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Ira Madison III And we’re back with an all new bonus episode of Keep It. I’m Ira Madison the Third.

Louis Virtel And I’m Louis Virtel.

Ira Madison III And we have got an icon, a legend, the moment, the moment for decades at this point, we created a bonus episode just for her, Patti LuPone.

Louis Virtel I mean, a staggering interviewee, just anyway. We could have gone a million ways interviewing her. We could have talked just about Evita alone.

Ira Madison III Yeah, I want to know about that Tony’s performance. She is going in, she gets that whole song out and 30 seconds. Yeah.

Louis Virtel And now she’s going to be performing at the Hollywood Bowl with Sutton Foster. Imagine not seeing that. Oh, my God. I’m so excited to see it.

Ira Madison III Yeah, I’m a fly back for that shit.

Louis Virtel Mm hmm.

Ira Madison III You think she’ll get us? Do you think she’ll get us tickets?

Louis Virtel That would be nice of her. I believe we made a nice impression. You know what you’re going to get during that show? Dueling Reno Sweeney’s. I mean, how amazing is that going to be? A little. And I think anything goes on and on.

Ira Madison III Baby, if they both do the tap number.

Louis Virtel I’m crying. And as you know, I’ve never cried before.

Ira Madison III Oh.

Louis Virtel So my first time, I wonder what that’ll be like.

Ira Madison III Oh, you’re like a country singer who has never loved by her daddy. And maybe she’s a bit of an alcoholic and she’s never really written her own music. But one day she writes her own song when her husband leaves her after dying in a car crash as well. And then you cry and the tears drop on your guitar.

Louis Virtel Are you saving this accent for your Joe Turner’s Come and Gone audition? What is this?

Ira Madison III I’m shining like new money. Louis. Yeah. Oh, well, there really isn’t much more to say. Besides, we have Patti fucking LuPone on Keep It. So we’ll be right back with our Patti interview. I would like to propose a toast to our guest today. She has Tonys. She has Grammys. She has a voice that will make you feel every emotion on the spectrum. You already know who she is. You can catch her next in the hypnotic and heart stopping Ari Aster film, Beau is Afraid. Please welcome to Keep It, the iconic, Patti LuPone.

Patti LuPone Thank you very much. It’s great to be here.

Ira Madison III It’s great to have you here. Truly, just one of my favorite performers and obviously theater I’ve seen. I’ve been able I’ve been lucky to see so many of your roles and in film and seem to be as well. You’re so captivating. And in this film particularly. It’s not a horror film like the rest of Ari’s films, but when you step into it, things get a little scary. You’re so arresting in this film, and I just have to wonder what drew you to this. Did you know Ari Aster before? Did he specifically look for you for this role?

Patti LuPone Well, I didn’t know Ari before I got a call from my manager to set up a zoom with Ari, and I went, I don’t know who he is. And my kid said, This is the man, mom, this is the man. And then I wondered why he wanted to see me. Was he a musical theater queen? What was going on? And so I asked the question. I said, Ari, why me? And he came and his answer just blew my mind. He said he saw me in a David Mamet play called The Anarchist on Broadway, which lasted two. By the way, he’s friends with Clara Mamet. He knows David very well. So he came to see the play and he said he talked about me for a week afterwards, how I handled the Mamet language. I cut my teeth on David. I’ve worked with David since 1976. So I was thrilled that Ari came to me through that avenue. And I actually wrote to David afterwards of that. Thanks for giving me the for getting me the part. And I’m sure that the language was crucial. My comprehension or my my, my delivery of language was crucial for Ari because of the monologue that I have in the movie. Then, you know, working on it was just a joy working on it with both Ari and Joaquin. We were on night shoots. It was the three of us. And. A wonderful thing happened. It was serendipity. I don’t know what came. I know his work, but I don’t know the man. That’s a very intense scene. And we were in the mornings when we all woke up after, you know, shooting at night. I would have a French press with coffee and I’d go out on a little balcony. So we’re facing this river, I mean, this lake. And I would bond over coffee. I would be in my nightgown. Everybody was in their pajamas, and we would just talk to each other as people. And it really helped break any kind of barrier we might have had watching and I might have had because we didn’t know each other. So that when we got to that scene, it was easy because we saw each other as people. Besides are those human beings most often in film? It’s How do you do it, Patty? How are you doing? And then you go at it. And this gave us an opportunity to see each other as people.

Louis Virtel How does this I mean, this movie has been described this way several times in the press, but how does this surreal odyssey read on the page? I mean, when you’re reading the script, are you like, oh, I of course, get what we’re going to see in the final product because I do not believe I would. So was it did Ari need to, like, convey his vision to you very specifically in order for you to understand even what was going on?

Patti LuPone That as well. It reads exactly as that odyssey, that surreal odyssey. But he didn’t get to explain it as well to me. And I’m glad he did. I mean, because there’s so many layers to this story that it takes more than one viewing to catch them. And he actually had to tell me, Oh, how come I missed that? Well, maybe I’m a stupid reader, but I missed a lot in the reading. And I read it maybe three times and I still miss stuff. So it’s a he’s his mind. Actually, when we when we had our first session in Montreal, because that’s where we shot it to discuss my character at the end of it and you know the film at the end of it, I just looked at him and I said, Does your brain hurt all the time? But it reads that way. I mean, he’s such a specific writer. He’s such a good writer that it actually reads what you’re seeing on camera. It reads that way. It was just all of the subtleties that I missed.

Ira Madison III Mm hmm. I have an interesting question then about reading a script for a new, you know, a play or a new musical, you know? I mean, you said you’ve worked with now that you cut your teeth or now that you know, So you really got used to, you know, mastering language and seeing, you know, what was on the page and how to bring it to the stage. But, you know, you’ve worked with, you know, Mamet and Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber and, you know, like these people who have such big characters, but monologues and moments, you know, how do you prepare for reading something that needs to be translated to the stage? And do you find that you can tell, you know, from new writers when you read something, whether or not they’re going to have, you know, a mastery of that language like some of the other people you’ve worked with.

Patti LuPone Yeah. It’s all about the word for me. It’s all about it’s all about what’s on the page. You know, I start with the script first. I start with the idea, and hopefully if hopefully I understand it, hopefully it’s well-written enough or as complicated is as Ari or Mamet. A lot of times. I mean, the anarchist, I had to read several times to understand it, but I always go back to the script. I always go back to the word, and I always try to make sense of the point in each sentence, the point in each paragraph, the point in the idea that the playwright is trying to convey the same thing with song. I always go to the word to make sense of the story. And there, what’s the name of the guy that wrote Oh God Ain’t No Mo? What is the name of the playwright?

Ira Madison III Jordan E. Cooper

Patti LuPone Oh, my God, That is an amazing talent.

Ira Madison III Mm hmm.

Patti LuPone That’s so fun. I don’t know. You know, I know I would love to find this guy and tell him he’s got to be careful the next time he picks his producer. That should have run. The writing show was fantastic. It was disturbing. It was hysterical. He was brilliant in it. And he is a young writer. He knows what he’s doing and he knows to get the idea on the page so that the actor can give the idea to the audience. That was the, one of the the other one was Cost of Living. For me, the two plays for me on Broadway this season was the ones that have, Cost of Living and An’t No Mo. Where I went, Holy Toledo, But Ain’t No Mo was I came out of there so mad that it was closing and so grateful that I saw it. And, and it was so present. I mean, his writing is so clear. You know that you know sometimes. Well, I don’t want to say any more than that because because Ari is a complicated playwright and a screenwriter, and there’s some things you have to take home and you have to digest. And there were some things that that are presented to you that are clear enough or the idea is clear enough, and that’s the way they want it. That kid is fantastic. Did I answer the question?

Ira Madison III Did you? Did. No. And I think that is what we’re doing. You’re a writer, You know, You really hope that you can convey not just your message to the audience, but also, first and foremost, the actors who have to read your words. Yeah, go get it. No one else will.

Patti LuPone Exactly.

Louis Virtel I was thinking about just the many pleasures of your work in particular. And I think one of my favorite things that you do. You’re the kind of person who gets praise, you know, mostly for her incredible belt. But I love when you have to handle and this is in song or not fast dialog and a lot of dialog. There’s something like, Oh good, somebody wrote something for Patty that’s as sharp and as she is, you know, that like gave her, you know, a lot to chew on, so to speak. And I was wondering, do you have your favorite particular chunk of fast, wordy dialog you’ve ever had to spout? And is that does that kind of stuff come easy for you when it’s a big chunk of words?

Patti LuPone No, I don’t think it comes easy for anybody because of the, you know, the annunciation, the very specific. And audience has to understand it. I have a Juilliard I was given by I must have been eight is going to give me the gift of a gripped up sock. A clipped top sock, which is my vocalese before I go on stage. You know, I vocalize, but then I get the articulation going and I do tune another hundred people. I sing and a song. If you hadn’t, But you did by Julie Stein, which is rapid, rapid fire singing inside of notes. I mean, words inside of notes, which is harder than just speaking. And so I love singing that. And it takes a long time for me to get my tongue and my lips around those words. But I do them as articulate before I sing. I do. Meadowlark is another one where the words rapid, rapid words inside of a relatively fast song. Stephen writes a lot of those.

Louis Virtel Oh, yeah.

Ira Madison III Mm hmm.

Patti LuPone Makes a lot of those. They’re fun to to to conquer. But they take work. They take a lot of work. So that the audience here said, it’s not enough that I can do it. It’s I have to be extra articulated So an audience hears it on the first shot.

Ira Madison III Mm hmm. You talk a bit, you talked a bit about even going to see our cost of living eight mobile. And I have to wonder, for someone who’s done theater for so long, what pleasures do you take in still seeing shows, you know, and going through the whole process of. I’m leaving my home, but I’m going to see something or even, you know, when you’re working on something too. How hard is it to then go and see something that you hear is really exciting and you want to see before it closes?

Patti LuPone You know, it’s all about it’s all about joy, you know what I mean? It’s it’s all about that. I have theatrical memories that that, that I treasure. The last preview of a Chorus Line at the Newman at the public, one of the last previews of Hamilton At that same theater. At the Public Theater. Peter Brookes, a midsummer Night’s Dream and Mirage Sun. The entire 8 hours of Nicholas Nickleby with the RSC. Those things will they’ll they’ll never leave my my body. They’re great theatrical experiences. So when that happens, I just want to go in there and sit down in that state when the lights go out, be transformed, transported to the stage, to that environment, to wherever it’s going to take me. And that, of course, will depend on the actors, on the stage and the material. And when it’s confident, when everybody knows what they’re doing, there’s nothing better than life theater. So when you all of a sudden you’re on the street and go, Oh. Oh, I’m on the street. Oh, that just happened. And. And. And it happens a lot. And then, of course, it doesn’t happen a lot because some the theater isn’t good enough. But that’s, you know, you don’t go in going I don’t go in critical. I go in hoping for that experience that I will have a theatrical experience. And more often than not, I’ll have I had it at the National. I’ve had it several times where the theater is just really, really good. Just really good. The performance are good. The story is good. The sets are good. The costumes are good. The audience is behind. I mean I’m reading about The Bodyguard now in London, where people are pissing in their seats. It’s like what the fuck is going on? What’s going on? It’s crazy. You got him? I don’t know where that came from.

Louis Virtel I just say, speaking of that, by the way, obviously, you famously have yelled at audience members for having their phones out, whatever. Now, to me, in retrospect. If you hadn’t done that, we would have no landmark moment where someone just said, This is fucking rude. Like it. Now it feels like actors are going to have to do what you did for like the rest of time in order to even make a slight dent in this extreme rudeness problem.

Patti LuPone I think audiences are behaving better now, and I think audiences are becoming vigilantes as well because it’s only one person.

Louis Virtel Right.

Patti LuPone Disrupting the entire event and people buying tickets to have an experience. So they’re angry that their experience is being compromised by one selfish person. And there’s lots of people that have stopped shows. It’s just that I don’t know, I my middle name is controversy. I’m the one. I’m the one that sort of sets the standard for behavior that people are talking about. But, you know, lots of people have stopped shows and you just never hear about it. But what also audiences don’t know is how many times there’s a protocol we follow backstage where if you see a camera or if you see somebody on a phone, you go to stage management. Stage management calls house management. House management sends an usher down. People don’t know how many times that occurs on a nightly basis before actors stop a show. I’d like to know what was happening in Death of a Salesman with Wendell Pierce and that woman coming down stage shaking your fist at him. What the hell was that? He go, I went like this. I’ll give you the money. Get out of the theater. What gave that person the right to think she could come downstage and stop a show? I just don’t. What about the guy that needed to charge us for? And so he jumped on the stage because he saw a stage log and thought that that was real. I can’t even remember which show it was. That was real. A real electricity. What are these people thinking? They’re? You know what? We’ve forgotten our public manners is what we’ve forgotten. We’ve forgotten that we are in a community. We’re going to have our own individual experience in a communal environment, and we’re forgetting about the community.

Louis Virtel People just assume all theater is immersive now and they’re going to immerse themselves in it. Now that they’re your property.

Patti LuPone I mean, I’ve kicked programs off the stage. You know, I felt like, what’s a character in Blazing Saddles. Get your feet off the stage. But I have I’ve had to kick programs off the stage going, wait a minute. And it’s not about actors. It’s about the audiences that are in the mezzanine, in the balcony, that are looking at the stage and they’re seeing people’s feet on the stage or they’re seeing programs on the stage. So immediately they’re taking anything. They’re taken out of the experience. There’s a you know, there’s a barrier between the stage and the audience, and don’t cross it unless you’re coming to it and you’re with your heart and your mind and your emotions, not your feet.

Louis Virtel I want to say also, you’re one of these people now who is such a bona fide legend that you intersect with what I would call almost old Broadway in a way like the Who we now consider like the Grand Arms and stars of musical theater in the past. Is there anybody who you just miss working with that you never got a chance to? That’s like God for the rest of time. I’ll never get to work with that person who ended up dying or whomever.

Patti LuPone Yeah, probably all of them, you know? Yeah, lots of them. I never worked with Alan Rickman. And he’s brilliant on stage. The first time I saw him was a little liaison with Lindsay Duncan, and I actually said, Bring down the curtain. It’s hot in here. Out Loud. But they were so sexy together. I can’t imagine what it would have been like working with Ethel Merman. It would have been a trip. Just to have been her dresser. Just to be her assistant. Yes, Ms. Merman. That would have been, up to be on stage with any of them. Would have been. Incredible. Yeah. You know, I’m. I’m sorry. That. That. The those those that came before are now dead. Yeah, well, of course they’re dead. But, you know, what I mean, it was probably because back in the day, those I mean, I’ve heard this and who knows? I think it’s true. They were doing shows a week and then they doing a 21 club and then they’d have a party after the 21 club. And the 21 club now closes at 9:30. And it used to be. What the hell’s going on? But I mean, they would have parties, they would party after the show and get up and do a show the next day.

Louis Virtel I feel like hologram technology will soon bring us the chance for you to work with Ethel Merman. I do think, like whatever next Warpaint revival. I don’t know. Whatever ever.

Patti LuPone I saw the original. I saw the Roy Orbison, Maria Callas. And I didn’t I could not believe what I was seeing, especially Roy Orbison, because I kept sending him down to hell. And then bringing him back up from hell. He would go down a trap door in the floor of the stage. I’m going, Where’s he going? He’s going to hell and then back up to sing again. And then he go back down to how go You couldn’t, like, walk him off stage his ass. And then Maria Callas was pretty brilliant. They found some woman in Queens who looked like her, and they she practiced all of the movements. So it was almost as if you were watching Maria Callas for real, Whether it was the Roy Orbison that was crazy.

Ira Madison III It’s like I had the distinct pleasure of some of my very first Broadway shows that I saw you were in. I saw the Sweeney Todd that you were in, and I saw Gypsy as well. And I have to wonder, you know, when you do film and television, you’re able to revisit something, you know, just by looking at yourself, like on a screen or something when you’re done, like these iconic roles, you know, like bravura, you know, like, how do you revisit something if you want to, you know, relive some of the memories of the show? Or do you sort of when you’re done with a role, sort of like a legendary role, do you ever have any desire to be like, I’d like to listen to myself again or, you know, just sort of like relived in that moment, you know?

Patti LuPone Yeah. And you know what? I’ve never heard any of my cast albums because I’m just not a big fan of me. I don’t I don’t like to look at myself on camera, and I certainly don’t like to listen to myself sing because I’m just I’m just not a big fan of me. And that’s that’s not unusual. There’s a lot of people that a lot of actors or singers that go, No, no, no, I can’t. I can’t because we’re just too critical. And I’ve been not healthy, but I have. I would love to play Nelly. Love it again. I’d play Madame Rose again. I say that. But to go through it again, probably not. And I don’t I so I don’t revisit. Actually, I you know what I’ve been singing a lot now is Joanna. I don’t know. I don’t sing. No, he doesn’t sing. Joanna. It’s just such.

Ira Madison III A.

Patti LuPone Gorgeous piece of music. And I was listening to the original just to hear it again. It’s Victor Garber and Len Carew.

Ira Madison III Yes.

Patti LuPone It’s such a stunning piece of music, but I don’t I don’t revisit me about it. I think about the experiences and the ones that were great. I shed a tear for and the ones that were bad I shed a tear for. There weren’t very many bad ones. But but the ones, you know, all of that is, you know, it’s a subjective business. So we feel deeply we say goodbye, sadly to our compatriots. People passed through us. With every production they pass into our souls. And then out again, I’m shedding tears for leaving Agatha in a minute. Coven of Chaos. Because it’s such a great experience, and I’m very sad that I won’t see especially, I mean, the the actresses and the actor they’re involved in this are incredible. And I will see them. I don’t know if I’ll work with them again, but I’m working with a pretty unique crew and a pretty unique production designer, and I know I won’t work with them again and I’m going. The experience has been so special. It’s so artistic and craftsmen at the top of their game that I actually cried. And I’m not wrapped yet, but I actually think about both of these people when they’re at the top of their game. When you’re seeing everybody’s commitment and talent. And I’m going to just say this and I could cry. Right now, we don’t mention the art artistry or artists enough in this country. We don’t celebrate our American artists. And that includes the spectrum, the people that are on the other side of the camera or the other side of the footlights behind the curtain. And I’m not just talking about performers. I’m talking about the craftsmen that get us on stage, the special effects people, the DP’s, the production designers, the costume designers. We don’t talk about them enough. And and I’m working with and have worked with extraordinary talent. It breaks my heart. So when you talk about do I miss a production? I miss the crews. I miss. I miss the whole experience, not just performing on stage, but what happens backstage. Especially Gypsy. There’s a family, the McDonough’s, because there’s like a mafia of stagehands and the McDonagh’s over the St James. I love the McDonagh’s I used to have. What was that? What’s that? It’s not Silly Putty. It’s a Well, it’s Cool Whip or or whipped cream. I used to have recurring fights with McDonagh all right? I used to stand on my balcony whenever I saw him. I used to spray it on him, and I mean, that would go on backstage during the show. You form these relationships that then are ripped from your heart and it breaks your heart.

Louis Virtel I feel like you are always somebody who is described as refreshing. Namely in interviews, you know, like, Oh, thank God Patti LuPone said that or, you know, gave voice to that. And and this translates to your acting as well. But whenever somebody is called refreshing, I’m always wondering who is refreshing to them. Like, you need that same relief I feel like from other people. And who are the people you like look to to be kind of like, I don’t know, as rad and articulate as you are.

Patti LuPone You guys.

Louis Virtel Okay. Go ahead. Yes. Amazing. How nice. Yes.

Patti LuPone You know, anybody that really just speaks their mind. You know, I just was on The View and I just said that there’s no pushback now. What the hell is going on? We have to listen to lie about, lie upon, lie upon and where there is no pushback. And so I’m living this insane life right now where I just don’t understand. Are people too polite? Are they too lazy? Are they not hearing what I’m hearing? And why? You know, why aren’t in New York City cops if they didn’t cry? Why aren’t they coming out and telling that asshole? No, Nobody cried. Why? Why, why are we not hearing that? And if they did cry, then tell me they cried and then I’ll know. Oh, he told the truth. The guy told the truth. Oh, thank God. One thing he told the truth. We’re not hearing any pushback. Nobody’s pushing back. I want to see people stand up and push back on anything. Not just this bullshit, but on anything. If it’s not a truth or if it’s not your truth, speak your truth. But we’re not. I don’t know what’s going on in this country right now where people are just going after what My hands. Because what’s going in, the first thing that’s going to come out, you know what I mean? Yet out of my mouth, rather just. And I don’t I, I just I’m I have PTSD in this country. I need to be I need relief from this. So I need people to speak up. So the people that are refreshing to me are the people that go that’s you know, I’m going to speak up now and I’m going to say this. I’m going to say this, whether you want to believe it or not.

Louis Virtel That’s the second time I’ve thought of Cher, because one, she reminds me of that. But too, she also was not a fan of her own work. She’s like, I want to listen to my music. So anyway, you’ve conjured her memory twice now.

Ira Madison III I love Cher. I send you my love, Cher. I love you. You know what I tell her? Oh, she does. God bless her. But there’s not enough shares. You know what I mean? There’s got to be politicians that speak up. There’s got to be, you know, everybody that has a voice needs to speak up. Somebody needs to speak out. I’m tired.

Ira Madison III I guess. Lastly, you know. What is it that you feel like you still would love to accomplish on stage? You know, whether that’s through some behind the scenes work or a role that you feel like hasn’t even been written yet for you. Something that you’re like dying to sink your teeth into. But when you think about your future theater, where do you see yourself and what are you hoping for?

Patti LuPone I don’t actually see myself in theater anymore. I don’t know. I mean, there is something that I’m curious to do. I mean, I’m offered and I’ve been offered something that I would like to see happen, but I would not like to see it on Broadway. I would like to see it in a much more interesting place. I think.if I come back to the stage, I want it to be on East Fourth Street, basically. It’s time for me to go downtown. Oh, it’s tome for me.

Ira Madison III We need you in a Wooster Group Show.

Patti LuPone Yeah. Are you kidding me? But I’d rather do stuff that is not on Broadway right now, but it is like an interesting storefront. You know what I mean? This particular play, the guy wants to do it in Washington, D.C., at the Democratic headquarters. Do it, do it, do it. Interesting. Audiences will show up. What I want to do more is film. I want to I want to do more. So I would love to do more films with people like Ari. You know, really interesting stuff. And I would love to see vital women look at me. I mean, I think I’m still vital at my age. I don’t want to see an interpretation of a woman my age. Be some, you know, Italian grandma with a knitting needle over here and garlic over here. You know what I mean?

Louis Virtel God love her.

Ira Madison III Knitting needle over here with a garlic over here.

Ira Madison III I mean, honestly, thank God for some of the amazing roles you’ve had from Ryan Murphy. I mean, your character in Pose was such a bitch, but it’s such a lovely role to like to see, you know, you as like a fun villainess on that show who was also, you know, a human being.

Patti LuPone What was her name? Leona Helmsley. It was Leona Helmsley.

Ira Madison III I think you were Ms Norman on Pose. Yeah, but you were.

Patti LuPone Based on Leona Helmsley.

Ira Madison III Oh, yes

Patti LuPone Yeah. Yeah, it was. Yeah. Sometimes you wish Ryan wouldn’t write better. Do you know what I want for him? I want really great scripts. That’s what I want.

Ira Madison III You know what? We’re interviewing Jordan Cooper, so I’m going to pass along of what you said.

Patti LuPone Please tell him. Okay. I was so blown away by his writing and by his acting and by how astute he was and what a soul he has. I mean, clearly, this is not the first time that kid’s been around. He really is deep. And that and I and I hope that that if he’s learned anything from this, he needs more control of his own properties and he needs to have a producer that’s on, you know, boots on the ground.

Ira Madison III Mm hmm.

Patti LuPone I kept thinking about Joey Parnes. Joey Parnes kept Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder opened even though they got fantastic reviews, as did Jordan, got fantastic reviews, but no audience. He knew how to keep it open until the Tony season. And then what? They went and ran for three years. I mean, it’s a it’s a brutal environment, Broadway, for producers. It’s brutal and it doesn’t really have to be a shark and have to be smart. And much as I love Lee Daniels, you can’t be a producer in L.A..

Ira Madison III Mm hmm.

Patti LuPone Boots on the ground. Boots on the ground.

Ira Madison III Yeah. There’s something just so odd because I saw it. I originally saw it in Los Angeles during a staged reading of it, but a few years ago. And then to see it on stage. There’s something in the air from audiences to rushing to see a show before it closes. Yeah, I’ve heard. It’s fantastic. Yeah, but it was so sad having everyone rushing to see the show knowing that it was closing in two weeks.

Patti LuPone Well, but also, apparently, COVID has changed how people buy tickets. Now there’s no advance sales anymore. So one has to figure out how to keep that going. That entire cast was extraordinary, Extraordinary. And well, how do you keep how do I mean, I’m not a producer. I’m an actor, but I look at them going, you got to know you’ve got to do better than this. You know, not not just that show this shows I’ve been at, you’ve got to do better than you. You’ve got to you got to figure out how to do it. What is that? What is the now what’s the template for for keeping a show running? It’s different because of COVID, but figure it out. Don’t shut the show. Especially that kind of show where it needs to educate an audience that that play was phenomenal.

Louis Virtel Jesus Christ. Thank you so much, Patti. Oh, my God.

Patti LuPone Oh, thanks for having me.

Louis Virtel Some people just, like, radiate off you after you talk to them. I’m sure you get out a lot, but it’s like, All right, I know I’m going to put down this caffeine. I’m good, right?

Patti LuPone Well, you inspired me.

Louis Virtel Thank you. Thank you, Thank you.

Ira Madison III Thank you. What an honor. Have a great day.

Patti LuPone Yeah, you too.

Louis Virtel Can’t wait to watch The View. All right. Bye bye.

Ira Madison III Well, thanks again for listening to this bonus episode of Keep It with the one and only, Patti LuPone. Beau is Afraid it is in theaters now. And we’ll see you next week. For more, Keep It. Don’t forget to follow us at Crooked Media on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to Keep It on YouTube for access to full episodes and other exclusive content. Plus, if you’re as opinionated as we are, consider dropping us a five star review on your podcast platform of choice. Keep It is a Crooked Media production. Our senior producer is Kendra James. Our producer is Chris Lord, and our associate producer is Malcolm Whitfield. Our executive producers are Ira Madison, the third. That’s me, and Louis Virtel. This episode was recorded and mixed by Evan Sutton. Thank you to our digital team, Matt DeGroot, Nar Melkonian and Delon Villanueva for production support every week. And as always, Keep It is filmed in front of a live studio audience.