It’s the new line of accessories no self-respecting theater kid can be without.
TodayTix, the mobile ticketing app focusing on live theater, has a few new things in their online gift store. A button at the top of their home page encourages visitors to “Shop Patti LuPone Merch” but you won’t find posters from the original Broadway run of Evita or CDs of Heatwave: Patti LuPone Sings Irving Berlin. Instead, there is a celebration of a much more recent triumph.
As we reported earlier this week, the two-time Tony winner went to war with an audience member who failed to wear her mask properly during a post-show talkback of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, in which LuPone co-stars with Katrina Lenk.
“That is the rule,” the 73-year-old Long Island-born legend reminded the errant theater-goer. “If you don’t want to follow the rule, get the fuck out!”
While LuPone’s statement (and rhetorical “who do you think you are?!?”) was greeted mostly with applause, the masochistic individual who thought she could cross swords with the woman who played Mama Rose in Gypsy and Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard wasn’t having it. “We pay your salary!” she dared (dared!) to suggest.
“You pay my salary? Bullshit!” LuPone struck back. “Chris Harper pays my salary,” she said, naming one of the top producers of the Company revival.
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It’s unlikely that the London-based producer ever dreamed he’d end up a meme, but that’s what happens when Patti LuPone shouts your name at unsophisticated rubes who act rudely at the the-a-ter. As such, one can now buy a “Chris Harper Pays My Salary” t-shirt, sweatshirt, mug, or (of course) mask at the TodayTix shop.
The collection also includes merch featuring the line “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?” dated for 2009 (see below on that) and 2022. Also, tote bags with “the full rant.” (We quibble a bit, however, with calling it a rant. A righteous rebuke is more like it!)
TodayTix has some of the items listed under a Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS banner, suggesting that some of the proceeds will go to that long-standing charity.
What’s hilarious about the leaked video is how the person recording is clearly terrified of catching LuPone’s eye, and mostly shoots down at their knee. We all know what happens when LuPone sees someone taking pictures at the theater. Here’s a legendary (audio only) recording of what went down during the Gypsy revival in 2009.
And again in 2015, LuPone’s battle against improper Broadway etiquette and uncouth cellphone use made the national news.
While mask-wearing in New York City is largely optional in most places now, Broadway theaters (and places like Carnegie Hall) are one of the final holdouts, for some obvious reasons. The close quarters in older, less-ventilated buildings aren’t ideal for steering clear of viral loads, and even with the best understudies in the world, a show needs its talent in top shape. Indeed, LuPone tested positive for COVID-19 in late February and was out for a little over a week.
On Monday, Company received nine Tony nominations, including Best Revival of a Musical, and the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical nod for LuPone.
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