“Palm Royale” Season 2 puts Patti LuPone front and center during her guest appearance as she takes the stage for an elaborate musical number—something she didn’t know about when she first agreed to the Apple TV series.
“I had no idea, until [showrunner] Abe [Sylvia] told me, ‘and you’ll be singing, ‘I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” — I had no idea,” LuPone, who has since been performing the song on tour, told TheWrap. “And then I tried to learn how to yodel.”
By the time LuPone got to L.A. to shoot her guest spot, she was in awe of the “gigantic” production number, recalling “I went to rehearsal, [and] went, ‘Holy sh-t — You mean, I got to do this, I got to do that?’ I had no idea. I was back on a Broadway stage … doing a musical number.”
LuPone’s guest spot as Marjorie Merriweather Post, who hosts a square dance gala for Palm Beach high society, reunited her with “Palm Royale” star Leslie Bibb, with whom LuPone has most of her scenes, in a duo the musical theater legend calls a “match made in heaven.”
“I had met Leslie at a Tony Awards red carpet with Sam, her partner, and then we were paired, and it was gangbusters — It was like sparks. Immediately, we were a perfect match for each other, and we had a blast,” LuPone said. “I want to do more with Kristen [Wiig] and Allison [Janney,] but I was lucky to start my journey in ‘Palm Royale’ with Leslie.”
LuPone also didn’t get too much time with TV legend Carol Burnett during her time on “Palm Royale,” but has known Burnett throughout the years whenever she would visit her. “I’m anxious to see her when we’re doing all of this,” LuPone said, referring to press days for “Palm Royale.”
“She’s one of a kind … she’s another one of those idols where I grew up with her,” LuPone said. “Whenever I find myself I can’t sleep, I go down the Google machine rabbit hole, and I’m always watching ‘The Carol Burnett Show’ — that and marching bands. That’s my thing: Carol Burnett and marching bands.”
LuPone’s appearance on “Palm Royale” came from the Broadway star herself, who recalled that as she was watching the first season, she called up her manager and asked her to get in contact with the showrunner. When her manger did get in contact with Sylvia, he informed her LuPone was his neighbor in Connecticut.
“We met at an inn across the lake, and we talked, and then we bonded about life in Connecticut, pretty much stone fences and carpenters and masons and chickens, and then I found out that Abe also had been in Broadway musicals, so we had a lot in common,” LuPone said. “I think he appreciated the fact that I love the show — I mean, who doesn’t? And I’m grateful that he took me seriously and put me in it.”
As for whether LuPone might appear in future episodes or seasons of “Palm Royale,” she responded, “We’re knocking on wood.”
“Palm Royale” Season 2 drops new episodes Wednesdays on Apple TV.
