Patti LuPone slams Audra McDonald as ‘not a friend,’ shades ‘Gypsy’ performance

No celebrity was safe from Patti LuPone’s reign of shade in the Broadway icon’s latest interview with the New Yorker, in which the Tony-winning actress not only reflected on her “instant dislike” of fellow star Kevin Kline but also slammed former theater costar Audra McDonald as “not a friend” amid their ongoing feud.

In the wide-ranging profile by writer Michael Schulman, LuPone responded to a probe into a 2024 incident in which actress Kecia Lewis posted a video publicly calling for LuPone to apologize for alleged “racial microaggressions” after the latter, who was working on a show inside a neighboring theater in New York City, reportedly inquired “about changing a couple of our sound cues because you found them to be too loud,” per Lewis. (A representative for LuPone did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly‘s request for comment at the time.)

Schulman indicated that McDonald had given Lewis’ video “supportive emojis,” to which LuPone replied, “Exactly.”

She continued: “And I thought, You should know better. That’s typical of Audra. She’s not a friend.”

LuPone didn’t elaborate further on the pair’s feud, though Schulman went on to ask the star for her opinion on McDonald’s current stage production of Gypsy — the 2008 production of which won LuPone a Tony.

“She stared at me, in silence, for fifteen seconds,” Schulman wrote. “Then she turned to the window and sighed, ‘What a beautiful day.'”

EW has reached out to representatives for McDonald for comment.

Although LuPone indicated that their relationship is a fraught one, the actresses previously worked together in a 2007 Los Angeles Opera production of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and the New York Philharmonic’s 2000 production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

The New Yorker piece also clarified LuPone’s version of events related to the Hell’s Kitchen drama, with the profile noting that “At her stage manager’s suggestion, LuPone called Robert Wankel, the head of the Shubert Organization, and asked him if he could fix the noise problem. Once it was taken care of, she sent thank-you flowers to the musical’s crew,” ahead of Lewis posting her video.

“Oh, my God,” LuPone said in response to a question about the incident. “Here’s the problem. She calls herself a veteran? Let’s find out how many Broadway shows Kecia Lewis has done, because she doesn’t know what the f— she’s talking about.”

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After LuPone searched the internet for the number of shows Lewis had done, LuPone quipped, “Don’t call yourself a vet, bitch.”

She additionally explained that noise problems are “not unusual on Broadway” and that “this happens all the time when walls are shared.” (EW has reached out to a representative for Lewis for comment.)