The last time I saw Elaine Stritch she was holding court at the Paul William’s Cafe Carlyle gig and she looked great time to me even if she was 88 years old and in the market to leave New York the very next day for Birmingham, Michigan. It felt like a farewell party for the tough ol’ gal veteran of Broadway thetaer and musicals and beyond. It didn’t really make sense but I guess people do die you know, from old age, broken hearts, retirement, Retirement has knocked off a few people I’ve loved.
This is what the New York times had to say about Elaine, who died yesterday at the age of 89, “Plainspoken, egalitarian, impatient with fools and foolishness, and admittedly fond of cigarettes, alcohol and late nights .” Sounds like my kinda gal, travelling Broadway from the 1940s to the 00s, a great personality, wonderful singer, I saw her on Broadway plenty of times. And that was just in “Showboat”.
She screamed, she stomped, she drank, she flirted, she was everything alive and dynamic about Broadway.
Here is a list off wikipedia of all her stage performances:
Bobino (1944) (The New School)
The Private Life of the Master Race (1945) (City College of New York)
Woman Bites Dog (1946) (Philadelphia)
What Every Woman Knows (1946) (Westport Country Playhouse)
Loco (1946) (Broadway)
Made in Heaven (1947) (Broadway) (replacement for Jane Middleton)
Angel in the Wings (1947) (Broadway)
The Shape of Things (1947) (East Hampton, New York)
The Little Foxes (1947) (Off-Broadway)
Three Indelicate Ladies (1947) (New Haven, Connecticut)
Texas Li’l Darling (1949) (Westport Country Playhouse)
Yes, M’Lord (1949) (Broadway)
Call Me Madam (1950) (Broadway standby for Ethel Merman and as the leading lady on the US National Tour)
Anything Goes (1950) (Lambertville, New Jersey)
Pal Joey (1952) (Broadway)
Once Married, Twice Shy (1953) (Westport Country Playhouse)
Panama Hattie (1954) (Louisville, Kentucky)
Call Me Madam (1954) (The Muny)
On Your Toes (1954) (Broadway)
Bus Stop (1955) (Broadway)
The Sin of Pat Muldoon (1957) (Broadway)
Goldilocks (1958) (Broadway)
Sail Away (1961) (Broadway and London)
The Time of the Barracudas (1963) (closed on the road)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1963) (Broadway) (replacement for Uta Hagen)
I Married an Angel (1964) (US regional tour)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1965) (US national tour)
The King and I (1965) (US regional tour)
The Grass Harp (1966) (Providence, Rhode Island)
Wonderful Town (1967) (New York City Center)
Any Wednesday (1967) (US national tour)
Private Lives (1968) (Off-Broadway)
Mame (1968) (US national tour)
Mame (1969) (US regional tour)
Company (1970) (Broadway, US national tour and London)
Small Craft Warnings (1973) (London)
The Gingerbread Lady (1974) (London)
Tell Me on a Sunday (1980) (London)
Suite in Two Keys (1982) (Paper Mill Playhouse)
Dancing in the End Zone (1983) (Coconut Grove, Florida)
Follies (1985) (Lincoln Center)
Happy Birthday, Mr. Abbott! or Night of 100 Years (1987) (Broadway) (benefit concert)
Broadway at the Bowl (1988) (Hollywood Bowl)
Love Letters (1990) (Broadway) (replacement for Kate Nelligan)
Rodgers & Hart Revue (1991) (New York City)
Cakewalk (1993) (American Repertory Theater)
Company (1993) (Terrace Theater and Vivian Beaumont Theater)
Show Boat (1993) (Toronto and Broadway)
A Delicate Balance (1996) (Broadway)
Angela Lansbury – A Celebration (1996) (Broadway) (benefit concert)
Sail Away (1999) (Carnegie Hall)
Elaine Stritch at Liberty (2002) (Broadway, London, US national tour, and UK tour)
Endgame (2008) (Brooklyn Academy of Music)
The Full Monty (2009) (Paper Mill Playhouse)
A Little Night Music (2010) (Broadway) (replacement for Angela Lansbury
They don’t make em like that any more.
What a loss.
