Patti Lupone Quotes

I'll tell you what I think in general about people who want to make their Broadway debut that are not trained stage actors. Don't they know, Broadway ain't for sissies? It is a tough gig. You are responsible, physically, mentally, emotionally, for eight shows a week, at the top of your game. It's not easy.

- Patti LuPone

Smile at a stranger. See what happens.

- Patti LuPone

The theater is a tough place. It's not cushioned the way it is in film and television.

- Patti LuPone

I played the tuba in high school. I wanted to be a member of the marching band. I thought, what can I play that has the most effect? What can I play to get people to laugh?

- Patti LuPone

What's the difference in opening from scratch in Philly or opening from scratch in New York? The old out-of-town tryout circuit - taking the show pre-Broadway to cities like Boston, New Haven, Philadelphia, Washington - has sort of been replaced with the amount of workshops we do.

- Patti LuPone

My favorite composers are the ones that tell the story. I love Wagner. I love Mahler. Prokofiev. The programmatic music. I listen more to classic rock because I don't like the contemporary music very much.

- Patti LuPone

I wish I could have a recurring role on 'Modern Family'. I think 'Modern Family' is the best comedy on television. It's extremely well written, extremely well acted and directed.

- Patti LuPone

To be nominated was enough, but when I won I the Tony I just felt relief.

- Patti LuPone

The word diva to me means doing something supernatural with something natural.

- Patti LuPone

I'm totally Italian, but I'm not a diva. If you could see the way I'm dressed in daily life, that's not a diva. Appearances are so not important to me.

- Patti LuPone

New York seems to be thriving, which I'm grateful for. But I would hope that they would figure out how to negotiate the traffic and limit the pedicabs, because it seems to me that it's becoming a more chaotic city.

- Patti LuPone

It's not easy being an actor, and having said that, everybody's an actor. Do you know what I mean? Paris Hilton's an actor, which is kind of scary. But if you want to honor your craft and yourself, strive for the nobler instincts.

- Patti LuPone

I am in musical theatre, but it isn't necessarily what I listen to in my leisure time, do you know what I mean?

- Patti LuPone

I learned a long time ago from David Mamet to wipe your feet at the door, get it out on stage and then go about your life.

- Patti LuPone

I think that Stevie Nicks is one of the greats. Steve Nicks and Grace Slick and Janis Joplin have the real rock voices, to me.

- Patti LuPone

The only thing we are as actors are messengers. That's all we are. Correct? We are delivering the playwright's intention through the concept of the director. And I come on stage; if I feel confident in the role, then I give it away.

- Patti LuPone

I love what I do, and I love the audience, and I love the fact that I get to do it, and I love, I love our craft very, very, much, and it's a noble craft. We have a responsibility to it, and to the audience, and to the playwright, and to the message. I won't ever care less.

- Patti LuPone

The book 'A Reliable Wife' is a slice of American history. It takes a part of American history and tells a story about the purchase of a wife by a Wisconsin businessman. The research of that would have been really interesting.

- Patti LuPone

All my career, I've said this: Critics and producers think audiences want actors that only present the silhouette and hit the points in the silhouette. What I do is too dangerous.

- Patti LuPone

I don't listen to the contemporary pop artists. They all sound alike, anyway.

- Patti LuPone

A well-rounded performer will listen to all kinds of music. I like classical, Middle Eastern, and rock a lot.

- Patti LuPone

Let me say I was trained at Juilliard. I have a very high standard. I expect everybody around me to work equally as hard because people pay a lot of money for tickets. They demand the best that we have.

- Patti LuPone

A show is exhausting when it stinks. It's exhausting when you have to work overtime to make something work.

- Patti LuPone

In America, it stands out, because it's raw, it's big, it's emotional. My face is raw, big and emotional. It didn't work for the longest time.

- Patti LuPone

I knew when I was a kid that I had a Broadway voice. I wanted to be a rocker, because I grew up in that era of transistor radios at the beach.

- Patti LuPone

Anybody that goes to the theater, I think we're all misfits, so we ended up on stage or in the audience.

- Patti LuPone

I think Madonna is a wonderful performer.

- Patti LuPone

I know what it means to have a leading part, and I know what it means to have a featured part.

- Patti LuPone

I'm sure there are actors out there who work with other actors on a consistent basis - I am not one of them.

- Patti LuPone

I just love chickens.

- Patti LuPone

My favorite band was The Band, and nobody compares in my mind with The Band.

- Patti LuPone

I'd love to do situation comedy - it's the best job in show business.

- Patti LuPone