info.piecesbar.com/p/wednesday... The always intense, always fabulous Elaine Stritch "schools" the audience at the Rosie Show. She was promoting At Libtery
Ty sooo much! She came into a tiny coffee shop that I worked in on 45th street between shows of "A Delicate Balance" one of the rooms had a bathroom and the door was always broken.... She had given her order and gone into the bathroom and I thought "That lock better work. It's freaking ELAINE STRITCH!" Mind you NO ONE who worked with me knew who she was. I was getting her order together, when all of the sudden I hear this blood curdling shriek: "WHAT THE F?!! I'M TAKING A DUMP IN HERE!!" I almost died! She was EXACTLY as I knew she would be... She came out to get her order and I apologized up one side and down the other and she would hear none of it. She didn't care at all. She had a true heart of gold. She came back a couple more times and we kind of got to know each other. I was a young actor at the time and she couldn't have been more supportive and honest about the "business" with me. She knew how hardcore it really was and warned me over and over that it's the hardest thing in the world and she was right... She got my house seats to see her show and I was just blown away by her work in that show. She told me to meet her after the show and I stood outside with flowers for her. She ran out the door and saw me among all the people wanting an autograph, she pulled me out into the street and to the car waiting for her, she said "I can't with all those people!!" She took the flowers and looked in my eyes and truly asked "What did you think?" ELAINE STRITCH was asking ME what I thought... I almost couldn't speak... I said something like "You were incredible. It was like there was only you on that stage." She got tears in her eyes, hugged me so tight and kissed me right on the mouth. She said "I really wanted to know what you thought..." People started encroaching the car and she kissed me again and said "I gotta get outta here!" She winked, jumped into her car and I never saw here again... One of my fondest memories in my life. Bless her. CLASS ACT all the way. She is missed be so many, but she lives on in our hearts.
Look. I agree that Elaine is an amazing storyteller and was trying to impart her wisdom on the audience...but half the audience wouldn't haven't even know who she was! Elaine is acting like the entire audience came to see her...when most DayTime Talk Show audiences don't even get told which celebrities are appearing until the day they arrive. This whole schtick she did woulda been appreciated more at her shows with an audience of die-hard fans. You can't expect Soccer Moms from the Midwest who flew into NYC for one day to see the Rosie O'Donnell Show and were probably expecting someone like Richard Simmons or Charo to be sophisticated enough for this kind of performance.
OH MY GOD,I have been talking about this for YEARS and have been waiting for someone to post it in here. I still remember this when it first aired,when she sings the song from Sail Away,I was in TEARS
Rest in Peace, Elaine. I never saw Elaine on stage but between working at Carnegie Hall from 2000-2003, and then working in lower midtown through 2010, I frequently saw her walking the streets of NY (always wearing a hat!)...more recently with a young grandnephew @26th and 7th Avenue. Many older friends of mine who saw her in COMPANY (and even back to SAIL AWAY and CALL ME MADAM/touring company) swear she was amongst the best...not the best voice, not the best acting, but SOMEHOW, you just "felt" her presence and drive and HONESTY. Elaine moved out of the Carlyle Hotel and moved back to Michigan in 2013/last year....she "presence" is missed.
Very interesting Glenn... I was in NYC and went to Elaine Stritch At Liberty in the Village, I always liked her but nothing prepared me for that show... it was terrific... and wonderful woman who please God is heaven continuing to entertain...
Interesting. I showed her performance of Ladies Who Lunch (from that Broadway Divas concert) to a friend who often mocks me about theater stuff (but I mock him about Star Wars so it balances out). i just wanted him to see her, although I was nervous he would think she was awful - especially her singing. A few verses in he said, "She's amazing." And he went on to explain just what you said, "Not the best singing - but there's something about her; her delivery, her expressions..." Her presence.
Her interpretation of any song is pure gold... She says Judy Garland was the best female talent of the 20th century but I think Ms. Stritch gives a close run for her money....
+19grinNbearit81 Elaine Stritch was in the original productions of "Bus Stop," (by William Inge) "Company," ( by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth) and "Sail Away" (by Noel Coward, who wrote the lead role for her). You may have "mostly forgotten" those shows, but no one else has. Her one-woman show "Elaine Stritch At Liberty" was a smash on both sides of the Atlantic. It's fine if you don't enjoy her performances (did you ever see her on stage?, I suspect you didn't), but it's absurd to say that Stritch demanded that audiences venerate her. No audiences were forced at gunpoint to give her standing ovations and no critics were blackmailed into giving her rave reviews.
I drove 30 miles, on the spur of the moment, to see her in The Gingerbread Lady in Windsor, England in early 70s Don't remember much about the performance now except I stood up at the back because the theatre was sold out!
19grinNbearit81...Elaine did not wear wigs in everyday life. If you watched her documentary "Shoot me" You see her getting her hair cut and set several times. She has never said that she has the most amazing singing voice, she had a voice that you know as soon as you here it. People like Bette Davis, Lucille Ball, Tallulah Bankhead, these people opened their mouths and they were recognised. Her one-woman shows have not been forgotten...They were sell out performances and even won her an Emmy for At Liberty. She is a Broadway legend and will be missed by many.
Elaine sings WHY HIM? from the Broadway show CARMELINA...written by Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner, who also wrote ON A CLEAR DAY (you can see forever)/barbra's 1st show..
@@richardmayora1289 indeed MERMAN was 40 years #1 BW leading lady . I actually knew Miss. Stritch in NYC peripheraly. ( who didn't? Boy she got around and was so chatty ) loved her. But miss Elaine sadly never was a huge bway star on the level of the Merm . It was nice Elaine finally got her Tony for her last effort .
I’ve always had mixed feelings about Elaine - she’s just so over the top. But I saw her in an otherwise forgettable Woody Allen picture, and she walked away with the whole movie! She was like a bottle of champagne. The movie died when she was offscreen.
