As a role, it seems made for her, but when I ask whether she talked about it with Sondheim before coming to London she becomes uncharacteristically tentative.
LuPone was born in Long Island, New York, the only daughter of first generation Italian immigrants.
Photograph: Alamy In her 2011 memoir, LuPone says she fell in love with acting at the age of four while in a school play.
P atti LuPone is giving her radiator a good smack.
I understand the character much better now, because the stakes are higher for women who wait.
LuPone is a theatrical legend, a two-times Tony winner who was the original Evita on Broadway and the original Fantine in the London Les Misérables, her distinctive, powerful and emotional voice helping to turn their accompanying albums into mega-sellers.