But what's the use, you've cooked my goose

Mea culpa, mea culpa...

Only nine months too late - I only just realised the shameful fact that I missed Our Patron Saint of Whiskey Elaine Stritch's centenary in February!

We adored the great dame so much, too, for her legendary performance as "Joanne" in Sondheim's Company, her chutzpah and her uncompromising personality, and even her appearances on British telly in Two's Company (with Donald Sinden) - and thankfully we got to see her one woman show Elaine Stritch at Liberty at The Old Vic way back in 2002.

The obsession with all things "Stritchy" really began for me, however, when the CD version of her 1956 album Stritch [that The Madam had on vinyl for years] was released in 1995. I bought a copy in HMV in around 1999/2000 - and we played it to death!

Here, for your delectation, dear reader, is the whole thing, track-by-track:

Elaine Stritch - Are You Having Any Fun?

Elaine Stritch - You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me

Elaine Stritch - That's The Beginning Of The End

Elaine Stritch - And The Angels Sing

Elaine Stritch - Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Elaine Stritch - That's My Boy

Elaine Stritch - I Don't Want To Walk Without You

Elaine Stritch - Too Many Rings Around Rosie

Elaine Stritch - The Object Of My Affection

Elaine Stritch - Easy Street

Elaine Stritch - If

Elaine Stritch - There's A Lull In My Life

Elaine Stritch - You Took Advantage Of Me

Fan-bloody-tastic!

All hail.

Come on babe, why don't we paint the town?

Gosh. The effervescent child prodigy, Opportunity Knocks-winner and teen sensation of British telly in the 1970s and 80s - whose life was tragically cut short, like Karen Carpenter's, by anorexia - Miss Lena Zavaroni would have been 60 years old today!

Here she is, being somewhat upstaged by our Patron Saint of Vodka Stingers, Miss Elaine Stritch - and that pocket-sized gayer and star ballerina Wayne Sleep. What a combo!

Lena Zavaroni, Elaine Stritch, Wayne Sleep and George Chisolm - All That Jazz

How camp was that?!

Lena Zavaroni (4th November 1963 – 1st October 1999)

What explains this mass mania to leave Pennsylvania?

It was "The Master" Sir Noël Coward's birthday yesterday. All hail.

Here's another favourite of ours among his many fabulously cynical numbers, aptly performed by another of our Patron Saints, by way of a celebration:

Elaine Stritch - Why Do the Wrong People Travel? [Sail Away]

Travel they say improves the mind,
An irritating platitude, which frankly, entre nous,
Is very far from true.

Personally I've yet to find that longitude and latitude
Can educate those scores of monumental bores
Who travel in groups and herds and troupes
Of varying breeds and sexes
Till the whole world reels...

To shouts and squeals...
And the clicking of Roliflexes.

Why do the wrong people travel, travel, travel
When the right people stay back home?
What compulsion compels them
And who the hell tells them
To drag their cans to Zanzibar,
Instead of staying quietly in Omaha.
The Taj Mahal and the Grand Canal
And the sunny French Rivera
Would be less oppressed if the Middle West
Would settle for somewhere rather nearer.

Please do not think that I criticize or cavel
At a genuine urge to roam.
But why, oh why, do the wrong people travel
When the right people stay back home
And mind their business
When the right people stay back home
And eat hot doughnuts
When the right people stay back home
I sometimes wonder
Why the right people stay back home?

Just when you think romance is ripe it rather
Sharply dawns on you
That each sweet serenade is for the tourist trade
Any attractive native type who resolutely fawns on you
Will give as his address American Express
There isn't a rock between Bangkok
And the beaches of His---pianola
That does not recoil from suntan oil
And the gurgle of Coca-Cola

Why do the wrong people travel, travel, travel
When the right people stay back home?
What explains this mass mania to leave Pennsylvania
And clack around like flocks of geese.
Demanding dry Martinis on the isles of Greece
In the smallest street, where the gourmets meet,
They invariably fetch up
And it's hard to make them accept a steak
That isn't served rare and smeared with ketchup.

Millions of tourists are churning up the gravel
While they gaze at St. Peter's Dome,

But why, oh why do the wrong people travel
When the right people stay back home
With Cinerama
When the right people stay back home
With all that Kleenex
When the right people stay back home
I merely asking
Why the right people stay back home?

What peculiar obsessions inspire those processions
Of families from Houston Tex
With all those cameras around their necks?
They will take a train
Or an aeroplane
For an hour on the Costa Brava,
And they'll see Pompeii
On the only day
When it's up to its ass in molten lava!

It would take years to unravel, ravel, ravel
Every impulse that makes them wanna roam.
But why oh WHY do the wrong people travel
When the right people stay at home...
And play Canasta
When the right people stay back home
Won't someone tell me
Why the right people stay back home?

Sondheim of the Day - Follies

Reputedly inspired by a famous photograph of Glora Swanson posing among the rubble of New York's Roxy Theatre, Follies was a triumphal moment in Stephen Sondheim's career, despite the fact that (as one of the most expensively-staged musicals in history at the time) it almost bankrupted itself, and him.

Aptly described by the New York Times thus: "imagine 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf', choreographed by Busby Berkeley", this tangled web of a tale revolves around a gathering of former troupers at their old alma mater The Weisman Theatre just before it is demolished forever, their memories as they each perform their old "signature numbers" echoed by the ghosts of their younger selves swirling around, and often in, the action. Core to the tale is the bitterly crumbling entanglement of relationships involving Ben and Phyllis (who have clearly been scoring resentful and acidic barbs off eachother for the entirety of their long marriage), and Buddy and Sally (an unhappy and loveless couple; he's been having a long-term affair, and she's been carrying a desperate torch for Ben since they were all teenagers). Sounds tragic, and in parts it is - but oh! What a show it creates...

Opening with the parade of old chorines [and in its many, many revivals, real-life stars-past-their-best galore have flocked to appear in it - Dorothy Lamour, Régine, Yma Sumac, Carol Burnett, Vikki Carr, Polly Bergen, Hildegarde, Lynn Bari, Patty Duke, Stella Stevens, Juliet Prowse, Virginia Mayo, Kaye Ballard, Marni Nixon, Jo Anne Worley, Edie Adams, Blythe Danner, Pearl Carr, Linda Lavin, Vivian Blaine, Betty Garrett and Maxene Andrews among them], "Hats off, here they come!" Well, maybe not the ones you were expecting...

Bea Arthur and the Golden Girls - Beautiful Girls

Elaine Stritch - Broadway Baby [Follies in Concert, 1985]

Barbara Cook - In Buddy's Eyes

Lynda Baron, Julia McKenzie, Margaret Courtenay, Maria Charles and London cast - Who's That Woman? [Olivier Awards, 1987]

Now, I could probably do a whole standalone blog post featuring the awe-inspiring list of femmes d'une certaine age who have shimmied into the spotlight for this next one! The showstopper-to-beat-all-showstoppers, it's been done by the likes of Ann Miller, Julie Wilson, Shirley MacLaine, Stritchy (of course!), Yvonne DeCarlo, Christine Baranski, Elaine Paige, Dolores Gray, Millicent Martin, cabaret artistes and drag queens in their thousands [and Madam Arcati and I at many a drunken party!]...

...and this sparkling diva:

Eartha Kitt - I'm Still Here [Berlin, 1991]

[We actually saw Miss Kitt perform this at an all-star gala fundraiser for Children in Need in 2005]

But there's so much more to go yet...

Maria Friedman and Julian Ovenden - Too Many Mornings [BBC Proms 2010]

Justine Johnston and Barbara Chiofalo - One More Kiss

Lee Remick - Could I Leave You?

[My all-time favourite take on this is, of course, the "gay" version by David Kernan, as featured here]

Liza Minnelli (and Pet Shop Boys) - Losing My Mind

[Another from the show that has been covered by numerous divas, including the original cast member Dorothy Collins, Julia McKenzie, MegaBabs and Patti LuPone]

Danny Burstein - The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues

Ron Raines - Live, Laugh, Love

Caroline O'Connor - The Story of Lucy & Jessie

It's quite a show! So good, we went to see it twice - well, in two different incarnations, anyhow.

The first of these was a (typically) glittering revue performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 2015, produced by Strictly Come Dancing's Craig Revel-Horwood, and featuring an all-star cast including Christine Baranski, Ruthie Henshall, Alexander Hanson, Peter Polycarpou, Stefanie Powers, Anita Dobson, Betty Buckley, Lorna Luft, Anita Harris and Roy Hudd. The second was the magnificent 2017 revival at The National Theatre starring Imelda Staunton, Janie Dee, Philip Quast, Peter Forbes, Tracie Bennett, Di Botcher, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Zizi Strallen (among others), with its breath-taking sets and costumes.

I'd go again tomorrow, if a new production was in the offing!

All you need to know about Follies, once again thanks to Everything Sondheim

RIP, Stephen Joshua Sondheim (22nd March 1930 – 26th November 2021)

[One of a series of tributes I will be posting to Mr Sondheim this week.]
Previous "Sondheim of the Day" entries:

• Saturday: Company
• Sunday: West Side Story
• Monday: Gypsy
• Tuesday: A Little Night Music

Sondheim of the Day - Company

The world of musical theatre is in mourning - as are we here at Dolores Delargo Towers - at the death of one of the greatest ever talents in that genre Mr Stephen Sondheim.

As any regular reader will be aware, I, Madam Arcati and the rest of our "gang" are avid Sondheimites. It was, indeed, The Madam who really introduced me to the great man's incredible repertoire, courtesy of his cherished copy of the original West End cast recording of Ned Sherrin's hit revue Side By Side By Sondheim - and he even got Mr Sondheim's autograph back when he worked in the theatre, which I had framed for his 50th and takes pride of place on our wall:

click any pic to embiggen

By way of a fitting tribute, this week I plan to feature a musical per day from the Sondheim back-catalogue (which stretches back six decades!), for your delectation, starting with a masterpiece, Company...

The first second [after A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum] successful musical for which the Maestro wrote both words and music, it was lauded at its launch in 1970 for its innovative adult-oriented themes. A synopsis of the plot from the Sondheim.com site:

Set firmly in, and often about, New York, Company follows five married, once married, or soon to be married couples and their mutual friend, Robert, a 35 year old bachelor who has been unable to connect in a long-term relationship. The relationships are presented in a series of vignettes, primarily through Bobby's eyes, so that we see the less than ideal aspects of commitment. However, it is obvious to the audience that the committed are happy. Eventually, Bobby learns that while relationships aren't perfect, they are a necessary part of "Being Alive."

Without further ado, let's have a selection of songs from the show's fabulous score:

Neil Patrick Harris and cast - Side By Side

Elaine Stritch - The Little Things You Do Together

Millicent Martin, Julia McKenzie and David Kernan - You Could Drive A Person Crazy

Madeline Kahn - (Not) Getting Married Today

[Note - there numerous versions out there of this number - including when Julie Andrews famously sang all three parts]

Bernadette Peters and Richard Chamberlain - Barcelona

Elaine Stritch - Ladies Who Lunch

[Another song that has been covered dozens of times - notably, during lockdown last year, by a cast of divas in dressing-gowns!]

Julian Ovenden - Being Alive (BBC Proms 2010 - Sondheim at 80)

It is a stunning show - we went to see the amazing "gender-swapped" version back in 2018, starring Rosalie Craig and Patti LuPone, and believe me, the numbers still work with two boys Getting Married Today, a male "trolly-dolly" heading to Barcelona, and the "boop-boop-be-doos" of You Could Drive A Person Crazy performed by three men!

Everything you ever needed to know about Company at Simply Sondheim site.

RIP, Stephen Joshua Sondheim (22nd March 1930 – 26th November 2021)

Belter of the Day...

...it's our Patron Saint of Bourbon Stritchy's birthday, sweeties - and she's left strict instructions!

Elaine Stritch - Everybody Rise!

Elaine Stritch (2nd February 1925 – 17th July 2014)

Oh, she's gonna shimmy till her garters break

There has been a slew of birthdays of interest lately - yesterday we tipped our hats to Carol Channing who has reached the grand young age of 95 (and whose special day was shared with Franz Schubert, Tallulah Bankhead, Anna Pavlova, Jean Simmons and Derek Jarman).

Today's birthdays include such odd bed-fellows as Dame Clara Butt, Clark Gable, Renata Tebaldi, Peter Sallis (Wallace & Gromit), Hildegarde and Lisa-Marie Presley.

But, regardless, it is to tomorrow's birthday girl we turn for for our wake-up call on this Tacky Music Monday - to get us on our way to the delights of work is our much-missed Patron Saint of bellowing Miss Elaine Stritch!

Here, she steals the limelight (of course) on the Lena Zavaroni Show, even in the company of the effervescent hostess, ballerina Wayne Sleep and the uber-talented George Chisolm - it's All that Jazz!

Lena Zavaroni, Elaine Stritch and Wayne Sleep - All That Jazz

Oh, how we miss Miss Stritch (2nd February 1925 – 17th July 2014)

More Stritchy

Broadway Baby

After the sad news of the death of one of our greatest Patron Saints Miss Elaine Stritch yesterday, it is difficult to muster up a party mood for the looming weekend.

However, we'll give it a try. Let the weekend celebrations begin in the capable hands of the marvellous Miss Candi Staton, swathed in satin, and what could easily be a tribute to the Broadway Belter herself - Nights on Broadway!

Candi Staton - Nights on Broadway

Thank Disco It's Friday!

Have a good (hot) weekend...

It's much the simplest of crimes

Hoorah!

From The Independent:

Gay marriage is set to be legalised in England and Wales after peers gave the Same Sex Couples Bill an unopposed third reading in the House of Lords.

The Bill now goes back to the Commons for MPs to consider changes made to it in the Upper House. But with debate limited to just those government amendments the Bill is certain to become law.

In an emotional speech, Labour’s Lord Alli, who is gay, thanked peers and declared: “My life and many others will be better today than it was yesterday.”

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, added: “It’s impossible to express how much joy this historic step will bring to tens of thousands of gay people and their families and friends. The Bill’s progress through Parliament shows that, at last, the majority of politicians in both Houses understand the public’s support for equality.”

As before, when the Commons approved the Bill's passage, I welcome the news in the company of Sondheim (and Stritch!)...

Elaine Stritch The Little Things You Do Together

It's the little things you do together,
Do together,
Do together,
That make perfect relationships.
The hobbies you pursue together,
Savings you accrue together,
Looks you misconstrue together,
That make marriage a joy.
M-hm...

It's the little things you share together,
Swear together,
Wear together,
That make perfect relationships.
The concerts you enjoy together,
Neighbors you annoy together,
Children you destroy together,
That keep marriage intact.

It's not so hard to be married
When two manoeuver as one.
It's not so hard to be married,
And, Jesus Christ, is it fun!

It's sharing little winks together,
Drinks together,
Kinks together,
That make marriage a joy.
The bargains that you shop together,
Cigarettes you stop together,
Clothing that you swap together,
That make perfect relationships.
Uh-huh...
M-hm...

It's not talk of God and the decade ahead that
Allows you to get through the worst.
It's "I do" and "you don't" and "nobody said that"
And "who brought the subject up first?"
It's the little things,
The little things, the little things, the little things.

The little ways you try together,
Cry together,
Lie together,
That make perfect relationships.
Becoming a cliche together,
Growing old and grey together,
Withering away together,
That make marriage a joy.

It's not so hard to be married,
It's much the simplest of crimes.
It's not so hard to be married...

I've done it three or four times.

It's the people that you hate together,
Bait together,
Date together,
That make marriage a joy.
It's things like using force together,
Shouting till you're hoarse together,
Getting a divorce together,
That make perfect relationships.
Uh-huh...
Kiss-kiss...
M-hm...

Equal Love Campaign

I've seen them all, and my dear...

Things will never be the same again.

From The New York Times

"Elaine Stritch is leaving the building.

Ms. Stritch, the husky-voiced actress who, with a Tony Award and three Emmys to her credit, became a beloved cabaret star in recent years at the Carlyle Hotel, said on Wednesday that she was giving up her apartment there and returning to her home state, Michigan. But not before she performs one last show, “Elaine Stritch at the Carlyle: Movin’ Over and Out,” from April 2 to 6.

Mere mention of the word “retirement” drew a gasp and flat denial from Ms. Stritch, who is 88. “What actor would ever say they’re done?” she fairly shouted over the telephone.

Still, in fragile shape after two recent falls and a hip replacement, she said she knew it was the end of an era."

What will the theatrical world do without her?

Elaine Stritch in Sail Away (Noel Coward)

Lena Zavaroni, Elaine Stritch, Wayne Sleep, George Chisolm - All That Jazz

Elaine Stritch - Broadway Baby

Elaine Stritch - I'm Still Here

Elaine Stritch

More Stritchy

[Thanks to Marc at Deep Dish for the info!]

While you were out...

So what did we miss while we were away? A few significant things, it seems...

One of our greatest Patron Saints Miss Elaine Stritch celebrated her 88th birthday on 2nd February. Damn! Should've sent her a postcard from Benalmadena... Here she is giving one of her legendary performances, in this classic Rodgers and Hart number...

Elaine Stritch - To Keep My Love Alive

Other significant birthdays we missed included Zsa Zsa Gabor's 96th on 6th Feb, and dear old Dora Bryan's 90th on 7th. To my knowledge they never performed together...

Dora Bryan - (Why) Because He Loves Me

We bade a sad farewell to Cecil Womack (of Womack & Womack), Peter Gilmore (star of The Onedin Line) and Reg Presley of The Troggs.

Beyoncé flipped her wig at the event that is a complete mystery to anyone outside the US, the Superbowl; and New York Fashion Week was and is abuzz with the reappearance of the shamed John Galliano.

In the real world, the horsemeat-in-burgers "scandal" rumbled on interminably, and researchers found clocking up 20 hours a week of TV time appears to be detrimental to sperm production.



Oh, and of course, the UK celebrated another significant step towards becoming a 21st century country when MPs voted to legalise equal marriage! It has yet to get through the House of Lords, but it is a landmark for gay rights.

The best news of the lot? That came today, while we were still in Essex - the resignation of the Nazi Pope Ratzinger! My innate loathing for the man, and for all he stands for is well-documented. Whether a change at the top will usher in any kind of enlightenment into the Medieval throwback that is the Catholic church is probably something of which we can only dream, but (hopefully) it can only be an improvement on this bigot.

I'd still prefer another week in Spain...

I don't need a lot, only what I got, plus a tube of greasepaint and a follow-spot!

Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters and Stephen Sondheim



As a special Saturday treat to cheer us up as the thermometers fall and we start to pile on the layers - partly as a belated happy birthday to one of its stars Mr Mandy Patinkin (who was 60 yesterday), and partly because we are well overdue a Stephen Sondheim fix here at Dolores Delargo Towers - here's a potted selection of numbers and backstage clips from the legendary 1985 Broadway concert version of Follies, introduced by Mr Sondheim himself.

Among the glittering cast on this auspicious occasion were Barbara Cook, George Hearn, the aforementioned Mr Patinkin, Lee Remick, Carol Burnett, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Liliane Montevecchi, Phyllis Newman, Licia Albanese, Arthur Rubin and Elaine Stritch! Enjoy...

Best of Sondheim's Follies

Remarkably, among the "Beautiful Girls" only the youngest-looking, Miss Remick, is sadly no longer with us. In fact, apart from her and Miss Comden and Mr Green, the entire cast is "Still Here"! Thankfully.

With any luck, the rumours may prove true once and for all, and Follies may yet come back to the West End so we can (finally) get to see a performance of it live on stage...

Follies on Wikipedia.

A little lesson from a Patron Saint

It's Elaine Stritch's birthday!!

Our all-time favourite Patron Saint of the Theatre, I have written about her many times before (of course).

And here is the old broad giving us a little lesson in Anglo-Saxon:

Elaine Stritch on the Word "Fuck"

And she's still going strong!

Sail Away...

Stritchy, August 2011. Photo: Advanced Style blog

Just because I love her, here's a wonderful snippet from a Noel Coward documentary featuring Elaine Stritch to cheer us up on this miserable grey first day back in work:

The Noel Coward Trilogy - Sail Away starring Elaine Stritch

Simply fabulous...

Stritchy!!

We celebrate the 86th birthday today of the one, the only, the living legend that is Elaine Stritch!

Perhaps one the most celebrated of our enduring pantheon of showbiz goddesses here at Dolores Delargo Towers, I have (of course) blogged about her many times, not least on her 85th birthday last year, and back in 2009, reproduced here verbatim:

"Needless to say, the "Grand Dame of Broadway" has worked with them all - Noel Coward, Rogers & Hart, Irving Berlin, Ethel Merman, Jule Styne, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, John Lahr, Hal Prince, and of course Stephen Sondheim. She trained at drama school alongside giants of the acting world, including Marlon Brando (with whom she had a brief, if apparently unconsummated, flirtation) and Bea Arthur.

"In the 1970s she moved to the UK, taking up a long residence in one of the suites at the Savoy. It was during this time that she became most famous to British audiences, playing alongside Donald Sinden in the hugely successful ITV comedy Two's Company, and appearing several times on Parkinson, and in Tales of the Unexpected and Jackanory.

"After the death of her British husband in 1982, she returned to the US, where she has not stopped working since - a variety of TV shows from The Cosby Show to The Big Gay Sketch Show. And along the way she continued to appear on stage, most notably her award-winning one woman show At Liberty.

"It was at the UK run of this show at the Old Vic in 2002 that we were privileged to see the divine Ms Stritch on stage for the first time. Madame Arcati was particularly thrilled, having been a fan of hers since acquiring a copy of her eponymous 1960s album Stritch. And she certainly didn't disappoint! Interspersing songs from her long repertoire with snippets and anecdotes from her life and theatrical career, it was a magical occasion - and a rare opportunity to see a true legend perform."

Elaine Stritch - It's Today

Seven decades of entertainment, of bringing joy to theatrical queens everywhere - Stritchy, we salute you!

Warning - genius on stage!

"Sondheim in Conversation" last night was every bit as brilliant as we might have expected. In a cleverly constructed discussion with Jude Kelly, artistic director at the Royal Festival Hall, the great man himself gave a sometimes wicked insight into his long career as the primo lyricist and musical legend of Broadway.

At 80, Stephen Sondheim looks many decades younger, and is as sharp as a knife in his observations. As recently reported by the British press in "outraged" tones, he considers Sir Noel Coward an "unemotional" lyricist, and W.S. Gilbert (of "and Sullivan" fame) to only have written lyrics that mattered to himself, not the audience. His waspish criticism of lyric-writers even extends to his own mentor and father-figure, Oscar Hammerstein. However Cole Porter, Yip Harburg, Dorothy Fields, Frank Loesser and Irving Berlin escaped with far more praise...

He was a little less candid - as might have been expected - about his personal life, but his emotional attachment to teaching others his craft shone through. Some of his wry anecdotes were very funny - in particular his recollections of Ethel Merman (not known for being "Brains Trust"), and his resignedness about his general lack of commercial (as opposed to critical) success.

Mr Sondheim has recently produced a weighty tome - his first book - of his own collected lyrics and analysis of others'. Titled Finishing the Hat (itself a lyric from Sunday in the Park with George about the elation the artist feels creating art), the book opens in 1954 with Saturday Night and ends in 1981 with Merrily We Roll Along, encompassing the likes of West Side Story (1957), Company (1970), Follies (1971) and A Little Night Music (1973) along the way. An incredible track record of musical supremacy, and this is only book one (the second volume is promised for this time next year!). We could have queued for signed copies at the Royal Festival Hall, but at £30 a pop it can wait...

A once-in-a-lifetime experience (which we shared with the likes of Sir Tim Rice, Julia McKenzie, Eileen Atkins, former MP Chris Smith, and a host of other thesps, and major and minor celebs), this was a fabulously entertaining evening! So, to celebrate here are just a few of Mr S's greatest moments:

Liza Minnelli & Billy Stritch - Back in Business

Glenn Close - Send In the Clowns

Julian Ovenden - Being Alive (BBC Proms 2010 - Sondheim at 80)

Elaine Stritch - Liaisons

And that's merely "scraping the surface"...

The unstoppable broad

This week seems to have a glut of anniversaries of camp icons, showbiz legends and Broadway troupers.

It's a magnificent milestone today - as we celebrate the 85th birthday one of my personal idols, the eternally sassy Miss Elaine Stritch!

I have lauded this wonderful woman many times before - not least when I posted a potted life history of the magnificent lady just because I heard her being played on Radio 2... Read my last blog about "Stritchy".

Remarkably, even at her venerable age Miss Stritch refuses to back down from big stage challenges. In her current one-woman show at New York's Cafe Carlyle, Elaine Stritch Singin' Sondheim... One Song At A Time, she tackles her mentor's impressive back catalogue in celebration of the great man's 80th birthday celebrations this year.

The show ends tonight, with a massive 85th birthday bash and masses of flowers. Happy birthday, ma'am!

Stritchy

Read more about the show on the NY1 website

Gee! I'd like to be - on some marquee, all twinkling lights

Merely because Elaine Paige played one of her songs this morning on her Radio 2 show, my thoughts turn to one of my favourite showbiz artists ever - the fantastic Elaine Stritch!

Still very much in the business (at the age of 83!), Elaine cannot be summed up succinctly - a career that spans seven decades is not to be sniffed at!

Needless to say, the "Grand Dame of Broadway" has worked with them all - Noel Coward, Rogers & Hart, Irving Berlin, Ethel Merman, Jule Styne, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, John Lahr, Hal Prince, and of course Stephen Sondheim. She trained at drama school alongside giants of the acting world, including Marlon Brando (with whom she had a brief, if apparently unconsummated, flirtation) and Bea Arthur.

In the 1970s she moved to the UK, taking up a long residence in one of the suites at the Savoy. It was during this time that she became most famous to British audiences, playing alongside Donald Sinden in the hugely successful ITV comedy Two's Company, and appearing several times on Parkinson, and in Tales of the Unexpected and Jackanory.

After the death of her British husband in 1982, she returned to the US, where she has not stopped working since - a variety of TV shows from The Cosby Show to The Big Gay Sketch Show. And along the way she continued to appear on stage, most notably her award-winning one woman show At Liberty.

It was at the UK run of this show at the Old Vic in 2002 that we were privileged to see the divine Ms Stritch on stage for the first time. Madame Arcati was particularly thrilled, having been a fan of hers since acquiring a copy of her eponymous 1960s album Stritch. And she certainly didn't disappoint! Interspersing songs from her long repertoire with snippets and anecdotes from her life and theatrical career, it was a magical occasion - and a rare opportunity to see a true legend perform.

Here's a few bits and pieces I found, as a tribute to this remarkable lady...

The song EP played this morning on Radio 2:





Here's Elaine in conversation (at a gay centre benefit just last November) with American gossip columnist Liz Smith, known as "The Grand Dame of Dish", with whom Elaine has been friends for decades (see above photo of them as young ladies):



With Millicent Martin, Marian Montgomery and David Kernan in Ned Sherrin's 1979 ITV series Song by Song - a show that I have absolutely no recollection of whatsoever (bizarrely, but then I was merely a teenager, and had yet to really discover my penchant for showtunes):

Millicent Martin, Marion Montgomery, David Kernan, and Elaine Stritch - Dorothy Fields Medley

One of Elaine's classic Sondheim numbers:

Elaine Stritch - Ladies Who Lunch

And her show-stopper, also one of Sondheim's greatest...

Elaine Stritch - Broadway Baby

I love this woman!

Elaine Stritch on the Broadway Database

Elaine Stritch on IMDB

Let Me Entertain You

Happy birthday today to the genius that is Stephen Sondheim.

Words can hardly express how influential this man is - his work encompasses the greatest of all musical theatre, and he remains unsurpassed in the complexity and intelligence of his repertoire. West Side Story, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, Company, A Little Night Music, Follies, Sunday In The Park With George - all brilliant, and I love each and every one of them!

Every queen can sing along to at least one Sondheim number - be it Losing My Mind, Send In The Clowns, Broadway Baby or Let Me Entertain You, and his place in history as one of the most successful gay men in entertainment is assured.

Subject of numerous tribute galas and revues (Side By Side by Sondheim being my particular favourite, produced by the sadly-missed Ned Sherrin), Sondheim has been rightly lauded by every significant performer on the musical stage - Elaine Stritch, Barbara Cook, Eartha Kitt, Liza Minnelli, Maria Friedman, Barbra Streisand, Ethel Merman, Hermione Gingold, Madeline Kahn, Angela Lansbury, Lauren Bacall, Cleo Laine, Glynis Johns, Lee Remick, Patti LuPone, Julia McKenzie, Judi Dench, John Barrowman, Michael Ball, Elaine Paige, Bernadette Peters and even Elizabeth Taylor have all queued up to sing his songs.

A god worthy of adulation!

Elaine Stritch - Broadway Baby

John Barrowman - Being Alive

Lee Remick - Could I Leave You?

Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd-Webber - Duelling Pianos (from Hey! Mr Producer)

Stephen Sondheim biography