By Andrew Gans
25 Aug 2006

Singing the Styne-Sondheim score, she says, was "pure bliss" and Laurents' scenes are "concise and precise. There's enough of a scene to give out the information to have the emotional transitions to promote the song; they are seamless transitions." LuPone says she would love the opportunity to play Rose again, even though performing the role eight times a week would be demanding. "I questioned that when I did the [Ravinia] run, but I do know that I went through all the technicals, and I went through the four performances because we did a dress rehearsal Thursday night, then shows Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and I still had my voice. I would have to modulate the delivery of 'Rose's Turn.' I think that was the only place I was in danger — with the screaming of 'For me, for me, for me, for me!'" Surprisingly, though, LuPone says Eva Peron in Evita is the more demanding role. "It was [written] in a [vocal] stratosphere I couldn't handle," she says, adding, "I would have to say the three most difficult [musical theatre roles for me have been] Rose, Evita and Mrs. Lovett. Energy wise, vocal energy wise, vocal precision wise — these three roles are the ones that are monsters."

Speaking of Mrs. Lovett, LuPone is currently playing her final weeks as that meat-pie-making schemer in John Doyle's actor-musician production of Sweeney Todd, which ends its run at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Sept. 3. "I started crying last night," LuPone says with an audible lump in her throat. "There were two people standing at the back row orchestra during the final number ['The Ballad of Sweeney Todd'], and I just started to cry. I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it. It's just the greatest experience I've ever had. It still is. It's an incredible company — it is an incredible piece."

As for future projects, LuPone will be part of two operas within the next year: the November world premiere of Jake Heggie's To Hell and Back, "which is based on the myth of Persephone and modernized for spousal abuse," and Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, which will be directed by Sweeney's Doyle for the L.A. Opera in February 2007. "All of a sudden, at my age, I'm entering the opera world. I think it's pretty fantastic, but I'd love to be able to return to Broadway. I'd love to be able to do Rose in New York."

Whether LuPone will play Mama Rose in New York will be up to the musical theatre gods, but it is almost a given that she will inhabit the role again somewhere — whether in London or with other symphony orchestras around the country. "All of a sudden this year I reached legendary status because I'm the dodo bird of Broadway," LuPone says with her infectious laugh. "I'm practically extinct! You really have to run to catch my performances." And, no doubt, her numerous fans will be there to catch her work in To Hell and Back, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and, one can only hope, Gypsy.

Stage and screen star Sandy Duncan will play the free-spirited Mame Dennis in the Barrington Stage Company's upcoming semi-staged concert version of the classic Jerry Herman musical. Duncan replaces the previously announced Donna McKechnie, who withdrew from the production to star in the West End debut of the 1974 Andrews Sisters musical Over Here! Julianne Boyd will direct Mame, which is scheduled to run Oct. 4-15 at the Barrington Stage in Pittsfield, MA. For more information about the Barrington Stage Company, call (413) 229-2076 or visit www.barringtonstageco.org.

Speaking of McKechnie, the former A Chorus Line star will celebrate the release of her long-awaited autobiography with two book-signing events in Manhattan. McKechnie's "Time Steps: My Musical Comedy Life," which she co-wrote with Greg Lawrence, is due in stores from Simon & Schuster Sept. 6. On Sept. 12 the new author will appear at The Drama Book Shop at 6 PM, and she will also be on hand to autograph copies of her tome Oct. 6 at 7 PM at the Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle. The Drama Book Shop is located at 250 West 40th Street. Barnes & Noble is located at 1972 Broadway at 66th Street. Admission to both events is free.

Jay Records will release the premiere recording of Hunter Foster and David Kirshenbaum's Summer of '42 musical in September. The new CD features the talents of Rachel York (Dorothy), Megan Valerie Walker (Miriam), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Aggie), Joe Gallagher (Benjie), Brett Tabisel (Oscy), Ryan Driscoll (Hermie), Ayal Miodovnik (Pete), Danielle Ferland (Gloria) and Bill Buell (Mr. Sanders, Walter Winchell). The recording was made following a May 2005 concert at the York Theatre Company, which was directed by Gabriel Barre. Visit www.jayrecords.com for more information.

Singer-actress Adriane Lenox, who will reprise her Tony-winning turn as Mrs. Muller for West Coast audiences in the upcoming national tour of Doubt, has been cast in the film "My Blueberry Nights." Lenox will play a waitress opposite Norah Jones in the Christal Films production, which will be directed by Wong Kar Wai. "My Blueberry Nights" is scheduled to film in Lenox' hometown of Memphis; the motion picture, according to press notes, tells the story of "a young woman who travels across America to find the true meaning of love, and encounters offbeat characters along the way."

Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.