Latest news with #TonyAwards
NBC News
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Patti LuPone receives scathing open letter for 'degrading' comments about Kecia Lewis and Audra McDonald
More than 600 members of the Broadway community condemned Patti LuPone in an open letter Friday after the three-time Tony winner made controversial comments about fellow stars Kecia Lewis and Audra McDonald. The letter, addressed to The American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League, comes in response to a profile published in The New Yorker this week in which LuPone called Lewis a 'b----' and McDonald 'not a friend.' 'This language is not only degrading and misogynistic — it is a blatant act of racialized disrespect. It constitutes bullying. It constitutes harassment,' the letter says. Theater publication Playbill reported signatories to the letter include Tony winners James Monroe Iglehart, Maleah Joi Moon and Wendell Pierce. Lewis currently stars in 'Hell's Kitchen' on Broadway, for which she won a 2024 Tony Award. McDonald won the 2014 Tony Award for best actress in a play (her sixth) and is the first performer to win the award in all performance categories. She is nominated for the 11th time this year for her lead performance in the musical 'Gypsy.' As of Saturday, the letter had garnered 682 signatures, according to a document that allows people to request the addition of their names. 'Individuals, including Patti Lupone, who use their platform to publicly demean, harass, or disparage fellow artists — particularly with racial, gendered, or otherwise violent language — should not be welcomed at industry events, including the Tony Awards, fundraisers, and public programs,' the letter said. The American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League — which present the Tony Awards, set to be held on June 8 — did not immediately respond to NBC News' requests for comment. LuPone also did not immediately respond. In the New Yorker interview, LuPone was asked about a controversy that circulated during her time co-starring in 'The Roommate' with Mia Farrow last fall. The play, which has since closed, shared a wall with the Tony-winning musical 'Hell's Kitchen,' featuring Lewis. LuPone reportedly asked for the sound design of 'Hell's Kitchen' to be adjusted because the music would bleed through the shared walls, and sent the sound and stage management team flowers and a thank-you note once it was fixed. Lewis posted a video on Instagram in November in response, calling LuPone's actions 'racially microaggressive' and 'rooted in privilege.' Producers of 'The Roommate' posted a statement the following day thanking the 'Hell's Kitchen' staff for the fix, saying, 'These kinds of sound accommodations from one show to another are not unusual and are always deeply appreciated.' LuPone said of the back-and-forth in The New Yorker interview: 'Let's find out how many Broadway shows Kecia Lewis has done, because she doesn't know what the f--- she's talking about. ... She's done seven. I've done thirty-one. Don't call yourself a vet, b----.' The New Yorker noted that Lewis has actually done 10 shows and LuPone 28. Michael Schulman, the interviewer, mentioned to LuPone that McDonald — who holds the record as the Broadway performer with the most Tony Awards and nominations — gave the video 'supportive emojis.' The 76-year-old actor responded: 'And I thought, 'You should know better.' That's typical of Audra. She's not a friend.' McDonald was asked about LuPone's comments in a 'CBS Mornings' interview with Gayle King to discuss her latest Tony-nominated role as Mama Rose in 'Gypsy.' 'If there's a rift between us, I don't know what it is,' McDonald said in a clip CBS shared on social media ahead of the full interview, which airs next week. 'That's something that you'd have to ask Patti about.' The open letter said LuPone's attempt to 'discredit' McDonald's legacy was not only a personal offense, but 'a public affront to the values of collaboration, equity, and mutual respect that our theater community claims to uphold.'
Forbes
7 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
Black-Led Broadway Shows Are Driving A Billion-Dollar Comeback
As the Tonys approach, the industry's biggest night is a chance to ask who gets the spotlight—and who built the stage. No one embodies this more than Audra McDonald. McDonald's success isn't just artistic. It's economics. Audra McDonald accepts the award for best performance by an actress in a leading role in a play for ... More 'Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill' on stage at the 68th annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 8, 2014, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) I first saw Audra McDonald in Carousel, the Cameron Mackintosh revival with colorblind casting. It was one of the first plays I loved as an adult. This was the 1990s. Seeing a Black woman fully inhabit a classic Rodgers and Hammerstein role shifted the chemistry in my brain. It was more than the casting—it was her voice, soaring above the chorus. Later, I watched her show her acting chops opposite Diddy—yes, Sean Puffy Combs—in Raisin in the Sun. McDonald's shows routinely break box office records, and she anchors a Broadway season that has shattered earnings projections. If you've followed my reporting or my Substack, Vanilla is Black, you know I spend a lot of time at the intersection of race, culture, and economics. Broadway is where those forces collide, inside a black box and under a spotlight. I've long admired Patti LuPone, but never quite loved her. She's as known for her sharp tongue as she is for her singing. I saw her in Sweeney Todd at Chicago's Ravinia Festival. It was one of her most transformative performances in a career full of them. She's a diva. She's brilliant. She knows it. She's Patti LuPone. And yet, when you read the recent New Yorker profile of her, it's clear she's either unaware of herself, or doesn't care. She's fought co-stars, producers, and even audience members. She's snatched phones and turned outbursts into punchlines. Now imagine if a Black actress did just one of those things. To understand what that kind of dismissal means in practice, I turned to Carla Stillwell, an actor, playwright, director, and founder of the Stillwell Institute for Contemporary Black Art. For more than 30 years, she's been challenging the way American theater treats Black women onstage and behind the scenes. Audra MacDonald and Patti LuPone during a break in an LA Opera rehearsal of Mahagonny at the Dorothy ... More Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles Tuesday January 30, 2007. (Photo by Richard Hartog/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) In the New Yorker piece, LuPone talks about other women, especially Black women, with a striking air of superiority. She was born in Northport, New York, which is still more than 95 percent white. While she's seen as a quintessential New Yorker, it's hard to ignore how insulated her world might have been. Of Audra McDonald, she said, 'She's not a friend. That's typical of Audra.' And of veteran actress Kecia Lewis, who confronted LuPone about noise complaints backstage during Hell's Kitchen, LuPone snapped: 'She's done seven shows. I've done thirty-one. Don't call yourself a vet, bitch.' After the New Yorker profile ran, more than 500 prominent figures in the theater world signed an open letter condemning LuPone's remarks. The Broadway community formally rebuked her tone and language, calling for greater accountability in how Black women are treated on and off stage. Carla Stillwell, actor, director playwright, educator, and founder of the Stillwell Institute for ... More Contemporary Black Art, has spent more than 40 years reshaping American theater—onstage, in the classroom, and behind the scenes. By the time Patti LuPone dismissed Kecia Lewis as a 'bitch' who wasn't a 'vet,' Stillwell wasn't surprised. 'Anybody who has done one show on Broadway is a veteran,' she told me. 'Go argue with your mom. People don't know the work it takes to be integrated into that kind of high-level musical. To be physically and vocally trained just to be in the room. To dismiss that is so disrespectful.' Kecia Lewis is a Broadway veteran. She originated roles in Big River and Once on This Island, and brought down the house in The Drowsy Chaperone and A New Brain. Her performance in Hell's Kitchen has been widely praised. Her first Broadway role came when she was just 18 years old. She was in the original cast of Dreamgirls. NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 16: Kecia Lewis poses with her award for Best Performance by an Actress in ... More a Featured Role in a Musical for "Hell's Kitchen" at the 77th Annual Tony Awards at David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on June 16, 2024 in New York City. (Photo byfor Tony Awards Productions) 'American theater gives Black women the finger every single day,' she said. 'Patti LuPone has had twice as many opportunities as a woman like Audra McDonald or Kecia Lewis. Not because she's not talented—she is—but because the work was created for her to flourish in as a white woman. I'm sure there were eight Black women who could smoke her ass, but they were never given the chance.' Despite Lewis's talent and longevity, she's only just now getting her due. That's not because she lacked ability or range. It's because Black women have had so few opportunities to lead in American theater. If there had been more than ten Black-written musicals produced on Broadway over the past 160 years, Lewis likely would have starred in many more. Black plays are rarely revived. New plays by Black writers struggle to get financed. And when Black actresses do break through, they often face constant dismissal and marginalization. Despite progress on stage, disparities persist in leadership roles. Since Broadway's inception in 1866, only 10 musicals have been directed by Black individuals, highlighting the ongoing need for inclusivity behind the scenes. Forbes notes that fewer than 12% of company managers are people of color and only two lead producers are African-American. At the same time, outside of Broadway, Black institutions are stepping up where traditional gatekeepers have failed. The National Black Theatre in Harlem is constructing an $80 million arts complex—part performance space, part cultural incubator. In Brooklyn, the Billie Holiday Theatre, founded in 1972, continues to center Black voices and recently received a National Medal of Arts. These aren't just symbolic investments—they're blueprints for the future of American theater. Broadway's 2024–2025 season reached a historic high, grossing a record-breaking $1.89 billion and drawing 14.7 million attendees, according to data from the Broadway League. The Guardian noted that many of these record-breaking grosses came from new, original works, many Black-led that didn't rely on stars or IP. It's a sign that Broadway's future might finally be catching up to its talent. The financial stakes have never been higher, and as Forbes reports, skyrocketing production costs are shaping the industry's future in ways even the most seasoned producers didn't see coming. NEW YORK - JUNE 12: Myles Frost and the cast of "MJ" at THE 75TH ANNUAL TONY AWARDS, live from Radio ... More City Music Hall in New York City, Sunday, June 12 on the CBS Television Network. Emmy Award winners Darren Criss and Julianne Hough co-host THE TONY AWARDS: ACT ONE, an hour of exclusive content streaming live only on Paramount+, followed by Academy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Ariana DeBose hosting THE 75TH ANNUAL TONY AWARDS.(Photo by Mary Kouw/CBS via Getty Images) The recovery wasn't driven by revivals or worn-out blockbusters. It was powered by Black-led productions like MJ the Musical, Fat Ham, and Ain't Too Proud—new stories that brought in new audiences. And the impact is measurable: Baruch College estimates Broadway now contributes $14.7 billion to New York City's economy and supports nearly 97,000 jobs. Forbes reports an 18.5% jump in sales and a 17% rise in attendance. Stillwell put it bluntly: 'Black women are the largest spending power in this country after white men. We've always been the revitalization of any industry on the brink. Broadway's comeback? That's us.' Audra McDonald is the most decorated actor in Broadway history. She has six Tony Awards, two Grammys, and one Emmy. She trained at Juilliard and has performed everything from Shakespeare to Mahler. Her performance in Porgy and Bess pulled in $2.6 million in one week. Her turn as Mama Rose in Gypsy grossed $1.89 million and has earned more than $36 million to date. She is the only performer ever to win in all four Tony acting categories: lead and featured, musical and play. Beyond the stage, McDonald co-founded Broadway Impact to fight for marriage equality. She has raised funds for the Ali Forney Center, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and Covenant House. She's also been a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ homeless youth and called out Broadway's silence during the AIDS crisis. NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 19: Audra McDonald during the opening night curtain call for the new ... More revival of the musical "Gypsy" on Broadway at The Majestic Theatre on December 19, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Glikas/WireImage) Stillwell was unequivocal in her assessment of McDonald's character: 'I've never heard a dark, nasty word about that lady. Only that her work ethic is impeccable and her personality is pristine. That woman is highly unproblematic. She comes to work to work.' Audra McDonald doesn't need to defend herself. Her résumé is a mic drop. Before Audra, there was Stephanie Mills. There was Diahann Carroll. There was Lena Horne. In 1957, Horne starred in Jamaica, a hit Broadway satire that let a glamorous Black woman lead a musical—something rare then and now. The show was originally written for Harry Belafonte but starred Ricardo Montalban, Ossie Davis, and Josephine Premice alongside Horne. Her performance of 'Push De Button' nearly became a Broadway standard. In 1962, Diahann Carroll became the first Black woman to win a Tony for Best Actress in a Musical for No Strings. But that didn't stop a white hostess from barring her from her own cast party, claiming Carroll 'wasn't a real person' and would confuse her children. Carroll threw her own party. In the 1980s, Nell Carter, fresh off her Tony win for Ain't Misbehavin', was offered sitcoms but never starring roles on Broadway again. She once said the industry wanted her voice, but not her body. Even after The Wiz ran for four years and brought in Black audiences by the thousands, Stephanie Mills wasn't seen as a Broadway leading lady. She was 'too short,' 'too dark,' her nose 'too wide.' Some of that came from industry gatekeepers. Some came from Black folks. The future of Broadway won't come from safer revivals. It will come from stories that challenge the mold. Stillwell told me, 'Theater has to stop pandering and start developing new Black writers, Black composers. The successful stories aren't safe. They're honest. We don't need another revival. We need new work that isn't shaped by white comfort.' I interviewed Tiana Kaye Blair, director of Trouble In Mind, for NPR a few years ago. During rehearsals, she said something that still sticks with me: 'Are you working to create something new that will then, in turn, do something new for audiences?' That means people who have traditionally not attended Broadway theater. Audra McDonald doesn't need to defend herself. I would rarely attempt to speak for Black gay men. But I can say this much with confidence. We got you, Audra. And as Pride Month begins, the Black gay world speaks with one voice: Patti, take several seats. Everyone else, enjoy the Tonys.
New York Times
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
In ‘Dead Outlaw,' Andrew Durand Has the Role of a Lifetime. And After.
An hour before a Wednesday evening show, the actor Andrew Durand clambered up to a platform on the stage of the Longacre Theater and began doing jumping jacks. 'When I walk onstage I never want to feel like I walked in off the street,' he said between jumps. 'I want some sort of elevation physically.' Durand, 39, a Broadway regular, is a first-time Tony nominee this year for his role in 'Dead Outlaw,' a new musical that tells the improbable true story of Elmer McCurdy, a bandit fatally shot by a sheriff's posse in 1911. Because his preserved corpse went unclaimed, McCurdy spent the following decades as a sideshow attraction and an occasional movie extra before ending up as a prop in an amusement-park ride. McCurdy's unusual life and afterlife mean that Durand spends the first 40 minutes of the show leaping on and off tables, climbing up and down ladders, and hanging upside down. He spends the next 40 minutes standing still, barely breathing when the lights are on him. Before each performance, he puts himself through a 30-minute workout to prepare for all that motion, all that stillness. 'I have all this crazy stuff to do in the show,' he said. 'I don't want my body to go into shock.' Durand, who has wavy brown hair, a wide forehead and the jawline of a cartoon superhero, grew up in a churchgoing family in a suburb of Atlanta. He saw his first play at 10, at the local community theater. He returned to act, to paint sets, to sell concession stand popcorn. He loved the openness, the silliness and the reverence he felt there. Eventually he recruited his whole family for the annual production of 'A Christmas Carol.' An arts high school followed, then a theater conservatory, and not long after he graduated Durand was on Broadway in 2008, as a replacement cast member in 'Spring Awakening.' During that show, Durand didn't pay much attention to workouts or warm-ups. 'I think I had some injuries that I didn't notice or deal with,' he said. 'I'm pretty sure I tore a rotator cuff doing some choreography, but we were kids. We were just partying after the show, hanging out, sleeping in.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
How Megan Hilty, a Tony Nominee, Spends Her Show Days
For 20 hours a week, Megan Hilty is a self-obsessed, vindictive, fading movie star. Then she spends the rest of her time trying to make it up to everyone. Ms. Hilty, 44, known for her starring role in the NBC musical series 'Smash' and her turn as Glinda in 'Wicked' on Broadway, returned to the stage late last year as the aging-averse Madeline Ashton in a musical adaptation of the 1992 movie 'Death Becomes Her.' She has been nominated for the best actress in a musical Tony Award for the role, which she describes as the most physically demanding one she has undertaken. 'I'm not just going to work, singing and dancing, and that's it,' she said. 'It's way more involved than it seems.' But doing so meant uprooting her family from Los Angeles. 'It was a big ask,' she said. 'Not only did they leave their life as they knew it; I then basically left them, because my job is all-encompassing.' Making it up to them has meant being extra intentional with family time. 'Sunday nights are our family dinner night,' she said. 'The phone goes off and I'm theirs.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Patti LuPone Says Audra McDonald Is ‘Not a Friend' After a Falling Out Years Ago, Stares in Silence When Asked About McDonald's ‘Gypsy' Revival
Patti LuPone is not one to mince words, which is why her latest profile in The New Yorker is stirring up buzz among Broadway fans for the revelation that she is no longer friends with fellow stage icon Audra McDonald. 'She's not a friend,' LuPone said when McDonald's name was brought up by interviewer Michael Schulman. McDonald is a Tony nominee this year for playing Rose in 'Gypsy,' a role that previously won LuPone a Tony. LuPone revealed to The New Yorker that she had a falling out with McDonald some years ago, although she declined to go into further detail. The revelation came to be after Schulman brought up a scandal that LuPone found herself in last fall while on Broadway opposite Mia Farrow in 'The Roommate.' The play shared a wall with the Alicia Keys musical 'Hell's Kitchen,' loud noises from which could be heard next door. LuPone filed a noise complaint to Robert Wankel, the head of the Shubert Organization, and sent flowers to the cast and crew of 'Hell's Kitchen' when the noise problem was fixed. But she was later criticized by some of the musical's cast members. More from Variety Pharrell Williams and Audra McDonald on Putting Dandyism on Display at the Met Gala: 'It's About Time' Jake Gyllenhaal and Audra McDonald on Playing Broadway Villains, Stage Fright and Cellphones Disrupting Broadway Shows: 'I Snapped!' George Clooney and Patti LuPone Get Honest About Broadway Pay, Surviving the Trump Era and Elon Musk: 'Isn't He Destroying the Government?' Kecia Lewis, whose role in 'Hell's Kitchen' won her the Tony for best featured actress in a musical, posted a video on Instagram slamming LuPone's behavior as 'bullying' and 'racially microaggressive.' Lewis added that LuPone was 'rooted in privilege' and called out LuPone for labeling 'a Black show loud.' McDonald liked Lewis' video. 'Exactly,' LuPone told The New Yorker. 'And I thought, 'You should know better.' That's typical of Audra. She's not a friend.' When Schulman then asked LuPone for her thoughts on McDonald's production of 'Gypsy,' LuPone stared back at him 'in silence for fifteen seconds' and proceeded to look out the window and say: 'What a beautiful day.' As noted by People magazine, LuPone and McDonald's history of working together in the past includes the 2007 Los Angeles Opera's production of 'Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny' and the New York Philharmonic's 2000 concert version of 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,' in which LuPone played Mrs. Lovett and McDonald starred as the Beggar Woman. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
