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In 1975 Patti wowed audiences as Rosamund in "The Robber Bridegroom." In 1976, she won the role of Genevieve, over Betty Buckley to sing the now infamous "Meadowlark" from the Musical "The Baker's Wife." She next landed her groundbreaking role of EVITA in 1978. And she has been wowing audiences ever since with her interpretations of Fantine "Les Miz", Nancy "Oliver", Reno "Anything Goes", and Norma "Sunset Blvd." In this CD we get a touch of her Musical Theatre career and also her Cabaret songs.

This is the HIGHLIGHTS CD to her 1993 Double Disc Concert CD. It features 17 songs. The CD opens with Cole Porter's "I Get A Kick Out Of You", the show opener for "Anything Goes." She is strong, and her voice is full. Next up are the comical "Everything Happens To Me" (Matt Dennis and Thomas Blair) and the sultry "Lush Life" (Billy Strayhorn). Then she busts out into the crowd rousing "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" (Alex Kramer and Joan Whitney). It's an old fashioned, finger snapping, toe tappin' song. Patti does extremely well with these 1940's style songs. Her Back Up Singers are THE MERMAN, featuring John West, Josef Powell, Gene Van Buren, and Byron Motley who nicely compliment Miss LuPone. Next is "My Ship" by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin. Patti Then does a heartwrenching interpretation of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's "Surabaya Johnny." Listen to the agony in Patti's voice. Just by listening to her acting, it's no surprize she graduated from Juliard. Then Patti does contemporary with "Calling You" blended with "Get Here." Just hear the power behind her voice.

Then Patti warms us up to her Broadway section with the amazing Sondheim song "Being Alive" from the Muscial "Company." (She also blows the audience over on the "Sondheim Celebration CD, her FIRST LIVE performance where she sang this song!) Patti is the first woman to sing this song that was originally sung by a man! And boy does she knock our socks off! She begins nice and gentle and sends it Sky rocketing into the Air! She teases us with "Looking For Love On Broadway" only to lead directly into "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" her signature tune from EVITA. I think this particular version is the BEST recording of the song. Her voice is nice and solid, her belt is strong, and her acting is very clear. She then goes on to tell the story of Broadway flops, only to thrill us with "Meadowlark" from the short lived, ill-fated "The Baker's Wife." Patti is the ONLY woman that does Meadowlark it's justice. (For anyone who really loves this song, I highly recommend the Original Broadway Cast of "The Baker's Wife." It has a whole beginning seagment that's NOT in this recording!) She then graces us with the gutwrenching "I Dreamed A Dream." Just when three sad pieces in a row seem to dampen our spirits she electrifies us with the rousing "Anything Goes." Patti soars, and has way too much fun with her singers, The Merman. But that's what it's all about, having a good time!

As the Cd comes to a close we are treated to a beautiful melody entitled "Heaven." I've never heard it before, and I don't think it's a Broadway song, but it's pretty and catchy! The last song of the CD is "Lost In The Stars" by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson. Just wait till the end of the song where she gives us a taste of her (then) upcoming role of the World Premiere of ALW's "Sunset Blvd." "I can't go on with the scene....I'm too happy!..." Her ending monologue!

Patti LuPone is extremely fierce. She Really gets into each song with all her being. She's just a DIVA, what can we say. I can say I'm one of the Lucky ones because recently I had the chance to see Patti Live at the Hollywood Bowl where she sang "Buenos Aires" from EVITA. She blew me away. I was stunned for, like, ten minutes. After all these years, she proves she's still THE DIVA. And this album, recorded in 1993, gives us a taste of what it would be like to hear her live. My only complaint is that "As Long As He Needs Me" isn't on this CD. It's on the double disc, but not on the Highlights CD. But still it's worth everyone penny!

This CD is a must have for any fan of Patti, musical theatre or old standards. This is Patti's finest concert work to date showing a maturity and performance mastery previously unseen and unheard from her. Each song is so skillfully interpreted that it is like a monologue. They perfectly evoke the feelings and mood of the show they are from. The snipets of dialogue from the show are also a joy giving some insight into her feelings about a song and also showing her true personality. LuPone sparkles in this recording.

Ms. LuPone is a great talent. Her voice is powerful and as clear as water. I have been a fan of hers for a long time and will always be loyal. If you listen to this album you to will feel the same. All of her most popular songs are here, "Being Alive", "Anything Goes" I Dreamed a Dream" and "Don't Cry For me Argentina". You simple can't go wrong with this album. As I always say, It's a must have for any Patti LuPone fan!!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For more than 25 years Patti LuPone has been one of the greatest female performers in the modern musical theatre. During that time she became renown not only for her capability to portray strong characters, but also for her amazing vocal power, which enabled her to sing the most demanding scores the musical business has to offer. Before we get to the CD at issue here, here is the basic info about Ms. LuPone's career.

After completing her training with the first class of the Drama Division of New York's Juilliard School, she began her career as a founding member of John Houseman's The Acting Company playing a variety of leading roles, both on and off-Broadway and on tour throughout the United States. Among her first roles were Rosamund in the 1976 production of Robert Waldman's and Alfred Uhry's "The Robber Bridegroom" and "The baker's wife" in the Stephen Schwartz's piece of the same title. Her big brake came in 1979 when she wowed New York audiences with her stunning portrayal of Eva Peron in the 1979 Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita. The electrifying magnetism of her vocals and her strong stage presence earned her the Tony award as a best actress in a musical for 1980. The 80-is saw her tackling a large variety of parts, such as Vera Simpson in "Pal Joey", Nancy in "Oliver", a truly moving Fantine in the London production of "Les Miserables" and a charming Reno Sweeney in the 1987 revival of Cole Porter's "Anything goes". She was also no stranger to the TV screen at the same time, appearing, among other things, for four seasons of "Life goes on".

So at the beginning of the 90-is, Patti decided it was time to do a solo show. Los Angles was chosen and she began conceiving a program with Scott Wittman, who is nowadays known as a lyricist for one of the current Broadway hit musicals, "Hairspray". This double CD is thusly a live recording of that Patti's LA concert. The repertoire, together with her unique interpretation, guaranteed a sold out show. To start with, the first disc features Patti tackling some of the classics, from Kurt Weill, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and Billy Strayhorn to her full-lunged rendition of Stephen Sondheim's "Being Alive". One of the things that impresses on this CD is the fact that she makes all these songs sound as if they were written especially for her; she gave each of them a new life. The arrangements are neatly made and carried out by a well played orchestra and powerful back vocals of an African-American vocalist group, "The Merman", who give Patti a strong backing.

The heated atmosphere gets even more ecstatic on the second disc on which Patti performs the most noted songs from the shows she starred in up until that time. There is no mistake here: from her overpowering deliverance of "Don't cry for me Argentina", through gentle and lullaby-tuned "Sleepy man" from "The Robber Bridegroom" till the comic beats of "Anything goes", you can't help but be amazed by the sheer strength that shines out of every note Patti belts here. Add to that the fact that all the songs on this disc are cleverly interwoven with Patti's witty and funny monologues about each of the shows she was in and you end up with an immensely enjoyable musical and comical experience all wrapped up in this 2-disc set. By and large, this recording shows that Ms. LuPone is not only an outstanding singer and actress, but a consummate entertainer as well.

My only regret would be that here we are not treated with Patti's breath-taking interpretation as Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard", which premiered in July that year in London. She sang those notes like no one else managed afterwards and my favorite composer should have known better before canceling her contract for the Broadway production, only to replace her with a "bigger name", namely Glenn Close, who never came near of bringing that character to life, neither vocally nor in terms of good and convincible acting.

Taking everything into account, this CD captures the very essence of Patti LuPone's appeal to the avid musical theatre connoisseurs: amazing vocal range and power, in addition to humorous life attitude and acting ability. This recording proves that real talent can conquer and endure at the same time.

Any fan of Patti LuPone's (or theater fans in general) will be enthralled with this set. She has a way of grabbing her audience by the heart and keeping them there......favorite tracks: Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens, Surabaya Johnny, I Dreamed A Dream, Sleepy Man, Heaven, etc.....the list goes on forever! Run, don't walk, to buy this wonderful set!

A double-disk release, "Patti LuPone Live: Highlights," was recorded live at the Westwood Playhouse in Los Angeles, California, on January 15 and 16, 1993. It contains most of the crowd-pleasing favorites from her successful Broadway career, and a good selection of just plain interesting/beautiful songs, too. But it may be just too much of a good thing for some, like me, who actually later additionally bought Patti LuPone Live! (Highlights), the one-disk release of this material.

It's not as if LuPone, a Juilliard graduate, isn't a greatly talented singing actress, although she stands but 5'2". Furthermore, it just goes to prove once again the acuity of legendary Broadway director/producer Hal Prince's well-known remark that his favorite singers are "actors with voices....A musician who appreciates words, and has the taste, brains and quirky wit to make the most of these wonderful show tunes."

Lupone, a native of Long island, New York, has just now closed her multi-award-winning Broadway run in "Gypsy," with book by Arthur Laurents, who directed its current run, music by Jule Style, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreography by Jerome Robbins. In it, she played Mama Rose, mother to two famous theatrical sisters of the mid-twentieth century, June Havoc, and Gypsy Rose Lee. Mama Rose was, for your information, famed as the worst backstage mother ever: the part, as is well-known, was created by Ethel Merman. Bernadette Peters played it recently to critical praise - I was lucky enough to catch Peters in that revival. However, the critics raved when LuPone did the part in one of City Center's recital-style productions a while back: after which, it was probably always in the cards that LuPone would get her chance at the part on Broadway. Most particularly now that the famous play's last living creators are aging, and might wish to see their great work again, splendidly done, before they go.

Most of the 2008 theater awards were given Lupone for her performance: she won the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress in a Musical, and the Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance, too. (She was previously nominated, at least, for most of these same awards for her performance as Mrs. Lovett in the revival of Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd.") However, quite ironically, she audibly tells her LA audience that she'll be leaving that city shortly to perform/tour for two years as the lead in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard." Theater fans with long memories will recall that Lloyd Webber, creator of "Evita," from which LuPone's signature song "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina," comes, soon decided against her performance, at any cost. Anyway, I never got to see LuPone as Rose, as I no longer live in New York. I did, however, catch the actress on Broadway in the non-singing but star part of the housekeeper, Dotty Otley/Mrs. Clackett, in the revival of Michael Frayn's hilarious "Noises Off." Her timing was galvanizingly funny; (I do love funny, and had also seen the original production of that play.)

The actress gives us another top-flight performance, a tight two-handed kitchen scene with Kelly McGillis that was cut from the the film "Witness's" theatrical release. But the interlude sometimes shows up when the movie's on late-night television; I guess programmers then wish the movie to run a little longer. It's also on the DVD "Witness: Special Collectors' Edition," that I own.

On the CD at hand, LuPone is in good form: voice clear, intonation and phrasing flawless, and she sure do swing: catch "I Get a Kick out of You." As to the show's overall timing, the performer once remarked about another live album. that, as she was first hearing those tapes, "I couldn't believe the pace of the show. I thought we must have all been on speed." True enough. Her versions of "Surabaya Johnny," "Argentina," and "As Long As He Needs Me" brim with emotion: her devoted fans should be well-pleased. Mind you, the singer herself once said, "When I'm speaking between songs I sound like a babbling idiot." And there is some of that. But still.

The star once said, "I learned about performing on stage, period. I don't know what cabaret is. I just get up on a stage. I learned how to deliver a song without a mask. There was nothing to hide behind."

I JUST LOVE THIS cD!PATTI LuPONE IS SUCH A SPECTACULAR SINGER, AND THE SONGS SHE CHOSE,ARE ADORABLE AND PERFECT FOR HER VOICE. MY FAVORITE SONGS ARE "SUN IN THE MORNING...", AND "THE SUPERMARKET @ OLD PEKING". I COULD LISTEN TO THIS CD OVER AND OVER AND NEVER GROW TIERD OF IT!

This CD proves all of Patti's concerts should be recorded.

From Anything goes to Les Mis, and Sondhiem inbetween she is the best.

Patti LuPone is a legend in the same mold as Merman, Garland, and Streisand. This album confirms this judgement. Fantastic.

Many who only know Patti LuPone as "Evita" should take a listen to this spectacular two-disc record of her one-woman show. While Cole Porter and Kurt Weill are fairly represented, the much anticipated 'theatre section' of the concert is what truly thrills. LuPone's soaring vibrato fills each song with almost more feeling than the lyrics can handle, most impressively on "I Dreamed A Dream", "Sleepy Man", and, of course, her signatures "Meadowlark" and "Don't Cry For Me Argentina". The patter is also informative and cozy, revealing with self-deprecating humor many musical theatre experiences for us diehard fans. All in all, this is a must for any fan of musical theatre, the excitement of live recordings, and mostly of one of the great voices of the century. There is simply no substitute for Patti LuPone live...or recorded.