Theatrical Hilarity: Patti LuPone Experience

Last Thursday, the 16th, I had the wonderful opportunity to see Patti LuPone at the Historic Polk Theatre. I decided to go see her the night before and was thrilled. Thing is, I was wondering why would she come to such a small town? Why not a place like Orlando? Or Tampa?

The Historic Polk Theatre!

The poster about Patti LuPone coming to Polk!

When my mom and I arrived, I met my friend who I sat with and she sat in the balcony. The show was about to begin, and then the pianist walks out. Finally, the music being played crescendos and Patti walks out. APPLAUSE EVERYWHERE!

The set for the show about to begin.

Throughout the first act, she sings songs that I didn't really know that well. They were great, especially this song that talked about her mean Italian family, and that was HILARIOUS! Sometimes, I could not understand a word she said, but that's mainly what she does. I could tell she was hot on stage and drank from a glass of water on the piano. In between songs, she would talk, and once, she said that "we were the best audience and the best theatre" and kept thinking to myself, "She has probably said that to every theatre she's been to." Over Intermission, I talked to many friends I saw there and discussed on the whole "Why Lakeland?" topic.

Then came Act 2, or as I call it "The Broadway Act," because she sangs all of her most notable songs in this act. One of the first songs she sang was "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" from EVITA and I was a part of that production at my local community theatre this past summer. When the music started playing, I immediately knew and my friend and I freaked out in our seats. Haha! It was AMAZING and the highlight of the show. That number received roaring applause.

For the rest of the show, she tricked me THREE times into thinking the show was over. On one number, before it started, she gave a speech on how she LOVES West Side Story and wishes she was Latino to be a part of that show. Before she sang, she said something like," I would have been good enough for West Side Story, heck, I would have been good enough to play TWO ROLES in West Side Story!" She started singing "A Boy Like That" all by herself. That song is a duet number, therefore she sang BOTH parts, and was really good at it. Overall, a humorous number.

When the show ended, my friend and I ran to the Stage door to greet her, along with about 70 other people. After 30 minutes or so, she finally came out and took autographs. We weren't allowed to take a photo with her, but could take a photo of her. I took about 20 photos and the closest one was blurry but she was like right in my face. She did sign my Playbill of the show, and it is laying on my dresser in my room right now.As my mom and I rode home, I did homework, which I was not looking forward to, AT ALL. It was overall a fantastic show and I can now say I've met and have performed on the same stage as Patti LuPone. Not a lot of people can say that.