Earlier this week, Patti Lupone boldly dissed Audra McDonald in the pages of The New Yorker. While discussing a contentious incident with Hell’s Kitchen actress Kecia Lewis, she told the magazine that McDonald is “not a friend.” And what does McDonald think? Well, she doesn’t even know what Lupone is talking about. Everything’s coming up Audra.
This all started last year, when Lupone complained that sound from the Alicia Keys musical was bleeding into the theater where she was doing The Roommate, and Lewis called her complaints “bullying” and “racially microaggressive.” At the time, McDonald showed support for Lewis, and when The New Yorker recently asked about the incident, Lupone said that was “typical” of her fellow Broadway legend. She then alluded to a “long-ago rift” between the two and passive-aggressively opted not to say anything about McDonald’s Gypsy revival, instead commenting on the weather.
Luckily for us, this is all happening during Tony season, which means that McDonald is out and about responding to Lupone’s comments. On Thursday, CBS Sunday Mornings shared a preview of Gayle King’s upcoming interview with the actor, in which she’s asked if she was “surprised” by what Lupone said.
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“If there’s a rift between us, I don’t know what it is,” McDonald said. “That’s something you’d have to ask Patti about. You know, I haven’t seen her in about 11 years just because we’ve been busy just with life. So I don’t know what rift she’s talking about, but you’d have to ask her.”
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And that is how you graciously rise above the fray. McDonald didn’t need to entertain the feud anyway, since she’s been having an incredible week. On Wednesday, she was on the cover of Time for a profile in which she is declared “our greatest living stage actor.” If that wasn’t enough, the theater community has really been rallying around her. After Lupone’s interview came out, Tony winner Alex Newell simply posted an old photo of McDonald with her six Tonys, Natasha Rothwell shared a story of McDonald graciously coming to see her college production of You Can’t Take It With You, and Reneé Rapp posted a video to TikTok Stories saying, “Don’t fucking disrespect Audra McDonald.” In perhaps the greatest blow, Donna Murphy took McDonald’s side.
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Murphy, a Broadway veteran and icon in her own right, shared a lengthy Instagram post declaring her support for both McDonald and Lewis. “We live lives of uncertainty,” Murphy wrote, expounding on the struggles of being an artist. “Add to that being women of color who have historically been undervalued, mistreated, and worse. Praise them, raise them up, honor them. And in my case: love them.”
More than anything, this is wonderful promotion for the Tonys, which will take place in a little more than a week. Will host Cynthia Erivo address the controversy? Which winner will praise McDonald most effusively in their speech? Do you think they can get Bernadette Peters to come onstage and give her two cents? Stay tuned!
