Review: PATTI LUPONE: A LIFE IN NOTES – ADELAIDE CABARET FESTIVAL 2024 at Adelaide Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Wednesday 19th June 2024.

Three-time Tony Award winner, and two-time Olivier Award winner, Patti LuPone performed, for one night only, at our Cabaret Festival. Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes was conceived and directed by Scott Wittman, and written by Jeffrey Richman. Joseph Thalken is the musical director and arranger, accompanying LuPone from the piano and adding backing vocals. Across the stage from Thalken is Brad Phillips, the musical Lord High Everything Else, surrounded by his range of stringed instruments: guitars, concert and bass ukuleles, mandolin, and violin, all of which he plays superbly, as well as also adding vocals. Between the two of them, Thalken and Phillips were an orchestra.

The only decoration was a bowl of red roses on the piano, and an ever-changing coloured wash behind them. The focus was fully on the performers.

The two musicians entered, to strong applause, and began to play, suddenly drowned momentarily by massive applause as Patti LuPone appeared to join them, singing Leon Russell’s A Song for You, followed by a brief exposition of the idea behind the concert and leading quickly into the Rosemary Clooney favourite, Come On-A My House.

An eclectic mix of numbers followed, in no particular chronological sequence, each holding a place in her personal history. Summertime, Summertime led into Ebb Tide, then the Rogers and Hammerstein number, We Kiss in a Shadow, followed by Dressed in Black, by the Shangri Las, and Teen Angel. Pop songs and show tunes, ballads and up-tempo numbers, and well-known and obscure tunes, all tumbled over one another in this jam-packed evening of sensational music.

The enormous contrast between the many songs showed just how versatile Patti LuPone can be, and demonstrated the exceptional control that she has of her vocal expression. No matter who sang it originally, every song became entirely hers.

Jules Stein’s Some People is Mama Rose’s big number from Gypsy, a role for which LuPone won a Tony Award. Well-deserved, deafening applause, of course, came after that one. From a ‘belter’, she slipped easily into a very gentle, emotional ballad, Lilac Wine. Burt Bacharach’s Alfie, the Judy Garland number, The Man That Got Away, and the lively Mary Hopkin tune, Those Were the Days, completed the first half of the evening.

On Broadway was an appropriate opening to the second half. She touched on her Tony Award-winning performances, with Don’t Cry for Me Argentina, from Evita, and her Laurence Olivier Awards, with I Dreamed a Dream, from Les Miserables, much to the delight of the audience. When she then picked up a cocktail glass and struck a pose, thunderous applause showed that the audience needed no telling what was to come next. Patti LuPone singing Stephen Sondheim’s The Ladies Who Lunch, from Company, for which she won a Tony Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award, was a solid gold guarantee to bring the house down, and it did.

Anything Goes, Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye, Lorenz Hart’s poignant, I Didn't Know What Time It Was, Cyndi Lauper’s, Time After Time, and Bob Dylan’s Make You Feel My Love, were linked by more themes from her life, leading to a touch of humour with Ready to Begin Again (Manya’s Song). Bob Dylan’s Forever Young, brought the evening to a close, briefly.

An instant standing ovation from the entire audience brought forth an encore, a wonderful rendition of the Beatles number, In My Life, and a reprise of Those Were the Days, with another standing ovation to follow. The audience, reluctantly, filed out of the auditorium, enthusing about what they had just heard and, today, Facebook was full of praise from those who were there.

Patti LuPone will also be performing this show in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane during the next week or so. Be sure to get your tickets quickly if you are in one of those locations.