Anything Goes as Patti LuPone Candidly Talks About Memoir

As she readies to return to the Broadway stage in the upcoming Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, two-time Tony winner Patti LuPone dishes about her soon-to-be-released self-titled memoir to Out magazine, covering topics such as her triumph in the title role of Evita and the infamous Sunset Boulevard casting fiasco.

"In 1979 Evita was the preferred Halloween costume," the actress recalls of her days in the Tony-winning show. "I ran into Ed Vita on 14th Street, on his way to the Christopher Street parade. He had the white dress on and the microphone and the blonde wig—with one piece of hair askew. I said, ‘I’m Patti LuPone.’ He didn’t care. He was Ed Vita!"

On a more serious note, LuPone addresses her personal disappointment when Glenn Close was chosen for Sunset Bouelvard's Broadway debut [LuPone originated the role of Norma Desmond in the London production], and notes she learned of the casting by reading the newspaper. "No one is born tough,” LuPone notes. “Joe Mantegna says it’s water off a duck’s back. He’s not from Sicily. I’m Sicilian. It’s not water off a duck’s back. It sits there and it festers. For years. It’s show business. Sometimes it fucking sucks.”

LuPone discusses other roles she missed out on, saying she was in negotiations to play the Witch in the original production of Into the Woods, but "then Bernadette [Peters] got billing and everything else I wanted." LuPone also had her eye on the role of Desiree in the current revival of A Little Night Music. "I called [director] Trevor Nunn and he never called me back." Another lost opportunity? Transferring Gypsy to London. LuPone hints she hopes to re-create her Tony-winning performance in the West End, but plans were halted due to a bad turn in her relationship with director Arthur Laurents. "[Gypsy] hasn’t been seen in London since Angie [Angela Lansbury] did it in the ’70s. I did a TV pilot and Arthur got mad at me. He’s a terrific man. I just want him to be happy.”

LuPone obviously is still highly in demand, as she recently filmed The Miraculous Year, a Broadway-themed TV pilot, for HBO opposite other stage stars like Norbert Leo Butz and Stark Sands. Her memoir hits stores September 14.