Patti LuPone admits she wanted to call Glenn Close a ‘bitch' for replacing her on Broadway

New York Post

5 days ago

Glenn Close is just the latest actress to get caught in Patti LuPone's crosshairs.
LuPone, 76, targeted Close, 78, in a scathing interview with The New Yorker published on Monday, May 26.
The pair's feud dates back to an incident in 1994 when composer Andrew Lloyd Webber chose the 'Fatal Attraction' star to replace LuPone as Norma in the Broadway debut of 'Sunset Boulevard.'
LuPone had already been starring in the West End production of the popular musical, but Lloyd Webber cast Close in a concurrent production in Los Angeles.
8 Patti LuPone targeted Glenn Close in a scathing interview with The New Yorker published on Monday.
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8 Glenn Close is just the latest actress to get caught in Patti LuPone's crosshairs.
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Although the 'Agatha All Along' actress was contracted to follow the role to Broadway, she learned via a newspaper column that she was passed over for her new rival.
'I'd felt rejection,' LuPone told The New Yorker, 'but not that kind of rejection.'
The pair's squabble only escalated when, years later, Close sat next to LuPone during a tribute to Broadway star Barbara Cook at the Kennedy Center in 2011.
8 Andrew Lloyd Webber chose Close to replace LuPone as Norma in the Broadway debut of 'Sunset Boulevard' in 1994.
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8 Andrew Lloyd Webber and Close at the opening of 'Sunset Boulevard' on Broadway in 1994.
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'She said, 'I had nothing to do with it,'' LuPone claimed Close told her. 'I wanted to go, 'Bulls–t, bitch!''
The Post reached out to Close's rep for comment.
However, the Oscar nominee wasn't the only star that LuPone took aim at in her blistering interview this week.
8 The pair's feud escalated when Close sat next to LuPone during a tribute to Broadway star Barbara Cook at the Kennedy Center in 2011.
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Audra McDonald also met the 'Don't Cry For Me, Argentina' singer's wrath when Lupone insisted that the 'Gilded Age' star, 54, is 'not a friend.'
While LuPone did not provide any more details about that feud, both she and McDonald have starred as Rose in the popular play 'Gypsy.' LuPone won a Tony for the role in 2008, and McDonald, who is starring in the role currently, recently received her 11th Tony nomination for the character.
McDonald also currently has six Tony wins versus LuPone's three.
8 LuPone also targeted her 'not a friend' Audra McDonald.
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'What a beautiful day,' LuPone told The New Yorker when asked about her Broadway colleague's performance in 'Gypsy.'
Elsewhere in her fiery interview, the 'Company' actress and singer targeted Kecia Lewis in the wake of a nasty back-and-forth they had last year over the musical 'Hell's Kitchen.'
Lewis, 59, said LuPone's remarks were 'offensive,' 'racially microaggressive,' and 'rude' after LuPone said the play was 'too loud.'
8 'She doesn't know what the f–k she's talking about,' LuPone said of Kecia Lewis.
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At the time, LuPone and Mia Farrow were starring in 'The Roommate' while Lewis was starring in 'Hell's Kitchen' next door.
'Oh, my God,' LuPone said of the incident. 'Here's the problem. She calls herself a veteran? Let's find out how many Broadway shows Kecia Lewis has done, because she doesn't know what the f–k she's talking about.'
'She's done seven,' the 'American Horror Story' star added. 'I've done thirty-one. Don't call yourself a vet, bitch.'
8 Patti LuPone in New York City in May 2022.
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LuPone, who is set to star in Season 3 of 'And Just Like That…,' also dished about her 'terrible' seven-year relationship with Kevin Kline, 77.
'I took an instant dislike to him,' she said of first meeting the 'A Fish Called Wanda' star at Juilliard in 1968. 'He looked like Pinocchio to me. He had skinny legs and he was tall, and I didn't really see the handsomeness.'
'It was a painful relationship,' she added. 'I was his girlfriend when he wanted me to be his girlfriend. And I, for some reason, stuck it out until I couldn't stick it out anymore.'
Kline went on to tie the knot with Phoebe Cates in 1989. LuPone married Matthew Johnston in 1988.