

I’ve heard your show “A Life in Notes” described as super-personal, transcendent, and revealing. How would you describe it?

Songs that meant a lot to me. They’re touchstones that marked a moment in my life, which we all have. We all have these songs that we remember where we were, who we were with, or how old we were when we first heard them.

There are certain things that mark moments for us in our lifetimes—It could be music, it could be a television show, it could be a birthday party, whatever. But it marked a moment. And these are just songs that both marked a moment and recall a decade.

Depending on where you are, do you ever just sprinkle in new material to the show? A surprise song here or there? 

Yes. Yes, we do.

Duly noted. Are there any surprises for Kansas City? 

Yes. Yes, there are.

Kansas City is thrilled you’re coming. What can KC do to welcome you with open arms?

I’ve been on the road since I was a kid, and it’s always about transportation and accommodation. We want to get there safely and we want the hotel to be our home.

I’ve been traveling with people that I’ve been working with for 30 years. So, what we do as a group of friends that like to do what we’re doing is look for the best restaurant if we have time to go eat. And, after the show, we’re looking for the bar.

And something happened during COVID where everything shuts down before we get off stage. So, it’s hard to find.  So, you could recommend a place for us to go. I don’t know what hotel we’re staying at.

Lula’s? Lidia’s? You have a lot of choices downtown and in the Crossroads.

Excellent. When there’s time, we want to be tourists. Right now, we go, settle in, perform, and travel, but if there’s time, we go into the places we’re in and we sightsee.

Why have you never hosted Saturday Night Live? Would you do it?

I think it’s probably too late for me to do it. I would have done it earlier. But it’ll depend on the next thing I do and if it draws attention to Lorne Michaels. But has anybody from the theater done it? Because I’m primarily from the theater. I think the thing that hit just now was Agatha, and none of us from Agatha went on.

Yeah, I’ve wondered why I haven’t done it, especially earlier on in my career. I’ve said this ad nauseam that I was a comedian before I went into Evita, and it took a long time to have people remember that actually my first Tony nomination was a slapstick comedy. And now people are searching for comedies for me because they know I’m funny, but it took a long time.

So, it may be they don’t know who I am, don’t think I’m funny, whatever. Of course, with my background and training at Julliard, we did a lot of improvisation—so I’m kind of perfect for that situation. Not just on Saturday Night Live, but anything that requires that kind of comedic chops. But no, I’ve never been asked.

Now, did you know this year will mark 20 years since Jack McFarland said, “SHUT! UP! PATTI! LUPONE!” Did you know that line would take on a life of its own? I mean, your Will & Grace cameo is legendary.

How do you know that? How do you go, ‘Oh, this—this will live in infamy.’ No, of course, not. And on situation comedies, they’re constantly changing lines while you’re shooting. So, you’re sort of just trying to remember when they stop shooting and they give you a new line, what you said before, and what you’re going to say now.

But, of course not. How would I know? How would anybody know? Yes, that’s a question to ask Sean Hayes. He knew that would take on a life of its own. And I wonder who wrote that line!

Interview gently edited for content and clarity.