Stritch Transfers Tony Winner to Old Vic, 9 Oct

As previously tipped in The Goss, Broadway veteran Elaine Stritch will bring her Tony Award-winning one-woman show to the West End this autumn. Elaine Stritch – Direct from Broadway (which in New York was titled Elaine Stritch at Liberty) will open at the Old Vic Theatre on 9 October. It will run for 40 performances only, with just five performances a week (Tuesday to Saturday evenings only).

In the show, devised by John Lahr, the 76-year-old Stritch recounts personal experiences from her long career in a mix of anecdotes and live music. First seen last November off-Broadway, the production transferred in February with rave critical and public reviews to Broadway’s Neil Simon Theatre. Last month, it won a 2002 Tony Award for Best Theatrical Event.

Stritch’s career on Broadway has spanned more than five decades, following her 1944 debut in Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes. Since then, according to Whatsonstage.com contributing editor and New York Nights columnist Mark Shenton, “added lustre to everything from Sondheim musicals to Simon comedies, and from Albee plays to Allen movies”.

– by Terri Paddock