The Unreachable Star: My Unauthorized Travels with Patti LuPone (Paperback)

by Maile Hernandez (Author)
Key Phrases: unreachable star, balcony tickets, bobblehead doll, New York, Sweeney Todd, Aunt Patti (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
In The Unreachable Star: My Unauthorized Travels with Patti LuPone, author Maile Hernandez shares her story of following a Broadway legend on tour with star-struck enthrallment and her struggles as a mother to an autistic child. Dramatic in all the right ways, this poignant and reflective memoir reads as a deeply felt confession that wades through the waters of what it means to sail upon the shores of self-revelation. As lively and lilting as a memoir can be, there is an often self-deprecating tone, which reads as the tender weight of a life that inadvertently went off-course. A lawyer-turned-overwhelmed-parent began to renew her old singing and acting career after realizing a long-sought childhood dream of seeing Patti LuPone (of Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, and Evita) live on Broadway. With poise and grace, Hernandez paints a vivid picture of what success is – as a wife, as a mother, and as a performer – and shares an inspired tale of what it takes to keep reaching for unreachable stars.

About the Author
A vocal performance major at Indiana University at Bloomington, Maile Hernandez ultimately graduated with degrees in sociology and speech communication. She later received a law degree from the Arizona State University College of Law and is a member of the Arizona State Bar. She performs with multiple local music and theatre productions where she lives in Arizona with her husband and son.

Product Details

• Paperback: 258 pages
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing; 1st edition (June 13, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419696726
• ISBN-13: 978-1419696725
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #837,722 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much more than the Tony Award -winning star of "Gypsy", June 16, 2008

By	Katco - See all my reviews

I am neither a parent nor a fan of Broadway, but I still found much in this book to relate to. (I *was* a "Life Goes On" fan.) The way Maile projected so much of her emotion onto one person/idea is something I think many of us do for various defensive and protective reasons. Maile's writing is honest, intimate, smart and funny even when she's revealing her rather painful experiences. It's so compelling that I read it in two sittings. I really hope to read more of her in the not too distant future. I feel like she could write about anything and I'd enjoy it immensely.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sensitive look at one of Patti LuPone's most ardent fans, July 16, 2008

By	Broadway collie "Broadway collie" (Ohio) - See all my reviews

The Unreachable Star: My Unauthorized Travels with Patti LuPone
This is a well written, sensitive book that provides insight not only about the author, Maile Hernandez, a devoted fan, but also about Tony Award winner Patti LuPone who is currently starring in Gypsy on Broadway. Maile is an attorney living in Arizona with a husband and their autistic son. She shares her feelings for, and her interactions with Broadway Diva Patti LuPone. The book is interesting, funny, insightful, and at the same time sad. Although a story about personal growth, The Unreachable Star expresses the pain that can be felt from rejection by a beloved performer - even from a distance.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone Could Relate To This Excellent Book!, November 9, 2008

By	W. J. Cronauer "bill_24_24" (Wilkes-Barre, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Let's face it. We are all fans of someone famous, whether it be Madonna or Brad Pitt or even Joe the Plumber. At times we simply like we put out there for us (whether it be movies or music or TV or performances). At other times, we become obsessed with them and we just know, if they just took the time to get to know us, we will strike up a life-long friendship. Sometimes these idols are all we feel we have to live for.

These modern days of MySpace and email has become the era of anti face-to-face communication, a communication that is personal, yet distant enough. It's an age when we can send a famous person an email and maybe even get a response, yet there are no handshakes and no facial expressions to demonstrate neither flattery or annoyance. It's safe, but can still be painful.

That's why I loved this book so much...because everyone wants to be acknowledged by someone they love, even if it's just one-sided and hidden behind typed words and a faceless identity that we can color exactly as we choose.

I could relate to the author, Maile Hernandez, and her quest to befriend the ultimate and unreachable star, Broadway legend and Tony winner Patti LuPone. I'm a big fan of Patti LuPone--I've seen her perform four (count 'em, FOUR) times on Broadway (twice in Sweeney Todd, and twice in Gypsy), I own a couple of her CDs, I really admire her as a performer and, when my friend recently moved to Connecticut (her mother is actually a cousin of Patti's who hung out with her when she was a kid), I joked that I would visit her just so we could follow Patti LuPone around town.

Mind you, I was kidding about the last part. Really, I couldn't even bring myself to wait at the stage door for an autograph from her because I'm afraid I would throw up on her shoes. But, nonetheless, I'm a fan of Patti LuPone. But I don't live for her, I have no desire to want to befriend her. She's just there, and she's truly great at what she does and that's good enough for me.

Just a few short years ago, Maile Hernandez of Phoenix didn't know in what direction her life was going. She was no longer practicing law (which she hated), she just lost her mother to cancer, and was coping with raising her autistic son Max with her devoted lawyer husband Conrad. She always wanted to be a performer, on any level, but had had to suppress this desire and passion for her family.

Maile also loves Patti LuPone more than any other performer, since the first time she heard her as a teenager. She desires to see her in perform as often as she can--whether it be in Broadway shows in New York City or one-off performances in Virginia or Las Vegas or San Diego. She will go anywhere and see anything (sometimes twice in one weekend) that LuPone is performing in. Maile just feels that special connection with Patti LuPone.

Maile (sometimes signing her name, sometimes anonymously) sends LuPone flowers and other special gifts (like specially made bobbleheads) , she sends her rambling emails that both flatter her idol and bring her up-to-date with every aspect and detail of her life, and she even proposes that they have coffee together. Maile just knows that, if Patti LuPone just took the time to get to know her, they would become confidantes and life-long friends.

Maile appreciates the rare times LuPone personally responds to her emails, and she is devastated when, regarding the majority of her attempts to make personal contact via the web, her emails go unresponded to. She simply cannot understand why she is being ignored and rejected by her idol. After all, they met in passing at a restaurant and LuPone had hugged her several times. So why could Patti possibly be brushing her off?

Regardless of being brushed off by her idol, Maile still attends every performance she can of Patti LuPone. In her extensive travels, she even has a series bizarre and often-hilarious hilarious encounters with other LuPone fans she meets on the Internet.

LuPone also inspires her to try being an actress herself, as Maile becomes a fixture on the local theater scene and expressing herself as she has always wanted to--in performance. Maile also becomes closer and closer to her husband Conrad, who accompanies her on most of her Patti ventures and even becomes a fan himself. She also becomes a better mother, who learns to appreciate every accomplishment (no matter how small and insignificant to the outside world) of her son.

The final chapters on winning opening night tickets for Gypsy on an online auction, only to have them revoked for some mysterious reason (had Miss LuPone read the draft of the book that Maile sent her via email and personally does not want Maile there to spoil her opening night?) --make you feel like your guts have been ripped out and stomped on by the famous feet of your idol. You, the reader, feel just as rejected as Maile.

I loved every page of this book. At first, I must admit that I thought, "Wow, she is really loca for sending Patti LuPone that email and that present. She's simply not living in reality." But as I read further and further, it dawned on me that Maile is just like all of us. She loves and respects a performer so much that all she wants is an acknowledgement that her passion is appreciated by the other person. Hernandez demonstrates in her writing how painful it is to be rebuffed and how bloody difficult, nearly impossible, it is not to take it personally. As much as we don't want to believe it, stars do not (I repeat, DO NOT) live for their fans, but fans often live for their stars. Famous faces can also be harsh, famous voices can also be rude and, most importantly, famous people are not as perfect as we want to see them. Maile Hernandez demonstrates all of these factors so vividly in this outstanding book about the pop culture of celebrity.

I must admit, though all of this is fascinating, my favorite parts of the books are those detailing the relationship between Maile and her husband Conrad--how Patti (no matter how unresponsive she seems to Maile) has brought them closer and closer together.

Maile Hernandez is truly a gifted and entertaining author, and I can't wait for her to publish her next book. But I swear to you, here and now, that no matter how much I loved her first book, I won't (I repeat, WON'T with a capital W) be sending her an email. But, between you and me, if I saw her at book signing, I would kindly ask her to pose for a picture with me. After all, I'm a fan :-)