Patti Lupone signals she may be giving up her legendary theater career

It looks like Broadway legend Patti Lupone may be done with musical theater, at least for now. The three-time-Tony winner tweeted that she “gave up” her actor’s equity card so she’ll “no longer [be] a part of that circus. Figure it out.”

That statement is an apparent reference to fellow actress Lillia White mistakenly berating a deaf woman for holding what the actress thought was a camera during Hadestown (it was a closed captioning device), according to Deadline.

Lupone was dragged into the controversy because White was getting crucified online for being ableist. Comparisons were made to a time Lupone stopped a 2009 performance of Gypsy because someone was flashing a light.

Scottish actor James Harkness called out the double standard:

Whether the controversy was the straw that broke Lupone or she was planning on leaving for a while is unknown. She provided a follow up statement to Deadline:

“When the run of Company ended this past July, I knew I wouldn’t be on stage for a very long time,” LuPone said. “And at that point I made the decision to resign from Equity.”

That doesn’t mean she won’t continue acting. Lupone has had a long TV career and will next appear in the upcoming show American Horror Story: NYC.