We’ve had the pleasure of speaking to a long list of cinematic icons. We’ve been lucky enough to speak to some truly legendary legends of the small screen. That being said, it’s not every day you get to catch up with a quintessential hero of the Broadway stage, such as the one and only Patti LuPone. Arguably one of the greatest actors in the history of American theater (3 Tony Awards and 8 nominations may just qualify her), LuPone recently delivered a standout performance as Leila, a 400-year-old witch searching for a coven in the Marvel Studios series “Agatha All Along.” And with Emmy Award season in full swing, she joined The Playlist to talk about it.
READ MORE: “Agatha All Along”: Jac Schaeffer answers our questions on the final two episodes and why that big kiss was so important
During our lengthy conversation, which you can also watch embedded in this post, LuPone touched on everything from the inevitability of the deaths of most of Agatha’s coven to creator Jac Schaeffer’s detailed screenplays to Kevin Feige visiting her backstage during “The Roommate” last summer to how rare it for a company of actors to be friends to my inevitable question on her thoughts on the new staging of “Sunset Boulevard,” a musical she launched in the West End in 1993 and, well, she wasn’t necessarily a fan…then.
Oh, and is Lilia really dead?
This text version of this interview has been edited for length and clarity.
____
The Playlist: I think you shot this maybe two years ago or maybe a little less?
Patti LuPone: Yeah.
Do you remember having a good time? Was it a fun experience?
Great time, great time. I miss it. We’re still on a text thread that we were on, I think, for the entire shoot. Something that I never want to erase. I’ve said this before, but it’s rare when you can, especially since it was all women and Joe [Locke], where you can have a company of actors that become friends. It’s rare. There might be one person that you can communicate with, maybe for the rest of your career, maybe not, maybe until, y’know, the Shine Dolls, whatever. This was very special. And I mean, it has to do with Jac’s casting and Kathryn [Hahn]‘s leadership and Jac and Kathryn’s leadership, and the fact that we were different enough that we complemented each other personality-wise, and there was no threat. There was just support and love and good times, good times.
When the project came your way, did Jac let you know that your character had a spotlight episode? Or was it just, “Hey, come be part of this,” and then when you got the script, you realized, “Oh wow, look at this”?
Well, she did tell me that each of the witches had a trial, and she told me that Lilia’s trial would be a tarot reading, and that’s all she said. And then the first question I asked her was, “Do you have your scripts written?” Because my experience in television is flying by the seat of my pants. You have no idea what episode four is going to be in episode three. It could be a totally different character. You have no idea. And she had all her episodes written, which is very unusual for TV. And we also got together and read all of the episodes. So, all of us had the ability to ask questions and start to understand the arc of the series and each other, and individually, our characters. And that’s very rare, and I don’t understand why they don’t do it, because you save so much time when you’re on set, and that’s money.
In theory, in the streaming world, they do it more these days. But still, I’m sure even while you were making this, you were getting changes maybe to scenes the next day?
No, never. Very few, if there were any. Jac is a very specific writer. She’s a very specific writer. She wrote a puzzle. It would’ve been difficult to change. I mean, there might’ve been an adverb or a verb in there, but no, and I’ve said this before, I wished I had been a better reader because I did ask a lot of questions, but I may have forgotten the answers by the time we got to the scenes. But I wished I had been a better reader to understand that all the answers to my episode were laced into all of the episodes before my episode. But not knowing Jac’s writing except for “WandaVision” and not knowing the puzzle, it was hard to fully understand when I got to seven that it’s hindsight. What is hindsight is 20/20.

I re-watched the episode last night, and there are moments where it cuts back to you having these moments in previous episodes, which, in theory, in traditional television production, you would have shot back when you shot those original scenes.
Yes, you did. You did.
So, did you feel like you were putting together a puzzle?
Yes, but my point is, and I’ve been thinking about this, and it’s two years later, but I think that’s what actors will do. They’ll go back and go, oh, I wished I could have the bops – as they were called – may have had more weight if I understood seven better. That’s all I’m saying.
I think you’re being too hard on yourself. I think the viewer feels the weight. It is such a moving episode. I think I’ve seen it now three times. When you were all reading all the scripts, did you realize that this would be maybe one of the emotional heavyweights of a show that had all sorts of different tones to it?
No, I don’t think we did. I mean, no, because Billy’s [character is] going to die. I mean, that was pretty heavy. Deborah Joe [Rupp] sinks in mud. I mean, the fear of the road, there was a lot to deal with. I think when we were shooting it. Oh, I could cry right now. The thing that struck us all, the thing that struck us all was when I said, “I loved being a witch.” I think that’s when we all went, oh God. Oh my God. The inevitability of the death of all of us, except for Jen and Billy. But the idea was that it was more than just being a witch. I mean, it was a coven. It was a coven of friends of the covenant of witches. You know what I mean? We were together. All of us were on the road. So, all of us found ways to spend time with each other because we didn’t know anybody. We would go out to dinner in Atlanta, or there would be a pool party and a dinner. There would be a screening of something. The house I was renting had a big screen. So, that line was weighted with the event that we were all going through. This was episode seven. Eight and nine left. We’d already lost Ali [Ahn]. We were losing me. The last two were going to be Aubrey [Plaza] and Kathryn. So it was sort of a finality in that part of the episode where we all realized, “Oh wow, this is heavy.” I don’t know whether we actually thought that in the overall [context] of the episode. I mean, there are so many different stories going on. So, Sasheer [Zamata] and I had never…we didn’t have the opportunity to really work with each other until that episode because we’re all working individually. Well, we might have an exchange of one or two lines, but I worked primarily with her in that episode, and it was wonderful. And I said to her while we were working, “I don’t have to do anything except look in your eyes.” It was a unique collection of women, and I miss it. I miss it. I think we were the predecessors of “Charlie’s Angels.”
_____
The Breakdown Newsletter: Sign up for exclusive industry commentary, including box office takes, Oscars and Emmys analysis, and on-the-ground reports from the biggest events here. Two columns a week. Never more. And oh, right, it’s free.
_____
I love that since the show has qualified for the Emmys as a Comedy Series, not a Limited Series, which could mean something down the road. That these characters could come back. And I think Jac has said that it would only be for the right story, but do you think it’s possible?
I have to tell you, we never see Lilia land.
No.
Nope. Also, Kevin Feige came and saw me in “The Roommate” on Broadway. When he came back stage, I told him, “You know what you should do on every single one of your Marvel movies? You should have Lilia falling in a corner.”
What did he say?
Laughed. Riot. If all of a sudden this big thing is just floating, it’s one of those superhero movies. I mean, I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know how Marvel works, and I am famous for saying I have no idea what Marvel is, and I don’t. I still don’t. I don’t know a lot about nothing. That’s just me. So, I’m not a Marvel expert. Sasheer was and Joe was. I mean, I have no idea. It’d be fun. They shoot in London now? Anything to get me back to London.

Yes. They have basically left Atlanta, and they’re mostly in London, but we’re hoping maybe they might come back to Los Angeles down the road. We need some shows out here.
What’s going on with LA? Jesus, the dream factory that made that city.
It’s all the bottom line. It’s all the dollars.
No, that’s the big problem for actors. We’re low man on the theatrical totem pole, and I can’t believe that I’m a trained actor. Four years at Juilliard, years on the road with the acting company, and I don’t have a social media following and stuff like that. So, my ability to get hired as a trained actor is so much less than somebody who has 2 million people on TikTok or 2 million people on whatever. It’s terrible. But I’ve always thought that this country doesn’t support its art or its artists, and everybody thinks you can act when it’s a really difficult profession to do well.
I have to follow up on the Marvel thing. Before you started shooting, you did several red carpet interviews, and people would ask you about “Agatha,” and you would say, “Oh, it’s a musical.” And we were like, “Oh, wow, really?” Obviously, there’s just one song, “The Ballad of the Witches Road,” in the show. Were you having a wink and fun with us, or did you think it would have more songs than it ended up with?
Oh no. I knew it didn’t have any more songs in it, but they talked about Bobby [Lopez] and Kristen [Anderson-Lopez], and I went, “Yeah, there is singing in it. I think that’s all I said. But I got in trouble with anything I said with Marvel. As a matter of fact, we just recently won [the GLAAD Award] for Best New Show because I was there with Jac and Joe, and Sasheer, and who else was there? I think that was it. We’re about to walk the red carpet, and I found out that we won. I said, “We won!” Jac said, “Yeah.” I said, “Oh my God, when did that happen?” She said, “Well, I knew, but I can’t tell you because you can’t get a secret.” “You’re right!” Why keep a secret when you have the information?
Listen, I’m a journalist and I can’t do either, so I’m right there with you.
I’ve gotten in a lot of trouble with Marvel by saying stuff, but here’s the thing about press agents and press people. They should tell you your parameters before they put you in front of journalists. I always get yelled at after the fact. I don’t know what I’m not supposed to say. It’s always been, “Please, we don’t want you to,” because I got in trouble with and just like that, I said something about and just like that. And they went, “We’d rather Patty not say anything.” Well, so tell me that before you put me in front of the press, you would think to give some parameters.
Yeah, exactly. So, the Marvel fan base is very fickle, and I know you’re on social media, but maybe only to an extent. Were you surprised, happy with not just the reaction to the show, but this particular episode? Did your publicist, agents, did your friends let you know how much love there was for it?
Yeah, they did. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the, I dunno why I’m an actor interpreting, and I’m so in it. I’m not observing it. Of course, we’re thrilled, and I’m thrilled that it’s a powerful episode for people, but I don’t know why. Can you tell me?
I just think it’s moving. And to be honest, out of all the characters, she and Sasheer’s character have the deepest arc out of the entire coven. And I think by the time you get there, we’re so rooting for her because you want her to make it through the road, and the characters are dying. You want her to make it, and then she finds her way, but that means she’s likely dying to reach that. So, I think that’s what moves people, and also your performance. And it’s the one episode where you see such a backstory to her character.
Of course, yeah.

And there is that moment when she returns to Italy 400 years ago,
It’s about the covenants, about finding your people, finding your tribe, finding your place, and love, and supporting. Yeah, I understand that. Look at where we are now. It’s so divisive. It’s so divisive. The world is a crazy place, but shows like this do give people joy. I sort of take solace in that there are things out there that make people happy.
I have to ask you just one quick question before I let you go, because I told my friends, I’m talking to the legendary Patty Lone, “What do you want me to ask?” And they want me to ask a question, which I know you do not want to hear, so I will not ask it. But they want to know what you really think of “Sunset Boulevard.“
That’s fantastic. [Laughs.] I’ve said it a million times. It’s fantastic. I’ve said it a million times. She’s one of the 100 most influential people, I think, in Time Magazine, and I wrote this thing about her. I’m a Tony voter, so I have to see everything. And I didn’t know what I was going to see with “Sunset Boulevard.” I’d heard I’d never seen Nicole [Scherzinger] or Tom [Francis] perform before. I didn’t really know who Jamie Lloyd was. I hadn’t seen any of his work. And when it started, I took my son because my son was a kid when we were in London; he was quite young. He said, “I want to go with you, Mom, because this was my experience of learned how to talk, came up with a British accent.” He would be backstage with me in the matinee. When it started with Tom coming out of the body bag, the character, whatever the character’s name is, I can’t remember. I went, “Oh God, here we go.” That was the only time that I went, “What am I watching?” This is incredible because it was a departure from the homage our production paid to the film. And so I thought hampered by that. It was all a very lumbering score when I did it. Andrew Lloyd Webber doesn’t give a s**t about anything but his music. And it was the slower, the better. It’s like, “Oh my f**king God, this is a play. Let’s keep it moving.” And once the house came down and went back up again, that was it. So, when it comes down to halfway, who cares? You know what I mean? And this was so inventive, so wild. And you knew that it was “Sunset Boulevard,” but it didn’t speak to a particular year. It didn’t speak to a particular period of time. And she was stunning. Her mad scene alone, and this is what Jamie Lloyd did so brilliantly. She’s alone on the stage, sitting in Indian position or yoga position, let’s say yoga position, and she does that mad scene by herself and in the light around her. And it’s heartbreaking. Her performance is audacious, courageous. She commands the stage, as does Tom, and it’s his first theater [performance]. But of course, I’m looking at Nicole. The girl who played Betty was fantastic. I was thrilled to see a reinvention of what is basically not a great musical.
It’s hard to turn a not-great musical into a better one.
They did. I’ve seen some revivals, and going, “Really?” This was stunning.
I have one last follow-up for you because I think many of my theater friends were surprised by some of the critical reaction to “Dorian Gray” with Sarah Snook. I don’t know if you’ve seen it yet, but it’s another production that uses a lot of video, and it seemed like the New York critics sort of had enough of the video and sort of gave it a little slap on the wrist. Do you think there is a line where there can be too much video on stage? Or do you think that theater critics need to allow the medium to be more open to accept it?
You know, I think it depends on who the director is. I mean, I don’t necessarily like multimedia on stage. I don’t know where to look unless it’s well done. When I saw “War Horse” at Lincoln Center, from Marianne Elliott, who came from the [Royal National Theater], it was a dual production. I mean a dual directing, dual directors, the media in that, the video in that was stunning. I’m trying to think of another place where the video works. Well, I can’t think of it offhand, but when it enhances the production and I know where to look, then I don’t mind it. But if it is in the way of the actor on stage, if it overpowers the actor on stage, then I’m no longer in the theater. Then I don’t know where I am. I don’t know what kind of theater I’m supposed to be experiencing. So, I don’t object to it as long as it does not overpower the actor on stage.
Well, Patti, thank you so, so much for taking the time. I don’t know what you’re doing on stage or on screen next but hopefully something soon. I know you must have something set for the upcoming year.
No, but tell everybody out there, I need a job!
“Agatha All Along” is available on Disney+
Follow Gregory Ellwood on BlueSky
Follow Gregory Ellwood on Threads