Getting Python to read a FIFO Named Pipe - works in C but not in Python

Question

Overview

I'm trying to take in raw data from CAVA, https://github.com/karlstav/cava which is a terminal based audio visualizer that gives the option to output the bar values to a FIFO named pipe. My ultimate goal is to take those values into a Python program and manipulate them to display on an LED Matrix. While there are answers to this specific issue on Windows, I'm working on a Raspberry Pi running Raspbian and am looking for linux based answers.

The problem

I have the perfect code I need working in C, but I cannot get the same logic to work in Python. Here's the C code:

#include <stdio.h> 
#include <string.h> 
#include <fcntl.h> 
#include <sys/stat.h> 
#include <sys/types.h> 
#include <unistd.h> 

int main() 
{ 
    int fd1; 

    // FIFO file path 
    char * myfifo = "/home/pi/aproj/audio/outs/theout"; 

    // Creating the named file(FIFO) 
    // mkfifo(<pathname>,<permission>) 
    mkfifo(myfifo, 0666); 

    char str1[80], str2[80]; 
    while (1) 
    { 
        // First open in read only and read 
        fd1 = open(myfifo,O_RDONLY); 
        read(fd1, str1, 80); 

        // Print the read string and close 
        printf("User1: %s\n", str1); 
        printf("this is line by line\n");
        close(fd1); 

    } 
    return 0; 
} 

When I try to make to jump to Python, multiple parts fail and I haven't been able to find solutions online. For one, trying to make the fifo file using:

import os

thepath="/home/pi/aproj/audio/outs/theout"
os.mkfifo(thepath)

gives the error: FileExistsError: [Errno 17] File exists. This makes sense to a degree because CAVA makes the FIFO, but why does the logic work in C?

Even if I skip the mkfifo step, Python then gets hung up on opening the FIFO:

import os

thepath="/home/pi/aproj/audio/outs/theout"
#os.mkfifo(thepath)

while True:
    fd1 = open(thepath,'r');
    print('hello')

^this code gets stuck and never prints hello

How can I open a named pipe in Python and read it in line by line as the data is being produced? Again, the C code does exactly what I need, I just need help getting that logic to work in Python (3.7.3). Thanks in advance for the help!