Audra McDonald Gives Sly Response to Patti LuPone Diss
Patti LuPone said her former collaborator “isn’t a friend.”
Audra McDonald “doesn’t know” why Patti LuPone said she “isn’t a friend” in her New Yorker profile, finally addressing the bad blood between Broadway royalty in a new interview.
McDonald, 54, said she was confused about LuPone’s comments on CBS Sunday Mornings with Gayle King, because, “I haven’t seen her in about 11 years just because we’ve been busy just with life.”
Audra McDonald and Patti LuPone pose at the Drama League's 27th Annual All-Star Benefit Gala honoring Patti LuPone at The Pierre Hotel on February 7, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic)
Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic
The six-time Tony Award-winner added of her and LuPone’s apparent beef, “I don’t know what rift she’s talking about, but you’d have to ask her.” McDonald’s full interview will air this Sunday, but the show’s Instagram account posted a clip of her comments on Thursday.
LuPone, 76, complained in her New Yorker profile that McDonald seemingly took sides against her when “Hell’s Kitchen” actress Kecia Lewis slammed LuPone on Instagram. LuPone had called in noise complaints about the Alicia Keys production, which shared a wall with LuPone and Mia Farrow’s production of “The Roommate” at the Booth Theatre. Lewis went after LuPone in an Instagram video, calling her complaints “bullying” and “racially microaggressive.” McDonald added supportive emojis to Lewis’ post.
Singers Audra McDonald, left, and Patti Lupone acknowledge applause from audience and conductor John Mauceri during celebration of Mauceri's 200th concert with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra in 2000. (Photo by Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
“That’s typical of Audra. She’s not a friend,” LuPone said, recalling the controversy for The New Yorker. “I thought, ‘You should know better.’” She then snubbed an opportunity to compliment her former collaborator’s current production of Gypsy, telling her interviewer instead, “What a beautiful day.”
McDonald claimed she has no idea what the problem is. “If there’s a rift between us, I don’t know what it is,” McDonald told King.
Audra MacDonald and Patti LuPone during a break in an LA Opera rehearsal of Mahagonny at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles Tuesday January 30, 2007. (Photo by Richard Hartog/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Richard Hartog/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
McDonald and LuPone have starred in several shows together including the New York Philharmonic’s concert version of Sweeney Todd in 2000 and the L.A. Opera production of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny in 2007.
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