Audra McDonald rejects Patti LuPone's Broadway rift claim: 'You'd have to ask her'
Audra McDonald rejects Patti LuPone's Broadway rift claim: 'You'd have to ask her'
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Audra McDonald is Mama Rose in 'Gypsy' on Broadway: Watch
Six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald stars as Mama Rose in Broadway's "Gypsy," stepping into the role made famous by Ethel Merman and Patti LuPone.
Audra McDonald is not being baited into dishing on a fellow Broadway veteran.
In a preview from an upcoming interview shared by "CBS Mornings" on May 29, McDonald, 54, told interviewer Gayle King there's no bad blood on her end after Patti LuPone, 76, said in a recent New Yorker feature that McDonald is "not a friend."
"That's something you'd have to ask Patti about," McDonald said on "CBS Mornings" (weekdays, 7-9 a.m. ET).
"You know, I haven't seen her in about 11 years just because we've been busy just with life and stuff. So, I don't know what rift she's talking about, but you'd have to ask her."
According to CBS listings, the full interview is slated to air June 3.
What did Patti LuPone say about Audra McDonald?
In her New Yorker feature, which was published May 26, LuPone shared the two had a rift long ago but declined to elaborate further.
When the "Agatha All Along" actress was asked about McDonald's supportive reaction to a social media post accusing LuPone of racial microaggressions, LuPone said, "I thought, 'You should know better.' That's typical of Audra. She's not a friend."
"When I asked what she had thought of McDonald's current production of 'Gypsy,' she stared at me, in silence, for 15 seconds," the New Yorker's Michael Schulman noted afterward. "Then she turned to the window and sighed, 'What a beautiful day.'"
'Not a friend': Patti LuPone talks alleged Audra McDonald feud
McDonald and LuPone have worked together several times, including costarring in the concert version of "Sweeney Todd" in 2000 and LA Opera's 2007 production of "Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny."
McDonald is currently starring in "Gypsy" as Rose, a role for which LuPone won a Tony nearly two decades ago. She followed that win with a trophy for best actress in a featured role in a musical for "Company" in 2022.
McDonald's latest role earned her a Tony nomination for best actress in a musical for the upcoming June 8 ceremony; her last win in 2014 reportedly made her the most-awarded performer in Tony history with six trophies.
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