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With six Tony nominations spanning 35 years, Patti LuPone, 62, is a Broadway musical legend. ("Robber Bridegroom," "Evita," "Anything Goes," "Sweeney Todd," "Gypsy" and "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" — she won for "Evita" and "Gypsy"). In London, she won the Olivier Award as Fantine in "Les Miserables."

But the Long Island native's career reflects wider-ranging talent in stage drama ("Master Class") and comedy ("Noises Off"), in film ("Witness," "Driving Miss Daisy") and television ("Life Goes On"), and as a recording artist.

We caught up with LuPone in Kansas City, Mo., last week, where she was appearing in concert with "Evita" co-star Mandy Patinkin, the pair having just closed a concert run on Broadway together.

LuPone, friendly and candid, was happy to discuss the arc of a remarkable career.

Q. You perform several different one-woman concerts, plus an evening you do with Mandy Patinkin. What made you choose to perform "The Gypsy in My Soul" by yourself in Omaha?

A. I have no idea. Depends on what the booker wants.

Q. What can the Omaha audience look forward to hearing?

A. I don't like to tip the hat. There's nothing more distracting or unfulfilling than to know the program. We let the audience try to relax and enjoy the show. There's no set list in the program. Put the program down and just listen.

Q. I loved your performance in "Company" last year, which I saw in a movie theater. You've done a lot of Steven Sondheim's shows but also played the lead in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Evita" and "Sunset Boulevard." Would you compare and contrast these two composers' styles, and give your personal take on working with these guys?

A. Steven is a very complex writer. Webber is a kind of schmaltzy writer. I have a personal relationship with Steven and not with Webber. Steven and I are neighbors in Connecticut, so I see him at little to do's. And in his musical life, the professional Steven is a great teacher and very exacting.

Q. You once said "Evita" could only have been written by a man who hates women. Care to elaborate?

A. (Laughter.) The score is just impossible. I said it tongue in cheek, but it's extremely high. For this singer, it fits in the passaggio, the weakest part of my range. When you stretch a rubber band, there's a weak place, and that's where the notes sat for that musical.

Q. One of your first jobs after Juilliard was in the legendary John Houseman's Acting Company. Are there things you learned from your time with Houseman that you still use today?

A. Oh, absolutely. What that company was was most of our acting class from Juilliard. John gave us Equity (professional actors union) cards. We continued our training for eight years with him. Whatever we learned at school, we did just three performances of a given classical play. With John, we had to learn to sustain that. We got armed with technique. You only learn by doing. We toured 50 weeks a year, six different plays a year. And we did the plays in true revolving repertory style: "Measure for Measure" one night, "School for Scandal the next and so on. You had to be sharp and remember what you were doing.

Q. What was Houseman like?

A. Scary, but a very lovely man. He was demanding and exacting, like Sondheim. You wish there were more teachers and legends like that. You wish more performers had that desire to be precise and better equipped. The world is cheap. We all cop for the lowest common denominator. It's a pity we don't strive for the most. When you have teachers like John, who emphasize what's important and elevate a young person, its invaluable. You never want to do less.

Q. So many people have written about your gifts as a Broadway musical performer. What might you say are your greatest strengths, and what aspect of performing challenges you most to stretch and improve?

A. My strength is my desire to be onstage. And to tell the story. And I'm fearless — onstage, certainly not in my life. As for challenges, I just hope I can continue to remember all my lyrics on stage as I get older. I want to stretch and improve always. And you can only stretch and improve if challenged. And so I'm always hoping for a challenge.

Q. You're best known for musicals but have done a lot of straight comedy and dramatic acting.

A. I've done far more straight dramatic work than musical theater.

Q. What has drawn you to appear in so many of David Mamet's plays?

A. David and I met in 1976 on a bus with an acting company. We forged a professional relationship back then. I understand the musicality of his writing. He's deep, smart, goes way over my head.

I'm about to do another play with him and Laurie Metcalf, called "The Anarchist." It goes into rehearsals in the fall. It's about a prisoner and her parole officer. I'm the prisoner.

Do you know who Kathy Boudin is? She was in the Weather Underground (a radical 1960s group) and was involved in the fatal robbery of a Brinks armored truck. It's based loosely on her. It's about an anarchist rehabilitated, or so she tries.

Q. If you could go back in time to relive one opening night, which show might you choose?

A. I'm not a big fan of opening nights because of the parties. Closing nights are much more interesting and dramatic, lately.

The openings used to be fantastic, with friends and family. Responses on opening night now are very dull.

I hate the parties after openings. I refuse to go for long. I work it for the producers, but I don't stay. It's people you don't know, the people who put the money together.

Q. An interesting closing night, then?

A. The closing night for "Sunset Boulevard" (in London) was amazing because of the drama. I had been fired (by Andrew Lloyd Webber) but stayed to finish the contract. I had the support of the British audience. It was a matinee. The ghosts were all over the theater, scenery that wouldn't work and so on, and the applause when I entered wouldn't stop.

Closing night for "Evita" was amazing too. People who come to the closing really, really love the show. "Gypsy" was an amazing closing night. The audience applauds and doesn't let you start or get off the stage. And pretty much you have to take control when the audience gets unwieldy and takes the play over. Actors have to keep it onstage.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1269, bob.fischbach@owh.com