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Here's your chance to find out more about Elaine Stritch
Here's a woman who appeared in 16 Broadway productions, who still owns Stephen Sondheim's showstopper "The Ladies Who Lunch" though she introduced it 38 years ago in "Company," who was parodied to a fare-thee-well in "Forbidden Broadway," who got the nickname Stritchie from Noel Coward, whose feuds with colleagues such as Gloria Swanson and Dyan Cannon made tongues wag, who counts Gig Young and Ben Gazzara among her ex-lovers ...
And Chris Rock doesn't know who the hell she is?
You can find out all about Elaine Stritch next month (Oct. 18, to be exact) when the raspy-voiced and famously contrary trouper brings her one-woman show, "Elaine Stritch: At Liberty," to the Stephen Foster Memorial on Pitt campus in Oakland. It's no ordinary concert. Combine Stritch's name with the fact that Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre and Cabaret Pittsburgh are staging the event as a fundraiser, and you have something really special.
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She talks about her alcoholism, her struggle with diabetes, her brief period as a wannabe Hollywood starlet in the 1950s and the failures she holds herself responsible for, though it's unlikely that many observers associate Stritch with failure at this point. Every year brings another award, including a Tony for "At Liberty," an Emmy for the version televised on HBO and an Emmy for her role as the mother of Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) on "30 Rock."
She's definitely a big "get" during what's already been a big year for PICT thanks to its recent recognition by the Drama League as one of the finest regional theater companies in the United States, and thanks as well to July's popular John Millington Synge play festival. Plus, the much-admired PICT was chosen for membership in the Theatre Excellent in America program, an honor previously granted to Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the Arena Stage, the Alley Theatre and the Guthrie Theater.
For more information about "Elaine Stritch: At Liberty," visit picttheatre.org, and for tickets, call 412-394-3353.
A WCT update
Two news items jumped right off Washington Community Theatre's P.R. desk last week, with September being an unusually busy month for this area's all-musical company.
First came the announcement that Barry Wood will direct "Beauty and the Beast," the Disney version, next June when WCT celebrates its 35th year of producing shows in the pavilion at Washington Park.
Then I heard that the first night of auditions for "Godspell," which opens Nov. 14 at Julian's Banquet Hall, drew more men than women. Strange? It is according to the producers and directors behind this group, who most often have trouble recruiting male talent and once had to cancel "Forever Plaid" after tryouts failed to attract enough handsome Frankie Avalon/Ricky Nelson types who could croon '50s tunes.
But by Monday morning, director Meghan Child had found her complete cast after dipping into the pools of talent at Trinity High, Washington High and Washington & Jefferson College.
"Godspell" is Child's first show for WCT, and "Beauty and the Beast" will be Barry Wood's ... who knows? Wood himself has probably lost count, having directed WCT productions at the park, at the George Washington Hotel, at the Elks Lodge, at Julian's and wherever else his directorial skills were needed.
Regarding "Beauty and the Beast," the director said this: "It's one of the most ambitious projects I have ever tackled ... I am thrilled and frightened at the same time but eagerly looking forward to the challenge." He has a full plate at Peters Township High School in the meantime, starting with "The Man Who Came to Dinner" (Oct. 30-Nov. 1).
