Not since Judy Garland belted with Barbra Streisand on their legendary rendition of Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy has a pairing been so completely inspired and gloriously epic as this one. Tony Award winner and Broadway maverick Patti LuPone partnered up with downtown favorite and stage stunner Bridget Everett on the Simon & Garfunkel classic Bridge Over Troubled Water at the New York Philharmonic’s Spring Gala.
Teamed up with Michael McElroy and the Broadway Inspirational Voices (led by Patrick Vaccariello) LuPone performed a number of her signature torch songs, from the classic Don’t Cry For Me Argentina (from Evita) as well as I Dreamed A Dream (from Les Miserables). “In these strange and difficult times, what I think about most is the world we’re leaving our children,” LuPone said as she introduced Bridge Over Troubled Water. “They are demanding change, and I can’t help but feel we are letting them down. This song is dedicated to them — our promise of support, to hear them, to never forsake them.”
This is of course, not Patti LuPone & Bridget Everett’s first time sharing the spotlight. They previously shared the stage on Everett’s turf at the famed Joe’s Pub, with an absolutely raucous rendition of the Janis Joplin classic Me & Bobby McGee, as the crowd roared their approval at seeing this downtown trailblazer and one of her Broadway idols on stage together.
Simon & Garfunkel wrote Bridge about providing comfort to someone in need. Patti LuPone has been outright and direct about her feelings on the current administration & newer voices like Bridget Everett’s are crucial to our community. As our community remains under attack from this administration, we are beyond lucky to have voices and people like Bridget Everett and Patti LuPone on the front lines and providing all of us that comfort (with some of the most powerful voices around)!