Patti Lu 101

A few weeks ago, I brought a colleague to see Patti & Mandy. She's heard all (and I mean all) of my stories, heard me blather away about how wonderful they both are, and she agreed (bravely) to spend the Friday evening before her 60th birthday with me in Mandypattiville (as Mr. P himself calls it) - I mean, what better present could one get, right??

But then I started getting nervous. It was her first time seeing them, although she knew of them and liked them both by reputation. She was, for all intents and purposes, a PatMan virgin (and that reminds me of the first time I saw Sweeney Todd, when Sarah literally introduced me to Patti. She told her "Patti, I've brought you some virgins" and Patti looked curious and eager and answered "Virgins?? Where??" So, I have loads more to thank you for, Ms. Sarah.).

And it's hard, you know, to bring someone into something you love so much because what if they hate it?? I went on and on forever about how great the show was, but I know that these two are not everyone's cup of tea. I know it and I accept it (even if you are all WRONG. No, just kidding.) So, yeah, I was nervous.

Does anybody remember the Patti who showed up to the first night of Gypsy at Ravinia? Well, she showed up again on Friday night at the Caddy. She seemed a bit subdued, actually, generally all right, but not as "on" as I've seen her. My lovely colleague sort of agreed with me there (I REALLY wish she had been there on Sunday afternoon, because that was the best performance I saw.). As we were leaving, she asked me the best performance I had ever seen Patti do. And you know, I was really stumped. I've seen a lot of great things from her, and they're all tied up in misty water colored memories so it's kind of hard for me to choose.

So I decided to do a little blog highlight reel in Maggie's honor, a proper introduction to the Diva - not only stuff I've seen live and in person, but historical Pattiness, because there is a whole lot of awesome on youtube...

Today's choice, is, naturally, Being Alive.... probably my favorite version of this song by anyone, anywhere. Ms. Patti is in full diva sass mode here.