Tony-Winning Stritch Unveils Her London Liberty

Septuagenarian Broadway legend Elaine Stritch faces the London critics for the first time in 12 years with the West End opening of her Tony Award-winning one-woman show. Elaine Stritch at Liberty runs at the Old Vic Theatre from tonight, 9 October 2002, to 23 November only (previews from 1 October).

In addition to the short length of the run, it is limited – because of Stritch’s age and the demanding nature of the material – to five performances a week (Tuesday to Saturday evenings only) rather than the usual eight, comprising a total of just 40 performances.

In the show, devised by John Lahr and directed by George C Wolfe, 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 2002 with rave critical and public reviews to Broadway’s Neil Simon Theatre. In June, 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”.

The actress is familiar to UK television audiences for her 1970s turn, opposite Donald Sinden, in the award-winning British sitcom Two’s Company. Elaine Stritch at Liberty marks her return to the West End for the first time since Love Letters in 1990. The West End season is produced by Mark Goucher, Sally Greene for Old Vic Productions and Imagination Entertainment.

– by Terri Paddock