Truly terrifying.

Scary shit. But it was her last chance to be a diva. Well, next to last chance., And she turned it out and didn't disappoint.

Some dude got LuPwned.

I wouldn't have stopped the show like that. "Who do you think you are?"

LuPwned...that's funny. Just think what she would have done to the dude with the tape recorder, had she caught him! How 'bout them eggrolls, Mr. Goldstone?

LuPwned...that's funny. Just think what she would have done to the dude with the tape recorder, had she caught him! How 'bout them eggrolls, Mr. Goldstone?

FABULOUS!!! Just fabulous!!! More people need to stand up for what's right rather than silently take what's wrong. Brava, Patti!

FABULOUS!!! Just fabulous!!! More people need to stand up for what's right rather than silently take what's wrong. Brava, Patti!

What a lot of people don't know is that the poor picture-taking fool was dragged backstage and after the show, Patti KICKED HIS ASS. She's a street fighter, baby.

What even more people don't know is that the poor picture-taking fool was Glenn Close, who is convinced she can take GYPSY to London and show them how it's supposed to be done.

Wow, that scared me, even from the safety of my desk in Tennessee. LuPwned, indeed!

She may have been a bit too shriek-y, but dammit if she wasn't well within her rights to give that audience member a piece of her mind. Everyone's informed that they can't take flash photos in the venue; it is, to say the least, galling to have some audience member skirt the rules so blatantly and the height of disrespect to do that to a performer of any kind. People really seem to have lost their sense of propriety. But don't cry when you're called on it or yelled at like your mother used to do when she was trying to teach you the right way to be. Some of you evidently need the reminder. Stop being annoying, shut the @#%* up and just watch the show.

While the picture taking may have been a distraction for Ms LuPone, her tirade destroyed the mood for the entire audience. She's too seasoned a performer to get that worked up. Ethel Merman would never have pulled such a stunt. She'd just sing louder!

"Just wanted to be noticed, I guess," sez Mama Rose.
Patti, honey, you have NO problem in that department.
Musto gusto!

Ethel Merman would have kept on singing but had the picture taker's legs broken after the show! She was a tough old broad!

Her performance up to that point was shrill, flat, and slurred. the night I saw her, or rather the matinee, she walked the performance ... a shameful display of megalomania ... like she had to do this ONE more time tonight so I ain't given you much. Complete contempt. I am not surprised she was paid off to leave the Sunset Blvd production before it even opened. Sad, she could have been one of the great theatre legends ... but those people GIVE! It is always about PAtty ... and she confuses that with her work. Margot Fonteyn said that there is a difference between someone who takes their work seriously and who takes them-self seriously. The first is imperative and the latter is disastrous.

Is this what gets you gay boys all excited?

For those of you saying that Ethel Merman would have never done that...WRONG.

During a performance a drunk heckler was yelling at her during one of her songs. So she walked into the audience, grabbed him by the collar and physically removed him from the theatre herself. famous story.

So... Flash photography, bad. Bootlegging a recording of a Broadway show & putting it on YouTube, good?

Broadway prices being what they are, just keep singing bitch!!!!

Whether you like her performance or not, I'm glad she did what she did! Yes, it disrupted the show, but so did the repeated flashes (that probably would have continued if nothing had been done). I recently saw "Wicked" and WISH they had escorted a flash photographer out of the theatre. If the ushers or house management can't take care of it, then someone has to - otherwise that horrible behavior will continue. A flash in a dark theatre is VERY distracting to audience and performers alike - I even hate seeing the screens of phone and cameras - it is distracting! PLEASE, just turn them off for a few hours and focus on the performance in front of you (that most people paid A LOT of money to see!). Why common courtesy is so difficult for some, I'll never understand. (But I'll bet that "flasher" won't be doing that again...nor will the other people in the audience that night.)

Unprofessional and childish. Shame on you Patti.

Fantastic! And completely justifiable! I really HATE IT when people can't comply with simple requests! The A#@holes had it coming!

The audience applauded nervously? Nervously?

Uh, I was in the audience. Half of them got up in roaring approval. She's ROSE!
MAMA ROSE! It's the star making role and a diva's gotta play it. Shame on that person, but good for her.
I and the people in the audience gave so many standing ovations. We were applauding for her bravery and honesty and for being so upfront.
Not nervousness. We were terrified it was us, but we didn't clap in nervousness.

She's a pig. A self-centered, unprofessional, and ungracious pig who let down 1300 people for the act of one.

Whatever happened to class?

This ain't Turkey Lurky Time, Hot Honey Rag, or even The Carousel Waltz. This is Rose's Turn. One person. No one's en pointe, no one's doing cartwheels.

Patti, now that you're out of work and have a little time, look up the following words in the dictionary: professionalism, gracious, and dignity.

Wonder what she'll do when they STOP taking her picture?

Jesse, don't believe everything you hear from Elaine Stritch. In fact, don't beleive ANYTHING you hear from Elaine Stritch. Merman did NO such thing. It's Elaine telling a story -- and nothing more.

If you listen to the entire clip, you'll hear a dreadful performance as Rose. What is with her lack of ennunciation? And terrible delivery? She needed to be reined in BEFORE the number started.

She's completely unprofessional.

I was in that audience too. Nervous audience? Bunk? We were on our feet with a standing ovation for her throwing this clod out. It isn't just distracting to actors, it is actually dangerous to have flash photography occur during a performance. This audience was given two separate reminders about recordings and to turn off devices. Yet there's always someone that thinks the rules don't apply to them. Bravo Patty. And, you absolutely nailed MAMA Rose that night. Ethel, who?

Oy, if as many people who say they were at that performance were actually there, the show would still be running.

I don't believe Gail.

Oy, if as many people who say they were at that performance were actually there, the show would still be running.

I don't believe Gail.

What a self-important thing to do. If I were in the audience, I would have left. She thinks she's respecting the audience, but she has DISRESPECTED them. There are nearly 1600 seats in the St. James. 1599 people had to wait while that raging nut broke the fourth wall and RUINED the entire performance.

Not. Classy.

Bravo Patti!! Face it people - society is out of control. Most people think they are so important that the rules apply to everyone else but them - and they can do whatever they damn well please! There were TWO announcements and numerous signs stating NO PICTURES. What part of that don't people understand?

No one is suggesting that what the audience member did was right. Waht Patti did was wrong. This is why God gave us house managers. Let them do their job. Patti should shut up and do hers.

The only thing more obnoxious than taking pix would be the way Ms. Lupone chose to respond.

That is HILARIOUS! I worship her now! 8 years of theatre and I wanted to do the same thing on numerous occasions! Go Patti!

I was with Gail that night. The audience went nuts in support of Patty. In addition to stealing intellectual property, the jerk with the flash camera created a hazard to the actors by potentially temporarily blinding them as they move about on stage.

Too many people go to the theater or the movies and act like they're sitting on their couch in front of the idiot tube.

I've never been either a fan or foe of Patty, had never seen her perform live before, but she created what has to be the definitive Mama Rose.

I WAS WITH GAIL TOO!! And you were there. And YOU were there!!

Zzzzzzzz

You, MIcheal Musto ought to be ashamed of yourself. I've seen the show, she's great and had every right to respond. the fools with cameras, tape recorders and phones are the ones who should be publicly humiliated. I wish more actors would go ahead and shame those fools who let phones ring etc. Tim.

You, MIcheal Musto ought to be ashamed of yourself. I've seen the show, she's great and had every right to respond. the fools with cameras, tape recorders and phones are the ones who should be publicly humiliated. I wish more actors would go ahead and shame those fools who let phones ring etc. Tim.

Patti Lupone is a good actress. But what she did was absolutely the wrong thing to do. She gets paid a lot of money to deliver a performance not act like the house manager. And she sucked that night. She was flat, stilted and shrill. There was nothing good about that show that night. Patti Lupone should take a deep breath and thank God that anyone actually wants to take her picture. In a few years no one will and she'll end up like all mad divas--dirt poor and in the gutter with a gin and pills habit.

I've been in Patti's situation -- during a performance a few years ago, some schmuck sitting not five feet in front of me snapped a flash right in my face. Trust me, it's not only disrespectful, it's distracting and downright dangerous (imagine having to stumble around in the near-dark on a stage filled with obstacles while blinded by a flash).

I've been playing the clip of Patti over and over, and I keep smiling and thanking the heavens that someone FINALLY gave these rude people the spanking they deserve.

This woman needs to get the hell over herself, get a grip, and get on with the show. I would've shot right back, "Who do you think YOU are?" Snapping pics right in her obnoxious face.

She made 1599 people pay for the act of 1. There are 1600 seats in the St. James and she let EVERYBODY wait because of the act of one person.

She's a fool, a tool, and an out-of-control ego-centric maniac.

To the people who write on here, and to those that sit in ANY audience especially the one that Ms. Lupone addressed.

I write this to you ALL in hopes of maybe reaching a few, if not ALL of you who write to call Ms. Lupone a bitch, diva or whatever.

I ask that you not only forgive/understand Ms. Lupones choice to stop the show and address the gentleman who was taking pictures illegally, but I also ask that you understand that it is not only disrespectful to her but to those in the audience around the man taking the shots.

No one can feel what it was she was feeling at that particular moment when she decided to stop the show and address the man, no one. All I know is that it is clearly stated that no flash photography is allowed. How that is stopped, when it happens, is usually by having an usher or house manager take the camera. If this doesn't happen, and it is getting in the way of a performers performance, and you are the LEAD in a show, I am going to say, all bets are off.

I do understand that the whole audience had to pay for one idiot, but I am not hearing one bit about how angry people are that the idiot had the nerve to use a flash 3 TIMES!!!! HE was the cause of this, no one else. The paying audience should find him and sue him for stopping the show...every last one of them...and maybe then he will stop using a flash...I mean come on...we apparently know the clip was taped...and many shows get recorded illegally, but those are done without interfering with the performers on stage, or the paying audience. Illegal? Absolutely. Interfering? Not at all.

I ask you to think about Ms. Lupones choice and to think before you decide to toss out names about, or accusations to her.

For those of you who don't know and for those of you who do, the role of Rose in GYPSY is a VERY demanding role both vocally and emotionally. The end of the show for her is the height of all of that. I don't expect anyone to understand what a performer has to go through to put on a performance like that. Sadly, many don't realize that she does that 8 times a week...with the same intensity. Yes, it is her job, and as we ALL know, we are ALL expected to act a certain way when at work. We all may try, but there are days where things don't go as planned. This was one of those times.

If Patti Lupone was a TRUE diva, or bitch, or whatever names you are all tossing about, she would do what most people do once you win an award for your work...stay with the show for a short time and then leave. She didn't do that. As far as I know, she didn't miss a show. I happened to see a Saturday matinee of the show last May, and she gave over 100%, as far as I could tell...and believe me...I would have known if she was phoning it in, she wasn't.

What this really boils down to is respect, or lack thereof. The decision to stop the show came from a complete lack of respect for the performer on stage. Pictures of the show can be purchased. CD's of the show can be purchased. A picture taken in an audience like that, is not only distracting, but as some of you may know, they can be sold. Maybe this guy just wanted it for himself, maybe not. Maybe he wanted to sell it on ebay, or maybe he just wanted to frame it and put it on the wall of his house. The fact is he shouldn't have done it, plain and simple. What happened after that was simply because of his actions.

As for her telling someone that pictures are being taken...I myself have done that. Sometimes those complaints are listened to and sometimes they aren't. We weren't there, we don't know if Ms. Lupone complained.

So, all I ask is that before you point a finger and blame Ms. Lupone for her decision, try pointing one at the man in the audience first for doing what he did. Then try and understand why she responded the way she did. We ALL choose to respond to things in our own way, some may agree with those decisions and some may not. No one is perfect we ALL make mistakes.

And lastly, given Ms. Lupones status as a well known performer, I highly doubt you all know, or even care, of the many times shows get stopped in regional theatre, or community theatre, but it does.

When Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick were in The Producers, did anyone complain when they went off book and joked onstage about current events that had NOTHING to do with the show? Nope. Yet many people had to pay good money to hear about Moriah Carey in a show that had NOTHING to do with her.

If you are going to come down on one performer for stopping a show, then come down on ALL of them...

Isn't it time we ALL give a little more respect to each other first, before we ALL start ignoring the blatant lack of it that is given?

Nice try, Tom.You reveal yourself to be a frenzied and unapologetic Lupone apologist.

You write, "If you're going to come down on one preformer for stopping a show, come down on all of them...."

Patti came down on EVERYONE in the theatre that night for the act of one person. And this is GYPSY, not The Producers (which spoofs the theatre and breaks the fourth wall). GYPSY is the King Lear of musical theatre, not a light operetta. Her choice in that moment broke the fourth wall and turned Rose's Turn into Patti's Turn.

What a disappointment for folks who had been looking forward to seeing the show complete.

"You get before the show has started that your favorite uncle died at dawn You're broken hearted, but you go on." A wise man wrote those words -- or some reasonable facsimilie thereof. Patti chose not to go on -- and for what? Not a flash or even the presumed red lights of a camera. No, for her own ego. She wasn't going en pointe, she wasn't dancing a pas de deux.

She allowed her wild and unchecked ego to take over. And she should be ashamed of herself. She owes everyone in that theatre a public apology.

I have enjoyed every Lupone performance I have seen, from Evita (three times!) to Master Class (three times!). But her behavior is simply inexcusable.

Patti missed a handful of performances -- few, but she did miss. She was very ill, IIRC. But, Tom, seriously, your blind devotion robs you of any ounce of credibility.

Color Me Disappointed and Rose,

I am sorry you read my response and saw only "blind devotion" and a "frenzied and unapologetic Lupone apologist" in me causing my credibility to be "robbed".

Maybe I should have been CLEARER when I wrote my response. I assumed, which I now see I shouldn't have, that since this situation is about Ms. LuPone, that my comments would be looked at for this particular situation, they weren't. So allow me to correct myself by saying I would have said the same thing had it been any other actor on that stage.

I DID think I was clear in stating that this whole thing would NOT have happened if that IDIOT in the audience hadn't been taking pictures with a FLASH!!!! Maybe you missed that "Color". A complete show for me is to see it without interruption of ANY kind! That means picture taking. As I did mention, that is just as much an infringement on the audience as stopping that show, in my opinion.

As for the 4th wall being broken in PRODUCERS and that it is "ok" for an actor to talk about something that isn't even period for the show....WRONG...4th wall or not, trying to make another actor on stage laugh because they are in a bad mood, at the expense of the audience, is just as bad. If you don't think that, then you don't. I personally do.

As for the apology...again, "Color" you choose to take the side of the IDIOT who was taking the picture...if he hadn't been taking it, NONE of this would even be written! HE should be publicly apologizing to the paying audience.

You are both entitled to your thoughts "Color and Rose", as is everyone else, but you both have just shown me that you side with someone who had no respect for the show he came to see, the cast, the union rules, OR the paying audience.

If that's how you want to think, then respect for your fellow man, just took a bad turn indeed.

I will just say, that I was there, and it was incredible. I mean, of course, it's technically unprofessional to break character, but many, many (including myself) were there that night for PATTI just as much as for GYPSY. Getting to see something like that was more a momentous occasion than a disappointment. The show was already incredible, and now it will always stay in my memory.

It's one of the neat things about theatre...anything *can* happen...and sometimes it does!

During the past (many) years, I have come to depend upon (at least) one audience member’s cell phone ringing (and, additionally, sandwich wrappers rustling, plastic take-out containers crunching and brazen banter) during any given performance. When at a multiple-act production, ringing will occur both before *and* after intermission/s. To name only a few . . .

As an audience member of Tracy Lett’s “August: Osage County” (I had the good fortune to return a second time), during *both* performances (and during every act – there were three!) cell phones rang out. I begged Management to repeat the “turn-off” announcements, but to no avail. (FYI: Ushers and Stage Managers, alike, are outraged by these occurrences. I don’t know if policy or liabilities discourage action.) I addressed the nearby offenders, who thought it both humorous - - and their privilege! - - to maintain phones in operation-mode.

During an Off-Broadway performance of Nicky Silver’s “Three Changes”, a cell phone loudly rang . . . again, and again, and again. Intimate, dramatic action was taking place between Dylan McDermott and Aya Cash. Ms. Cash’s response was so deft (and, fortuitously, suited her character and circumstances), it took the post-performance talk-back to convince audience members of what my friend and I were already aware: The ringing phone was not scripted. (Ms. Cash’s brilliantly improvised end-of-act exit line: “And turn off your fucking cell phone!”).

Without exaggeration, I’ve not attended a single performance during which phones are not flipped open (like mini-flashlights bursting randomly throughout an audience: Imagine the distraction – and disorientation: physical and theatrical – for stage actors) in the service of obsessive text-retrieval and messaging. Why attend theatre when you can gorge and gab at home?

I have seen – and been blown-away by – Ms. Lupone’s “Gypsy”. I regret that I could not have been in attendance for this performance. But the recording of her “terrifying” act – with its thunderous applause – further reinforces my respect and awe.
You DECIMATE that Fourth Wall, Patti!

Harriet Hendlin, NYC

Harriet, you're applauding her for decimating the fourth wall, which violates every bit of what the tehatre is supposed to be about, to say nothing of professionalism.

I can't join you in applauding and encouraging her classless, unprofessional, ungracious move.

No one is taking the side of the guy taking the picture. NO ONE.

What is it about blind and rabid Patti apologists who can't follow a simple argument?

Yes, the photographer was wrong. But that's why w ehave house managers and ushers.

Patti was wrong because she broke the fourth wall and stopped the show for the sake of grandstanding.

No matter how you slice it, Tom, she was wrong. You can "explain" it, justify it, rationalize it, even say, "what about the other guy." But the simple fact is she disrespected the piece, her costars, AND the other 1,599 people who paid to see GYPSY.

Patti was wrong. And I am disappointed. She has such talent, but her wild, out-of-control ego remains unchecked and even lauded. You can have her. She won't get another drop of support from me. And I have seen her in every NYC appearance since EVITA.

No one is taking the side of the guy taking the picture. NO ONE.

What is it about blind and rabid Patti apologists who can't follow a simple argument?

Yes, the photographer was wrong. But that's why w ehave house managers and ushers.

Patti was wrong because she broke the fourth wall and stopped the show for the sake of grandstanding.

No matter how you slice it, Tom, she was wrong. You can "explain" it, justify it, rationalize it, even say, "what about the other guy." But the simple fact is she disrespected the piece, her costars, AND the other 1,599 people who paid to see GYPSY.

Patti was wrong. And I am disappointed. She has such talent, but her wild, out-of-control ego remains unchecked and even lauded. You can have her. She won't get another drop of support from me. And I have seen her in every NYC appearance since EVITA.

Disappointed -

Thank you for your reply.
I agree with more than you might imagine.

I do not favor uprisings from the stage. Neither from the house. If anything productive can emerge from this "show-stopping" event - - whether deemed justified or blasphemous - - and from the discussion it's generated (here and elsewhere), i would hope (while not holding my breath) that the notion (and practice) of respect might return to our theatre audiences: This would obviate any need for hyper-vigilance on the part of management and, perhaps also, for a performer's consideration (diva or not-so-diva) to respond radically - - even regrettably - - in the face of circumstances that should never have existed in the first place.

Harriet Hendlin, NYC

I am a Patti fan-friend and I must say she has a temper and I was on the receiving end of one of her non-sense rants. I could not sleep for days. It happened in front of other friends and they felt awful for me.

She is the greatest actress, but not very fan friendly.

During the City Center run of GYPSY she would sneak out of the theater to avoid friends - she is always worried about getting a cold.

I saw this production of GYPSY shorly after it opened (loved the production, thought Lupone was wonderful) and wanted to experience it once more before it closed. I had the bad luck - yes, bad luck - to be in the audience on January 10.
Ms L.'s reaction to something she saw (and which may have dusturbed a small number of people sitting near the picture-taking jerk) broke what should have been one of the great moments in that or any other musical.
Instead, she made the very poor choice to be sure that the rest of the 1000+ people in the house shared her bad experience.It was a complete turnoff to me and all the people around me (including a 10 year old girl whose parents later explained to her that what she had just seen was not acceptable behavior by anyone).
When she picked up "Rose's Turn" again, it had become just a song. Not the centerpiece of the play, not a great moment in theater. It was just a song.
I know some people loved the drama of it."That's what you get with live theater...what did you expect from her?...hey...it's theater history!" I assume these are the same people who slow down hoping to catch a sight of blood or a body in a car wreck.
I hope the next time Patti Lupone is tempted to throw a tantrum, she think harder about the rest of the audience and what we are there for, rather than one or two idiots who are ruining "her" show. Her behavior was unprofessional and sad.

One part of me thinks good for her. The other part wonders if I would have much of a career left if I ever did that anywhere.

She's a pig.

What a cvnt. Should have known they would snatch that recording down - God forbid we actually get to hear the real Patti

okay everyone who is saying shes a pig and unprofessional and she should have let house management handle it well thats your opinion and my opinion is that she had every right to do what she did the person took 2 pictures already and house management did nothing so why should she have to wait when she was obv.was being distracted and could have just handled it herself which she did i would have LOVED to be there! i hate it when people take pictures when you were told twice not to its so rude and disrespectful to everyone.

and i love her even more for what she did!

What you all don't know and apparently isn't being reported about her outburst is that the person taking photos was covering a story AND Ms. Patti knew about it but apparently claimed later she forgot....talk about unprofessional!!!