Patti lupone gay

“People ask me why I have such a strong gay following,” Patti begins, taking great time to think about her answer. “I don’t know whether if it’s a gay following or if it’s a recognised, left of centre, outsider emotional force.”. Do you remember the first time a gay person came out to you, what the circumstances were, and how you reacted? LUPONE: He didn’t come out to me because we were about 6 years old, but I knew Philip Caggiano was different.

And I think I knew he was gay. But not gay in the way we use gay now.

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He was different. He was flamboyant. Patti Ann LuPone (born April 21, ) is an American actress and singer. After starting her professional career with The Acting Company in , she soon gained acclaim for her leading performances on the Broadway and West End stage. LuPone is currently appearing in the Los Angeles Opera's West Coast premiere of gay composer John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles (through March 1), and.

LuPone spoke with Dallas Voice by phone about the show, her gay icon status and why Hollywood wasn’t in her sights — that is after an embarrassing admission which may have helped settle any. The idea of divas as gay icons has gotten a lot of traction over the years. Essay, books and plays cough, cough, Patti Issues have been written on the subject and it goes far beyond Broadway, with performers ranging from Lady Gaga to Maria Callas, Meryl Streep to Elizabeth Berkley garnering the distinction.

But Broadway does seem to be ground zero for the phenomenon. If you buy into the notion that gay men, seeking escape from their oppression, have found kindred spirit in the vulnerability of the great ladies of the stage, and have felt empowered by their prowess, and further, that gay men found solace in the fantasy of musical theatre, then it's only natural that the divas of Broadway would hold particular allure.

Audra Mc. In the s, when her legendarily stratospheric career climb began, Broadway was just coming out of the age of British pop operas. Mc's classical gravitas ushered in a new era of American musical theatre, making a pronounced departure from both the West End mega-musicals as well as traditional Tin Pan Alley, as she used her ever-increasing influence to forward the careers of her composer colleagues, like Michael John LaChiusa , Adam Guettel , and Jason Robert Brown.

Suddenly gay men who had held their noses at much of the popular fare of the s, were getting excited over these Philip Glass-like, Sondheimian songwriters. And of course, as she's proven countless times, including her unforgettable Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel , Audra excels in the classic musical theatre repertoire. While diva-worshippers had sat frustrated watching a generation of divas post-Streisand fail to cross over beyond Broadway, this Juilliard soprano — seemingly the least likely type of singer to transcend Times Square — became a sensation.

An avid Twitterer since the social media outlet's inception, she was one of the first to carry the civil rights banner in her moniker, as " AudraEqualityMc. Bernadette Peters. Bernadette Peters is the rare gay icon with equal draw for straight men. How many of grew up obsessing over Peters' performances in Sunday in the Park with George and Into The Woods , while our straight friends, father, brothers, would remark, "Oh, Bernadette Peters, that's that hot chick.

Her starring role in 's Mack And Mabel didn't run long, but Broadway fans cherished her cast album performance of the great torcher, "Time Heals Everything" and patiently waited for her to reprise it in concert years later, after claiming the mantel of Broadway supremacy, as a signature song, the hallmark of diva-hood. Barbara Cook. Barbara Cook is and always has been ours.

This became abundantly clear in the second act of her career when she resurfaced as a cabaret and concert singer, touring the world singing the Great American Songbook and adult contemporary and gay men flocked to see her. Still capable of hitting the high notes long into her advanced years, Cook demonstrated an additional gift of infusing songs with singular warmth and conviction. Even when the material is less on-the-nose, she continues to be loving, maternal voice, making us feel we're gonna be okay.

Chita Rivera. The gypsy 's diva, Chita Rivera has been a star beloved by her ensembles since tearing it up in West Side Story in The powers that be know to put Rivera downstage center, but she is decidedly one of the people, having come up through the ranks of chorus dancers, many of whom, historically, are gay. Her comfort with our community and obvious acceptance of us for who we are has shine through the way she's shared the stage and she's been a clear ally since long before being "gay-friendly" was a common thing.

When she took on the role of the archetypal gay icon in the groundbreaking Kiss of the Spider Woman a show that was actually about a gay man's relationship with his favorite star , the casting made total sense and cemented Rivera's legend on the highest plane of divahood. Carol Channing. Hello, Dolly! Another early friend to the gays, Channing toured the world in Dolly for decades whooping it up with all the boys in the chorus.

Her position as gay icon was already assured, though, thanks to her creation of the role of Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and her signature introduction of the hit, "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend," probably one of the most popular women's songs to be appropriated by gay men.

In both roles, as well as in her film and television appearances, Channing's persona, dizzy on the outside, crafty and cunning on the inside, manipulating men and situations to suit her agenda, with a sort of "lil' ol' me? Angela Lansbury. It's hard to say exactly why Angela Lansbury is a gay icon, because there are so many viable explanations to choose from. Could it be her long-running TV show, "Murder She Wrote," where she demonstrated the prowess of an older woman, who like a gay man, may not be the sexual object of the straight male mainstream?