The diva, Patti LuPone, speaks...

I hope to someday soon interview Patti LuPone. But until that happens, I'm happy to see that Steve Rothaus of the Miami Herald did speak to the Tony winning star of "Evita," and such Broadway productions as "Sweeney Todd," "Anything Goes," "Master Class" (which I saw her perform in 1996) and her terrific one-woman show "Patti LuPone on Broadway."
Right now, the big question is whether or not LuPone will headline a Broadway production of "Gypsy." That, I would make a special trip across the country for. But the star would only say "something may happen" and nothing more, not wanting to jinx things.
''I want opportunity, whatever that opportunity is,'' LuPone said. ``What audiences want is connection. I know this because I'm onstage. Somehow we've gotten a very far way from the human connection between actor and audience. Our producers have lost sight that the actors are the storytellers. Not a flying helicopter or a flying chandelier.''
One of the great tragedies of LuPone's career - and for rabid fans like me - is never having seen her as Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard." She was contracted to do the Broadway production and had originated the role in London. But Glenn Close's Los Angeles run in the show was so successful that she was tapped to take it to Broadway by producer-composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.
''That was a deeply, deeply painful experience,'' LuPone said. ``Do I ever want to see Andrew Lloyd Webber again? No. I'll never get over that.''
Neither will her fans.