Broadway artists and theater professionals call Tony Awards producers to dizzy Patti Lupone of the show after the theater legend made controversial comments on Audra McDonald and the star of “Hell’s Kitchen” Kecia Lewis in an interview with The New Yorker. The open letter received more than 500 signatures, including those of the winners of Tony James Monroe Igglehart, J. Harrison Ghee and Maleah Joi Moon, as well as veterans of stage and screen like Ephraim Sykes, Wendell Pierce and Jaquel Spivey. Courtney Love is also one of the signatories.
“No artist, producer, director or leader – regardless of heritage or fame – should be authorized to arm their platform to minimize, threaten or devalue others without consequences,” said the letter.
In the New Yorker play, which was published on May 26, Lupone addressed problems that arose last fall when she appeared on Broadway in “The Colortime”. The theater where the show played shared a wall with the musical of Alicia Keys “Hell’s Kitchen”, and Lupone complained at the head of the Shubert organization on the strong noises which we could be heard next. She sent flowers to the distribution and the “Hell’s Kitchen” team when the noise problem was solved. But she was then criticized on social networks by Lewis, who said that Lupone’s behavior was “intimidation” and “racily microggressive”. McDonald liked Lewis’ message.
When Lupone was questioned by the New Yorker on Lewis’s post, she described the actress as a “dog” and wondered if Lewis, who won a Tony for “Hell’s Kitchen”, was a Broadway veteran. In the same interview, she rejected McDonald as “not a friend” and shaded her performance in “Gypsy” (Lupone won a Tony appearing in an earlier renewal of the musical.)
The critical open letter Lupone for his comments on Lewis, declaring that “this language is not only degrading and misogynistic – it is a blatant act of racialized lack of respect. It constitutes intimidation. It constitutes harassment. It is emblematic of micro-aggressions and abuses that people in this industry have lasted too long, too often without consequences. ”
This criticizes Lupone’s comments on McDonald.
“Publicly attacking a woman who has contributed to this art form with such excellence, leadership and grace – and to discredit the heritage of Audra McDonald, the most nominated and rewarded interpreter in the history of Tony prices – is not simply a personal offense,” said the letter. “It is a public affront to the values of collaboration, equity and mutual respect that our theatrical community claims to maintain.”
The letter maintains that Broadway did not do enough to condemn the bad behavior of powerful people in industry, by comparing it unfavorably to other companies.
“It would not be tolerated in other industries. In 2021, the NFL inflicted a fine of $ 10 million on Washington commanders and withdrew Dan Snyder from daily operations after a toxic work culture was revealed.
The Tony Awards will be broadcast on June 8. A prices spokesperson did not immediately respond to a comment request, nor a spokesperson for Lupone.
