ELAINE STRITCH AT LIBERTY (TV)
Summary
A documentary film revolving around the final performance of Elaine Stritch’s one-woman show, recorded at Neil Simon Theatre on May 27th, 2002.
Stritch prepares for her final performance at the Neil Simon Theatre and opens by singing “I’m Still Here.” Footage is shown of Stritch rehearsing and rewriting the version of the show at The Public Theatre nine months earlier with directors John Lahr and George C. Wolfe. Later she and the orchestra do a dress rehearsal and fine-tune the show. During the final performance, Stritch sings “There’s No Business Like Show Business” and recounts her first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. She recounts how she got started in theater and how she met Marlon Brando in acting school and her interactions with him. She recounts graduating from acting school and looking for theater work in New York City, and sings “Broadway Baby.” Footage is shown of Stritch at the Savoy Hotel in in London, England during her overseas tour of the show. She tends to health issues such as taking her insulin and getting her foot sores looked at; there is also more footage of her pre-show backstage routine.
She talks about one of her first major Broadway roles, playing Melba in a revival of “Pal Joey,” and how it conflicted with her job understudying for Ethel Merman in “Call Me Madam,” and sings “Zip” from “Pal Joey.” She then discusses her first serious dramatic role in the play “Bus Stop” and her first meeting and relationship with Ben Gazzara. She recounts that she was going to marry him until she met Rock Hudson in Rome while working with him on the film “A Farewell to Arms,” leading to the dissolution of her relationship with Gazzara. She talks about her role in the Broadway musical “Goldilocks,” interspersed with footage of her rehearsing this portion of the show and revising it. During the show’s run she meets Noel Coward, who later writes a part for her in the musical “Sail Away.” She discusses her association with him and sings “Why Do the Wrong People Travel?”
Stritch describes an encounter with Richard Burton which causes her to re-evaluate her romantic troubles. She sings “If Love Were All” to end the first act of the show. The second act begins with Stritch discussing her longtime alcoholism and how it would sometimes get her into trouble, and she sings “Little Things You Do Together.” She recounts being in “Company” and working with Stephen Sondheim. Footage is shown of Stritch at the original cast album recording for “Company” in 1970. Stritch sings “The Ladies Who Lunch,” and talks about her role in the play “Small Craft Warnings,” where she meets actor John Bay and proposes to him after a few weeks. Their marriage lasts for ten years until Bay succumbs to cancer and dies, and Stritch sings “There Never Was a Baby Like My Baby.” She also recounts her reaction to the news of Noel Coward’s death, and sings “I Went to a Marvelous Party.” She discusses a particularly harrowing alcohol-related incident while she was in Paris filming “Providence,” and how she soon became diabetic and how she made a serious effort to curb her drinking. However, her efforts fall apart during the filming of “September,” causing her to suffer a major diabetic hypoglycemic attack. This incident causes her to quit alcohol altogether; she sings “The Party’s Over.”
Footage is shown of Stritch being greeted by singer and composer Rod McKuen, and of her getting her hair done. Footage from the Tony Awards shows Stritch winning the Tony for Best Special Theatrical Event for “Elaine Stritch at Liberty.” Stritch concludes her show with a final humorous anecdote and takes a bow. Stritch is followed backstage as she comes off of the show and drives home. She sings “Something Good” as the credits roll.
(This program suffers from an audiovisual problem from 1:03:09 to 1:09:01. It represents the best quality available to the museum at this time.)
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: May 29, 2004 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:40:57
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:83754
- GENRE: Arts documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Arts documentaries
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV, 2004
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Helen Asquith … Executive Producer
- Richard Fell … Executive Producer
- Sheila Nevins … Executive Producer
- John Schreiber … Co-Executive Producer
- Scott Sanders … Co-Executive Producer
- John Hoffman … Supervising Producer
- Chris Hunt … Producer
- Frazer Pennebaker … Producer
- Rick McKay … Producer
- Margo Lion … Producer
- Walker Lamond … Associate Producer
- Rebecca Marshall … Associate Producer
- Judy Chesterman … Line Producer
- Andy Picheta … Director
- Nick Doob … Director
- Chris Hegedus … Director
- D.A. Pennebaker … Director
- John Lahr … Writer
- Elaine Stritch … Writer
- Rob Bowman … Music by
- Elaine Stritch … Performer
- John Bay
- Marlon Brando
- Richard Burton
- Noel Coward
- Ben Gazzara
- Rock Hudson
- John Lahr
- Rod McKuen
- Ethel Merman
- Stephen Sondheim
- Ed Sullivan
- George C. Wolfe