<p><i>“I have been incredibly fortunate over the course of my career to have been associated with some extraordinary dramatic and musical productions, and also some rather spectacular disasters. Looking back, I can find gifts and life lessons in every one.” <br></i><br>The legendary Patti LuPone is one of the theatre's most beloved leading ladies. Now she lays it all bare, sharing the intimate story of her life both onstage and off--through the dizzying highs and darkest lows--with the humor and outspokenness that have become her trademarks.<br><br>With nearly 100 photographs, including an 8-page four-color insert, and illuminating details about the life of a working actor, from inspired costars and demanding directors to her distinct perspective on how she developed and honed her Tony Award–winning performances, <i>Patti LuPone: A Memoir</i> is as inspirational as it is entertaining. And though the title might say “a memoir,” this is ultimately a love letter to the theatre by a unique American artist.<br><br>Raised on Long Island's North Shore, Patti discovered her calling at the age of four and knew that she was destined for the stage. A prodigiously gifted child, she was one of only 36 young actors chosen for the inaugural class of The Juilliard School's Drama Division, where she fought near-constant criticism from her instructors, and here describes those early years with disarming frankness. <br><br>From the heady days of her early twenties—crisscrossing the country as a founding member of the classical repertory theatre ensemble, The Acting Company--to her early success on Broadway, her four-year stint as Libby Thacher on the television series <i>Life Goes On,</i> her loving marriage to Matt Johnston, and much, much more, Patti chronicles her professional and personal life with inimitable candor and wit. <br> <br>With its insightful retrospective of her career-defining turns, both on Broadway and abroad, in <i>Evita</i>, <i>Les Misérables</i>, <i>Anything Goes,<b> </b>Sunset Boulevard</i>, <i>Sweeney Todd</i>, and <i>Gypsy</i>, <i>Patti LuPone: A Memoir</i> reveals the artist's deeply felt passion for music and the theatre and is, in the end, the compelling and quintessential tale of an exceptional life well lived.</p><br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>