Antonio Banderas on the Pope: "He has made me reflect a lot"

Regina Sotorrío

A man who exudes "a mixture of humility and wisdom." That's how Antonio Banderas described Pope Leo XIV after his participation this Sunday in the ... meeting with the Holy Father in Madrid. The actor and director from Malaga, who confessed to the Pontiff to be "enchanted by God," acknowledged the impact this event had on him. "Studying him a bit while preparing my speech, it made me reflect a lot about myself in order to say things that I thought would interest him," he declared upon his return to Malaga to welcome Broadway legend Patti LuPone at his theater.

When asked by the press, Banderas highlighted that the Pope "pays a lot of attention to the depth of things and not to the superficial. "And that is very important for the current Church," he added. With these words, without explicitly saying it, he responds to those who criticized the use of a rainbow-colored umbrella in the performance that his musical 'Godspell' cast did during the vigil, a prop that was eventually removed to avoid controversy. In fact, as he pointed out, Leo XIV conveyed his "congratulations" for his intervention and praised the work of the artists in the brief exchange of words they had.

"He pays a lot of attention to the depth of things and not to the superficial. And that is very important for the current Church"

The actor and director from Malaga acknowledged that "what has interested him the most" about the Pope these days were "the things he has said and how he has said them." "He is very accurate in his opinions, but also very approachable," he declared.

Now in Malaga and at the doors of his Teatro del Soho CaixaBank, Banderas acts as the perfect host to the North American artist Patti LuPone, the great lady of Broadway and West End musicals, who will debut this Wednesday in Malaga at 77 years old (8:00 PM, from 60 euros). It will be the start of a small tour through Spain of her show 'Songs from a hat' in which she sings iconic songs from the musicals she has starred in. Because, as Banderas said, she is not only "a star, a magnificent actress, singer, and musical artist": "She is probably one of the most important Broadway legends in all its history," he acknowledged. At the end of the show, Banderas will present her with the Lux Ductor Award with which the Teatro del Soho recognizes people who serve as a "guiding light" in their professions.

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  Regina Sotorrío

From Andrew Lloyd Webber to Stephen Sondheim, Patti LuPone has performed "practically all the great roles of her time." "And she still has a fabulous career ahead of her," Banderas added. In fact, it happens that Banderas and she have performed the same works, although they have never worked together: both have acted in 'Evita', 'Company', 'Gypsy' and "now I am working on 'Sweeney Todd'," Banderas recalled about his next bet. Amid laughter and in a familiar atmosphere, the Malaga native joked: "We are still very young, surely in the future we will work together."

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• Teatro del Soho Málaga
• Antonio Banderas
• Pope Leo XIV