Friday, July 3, 2026

Patti Lupone Gives Up Equity Card, Indicating Possible Retirement from US Theater Career

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I guess Patti Lupone has had enough. The mega Broadway star Tweeted this morning that she’s turned in her Equity card, meaning she’s retired from performing in US theater productions.

She can still perform in Europe, and around the world, and in the US in one woman shows, cabaret, TV, and film. She just won’t be doing Broadway. She recently won her third Tony Award, for “Company.”

During the spring, Lupone famously got into it with an audience member who wasn’t wearing a mask. The incident became viral. But Lupone wasn’t wrong, and I can’t imagine this new turn of events has anything do with that.

Whatever happens next, Lupone’s place in Broadway history and theater lore is secure. She’s one of the biggest stars ever to appear on the New York stage. Nothing can change that.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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