Patti LuPone Retirement: Actress Clarifies Huge Career Move After Leaving 'Disneyland'

Patti LuPone isn't quitting theatre after all!

Earlier this week, news broke out and made waves online after Broadway icon Patti LuPone tweeted her resignation from the Actor's Equity - prompting a flurry of theories and conversation in the community.

But during the red carpet premiere of Netflix's newest series, "The School for Good and Evil," LuPone clarified again what her recent predicament to fans who thought she had retired already.

"I just gave up my equity card, but that doesn't mean that I can't perform on-stage. It's 50 years that I've been a member of Actors Equity, and I think I need a break from the stage," LuPone told Variety in an interview.

For context, giving up one's equity card meant giving up an actor's membership to perform in almost all Broadway productions.

In a tweet dated last October 17, the Tony-winning actress surprised everyone with a straightforward yet subliminal tweet that amplified chatter on social media.

Elaborating more on her decision to hang up her equity card, LuPone gave a striking comparison of what Broadway has become recently.

"Broadway has also changed considerably," LuPone said. "I think we've spent - not we, but whoever's in charge of, whatever - has actively dumbed down the audience. And so the attention span of the majority of the audience, I think, is much less than it was in the past, and I don't think plays are going to have long lives on Broadway - I feel as though it's turning into Disneyland, a circus and Las Vegas," LuPone lashed out.

But for the "Company" actress, there were still "very intelligent audiences" that supported the craft despite the outrageous ticket price.

LuPone has been mentioned several times in several news reports after the recent "Hadestown" debacle. The production's Lillias White was revealed to have been reprimanding an audience member for using a captioning device while watching the show. (via Playbill)

But how did Patti LuPone become involved? Reports and social media chatter have brought up similar actions the actress did before - shouting at theatergoers for allegedly not wearing their face masks properly while watching the show.

But despite LuPone giving up her Equity card, she can still appear as a guest on selected productions, but she won't become a part of the labor union or take on major roles.

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Broadway