She came, she saw, she conquered. And then she got the boot. They say that life imitates art. With the Sunset Boulevard fiasco life took the image and moved it along, way beyond the realms of fiction. Patti LuPone wasn't just butchered; she was carved up in public under the full glare of the media.

Okay I know that showbusiness is just that and commercial realities must play their part. But they were dealing with a person here. A talented and undoubtedly sensitive actor whose life is the stage. This wasn't Gordon Gekko butchering come conglomerate. If you prick her does she not bleed? Maybe they were wrong to offer Patti Broadway on the strength of her Sydmonton try out but that was exactly what was done. And not in some quiet way but in full Technicolor and in the glare of a million spotlights. A deal was done and it should have prevailed.

But of course it was all the fault of the Broadway Backers. So just who are this shadowy, mysterious body of men? Despite the name they aren't a Baseball team. I checked. But why they may be anonymous they sure are powerful. Powerful enough to force a certain gentleman, with sufficient wealth to be able to spend the equivalent of the gross national product of Botswana on a few dabs of paint on a small canvas, to succumb to their demands. Miss LuPone apparently doesn't quite believe that Sir Andrew could be so easily manipulated. She may think that; I couldn't possibly comment.

But why did Patti get the old heave-ho? Back in issue 11 I wrote "LuPone is simply stunning and I believe that she will set the bench mark against which all future Norma Desmonds will be measured." Despite recent events I stick firmly to that belief, a view shared by the vast majority of readers of this publication. The problem to my mind stems initially from a mild public overdose of Lloyd Webber. In recent years he has milked it to the full, reviving oldies like Joseph and taking traditionally London shows such as Cats and Aspects to all corners of this sceptred isle while establishing a provincial production of the flagship, Phantom. ALW, not surprisingly, must have begun to believe that he could do no wrong; even the blatantly uncommercial Aspects lasted three years in London. Meryl Streep wants the role? Well she can go on wanting! Andy was going for HIS choice and that was Patti LuPone. Such was his belief in his own pulling power that he happily announced that Patti would also open the Broadway show. All was rosy in the garden until the hit singles didn't hit (despite pulling in the fair Barbra) and the public didn’t come in their droves. Sunset Boulevard got the cold shoulder not the hot ticket. So what was wrong? Well you hardly expect the main man or any of his cronies to do a bit of mirror staring so a sacrificial lamb had to be found. Enter Miss LuPone, stage left. As soon as her West End contract was up they could close the show, tart it up, throw in a new song and a new cast for the re-launch. But above all they had to learn from their mistakes and get a "name" for Broadway.

When all the dust has settled it will become clear that the only people to surface from this morass with dignity intact are Patti LuPone and the West End theatregoers who gave her such devotional support. One of the most dedicated of Masquerade readers was Peter Gannaway who has sent such a emotional piece on Patti's last night that I happily reproduce it here so that you can all suffer with me for missing it!



"I went to Patti's final night of Sunset Boulevard last Saturday. AND WHAT A NIGHT IT WAS!! Talk about emotional!

The house was full, of course, with a queue for returns. Christopher Hampton and Don Black were sitting immediately behind me with their respective spouses (or girlfriends) and it was obvious from the shouting by members of the audience to one another that they had been there to see it a number of times and were all geared up for the excitement of the occasion.

The show began in fine form up to the end of the car chase when inexplicably the curtain came down. A disembodied voice announced that there was an electrical fault and they weren't able to move the car chase scenery and would we be patient for a while. Then the stage manager came out and said it would take longer than they thought and if we would all adjourn to the bar for a while all drinks were on the house! As there was a general mass exodus I stayed where I was as I would never have got served anyway!

The show continued after 20 minutes or so and went without a hitch from there on. I heard Christopher Hampton whisper loudly to Don Black after the first announcement: "Perhaps Patti will be excused boots tonight!"

But Patti wasn't going to be excused boots at all. The minute she made her first step down that staircase for her first appearance the most enormous burst of yelling and cheering went up and it was a minute or two before she could start her first line. And again after the end of "With One Look" there was a huge ovation which stopped the show. There was general laughter with some of the more pertinent lines, under the circumstances. For instance when she asks "is there any law against burying him (the ape) in the garden?" she followed it up very loudly with "I don't care anyway" with far more vehemence that previously!

By far the biggest ovation came after "As If We Never Said Goodbye" of course. There was applause when the spotlight went onto her before the number but she sang it with such intensity and all-stops emotion that the place just exploded at the end and everyone was on their feet for her. Even the cast looked startled by the intensity of it all.

Pro that she is, Patti played the performance to perfection right up to the end, but it was obvious that when she finally stood centre stage to belt out those defiant lines "With one look I'll be me" that she was giving it everything she had. I was so overcome I found myself holding my breath and trying my hardest to hold back my own tears, never mind Patti holding back hers. And I was by no means alone.