Elaine Strich @ Disney Hall.......Oh boy :-(- Page 2

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/20/12 at 6:39pm

Well she IS a class act.

[shoeguyla]

Posted: 5/20/12 at 9:13pm

I was there and I loved the show... I get what everyone is saying and I agree at times it was tough. She knew it... but i look at it as an amazing opportunity to see a legend before shes gone. I felt the same way seeing Liza at the Hollywood bowl last year , shes not the same Liza , but you take what you can get and appreciate that your one of the lucky ones that get to experience her presence good or bad...as for Elaine I Wish she would have used a telepromter .. and an intermission would have done her good , but still enjoyed it.

[SingOutLouise2]

Posted: 5/20/12 at 11:34pm

Elaine Stritch salutes the Stephen Sondheim canon with savvy

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-elaine-stritch-20120521,0,7366530.story

[binau]

Posted: 5/20/12 at 11:43pm

Maybe I'm a bit of a bitch but I LOVE the antics associated with performers. Watching Stritch drop lines, make up lines and scream backstage in NIGHT MUSIC, watching Alice Ripley struggle to sing NEXT TO NORMAL etc. are among my favourites. I wish I could have been there in LA.

That said, thanks to YouTube - we can watch Stritch perform ROSE'S TURN like an Alzheimer's patent escaped from a hospice from the comfort of our homes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZIYX1-U87Y

Updated On: 5/20/12 at 11:43 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 12:10am

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 12:10am

Still waiting for someone to explain how she's considered a "class act".

[binau]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 12:11am

Jordan, is your post intentionally blank to reflect Elaine Stritch's memory?

[DAME]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 1:57am

Shoeguy; last time Liza was at the Bowl was 3 years ago so I don't know who you saw last year. And that queen from the LA times blog is not a real critic.

qolbinau: "And thanks to YouTube - we can watch Stritch perform ROSE'S TURN like an Alzheimer's patent escaped from a hospice from the comfort of our homes"

LOL

Updated On: 5/21/12 at 01:57 AM

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 2:10am

^ Watching that video was painful. I do not think I could sit through one of her concerts. Two hours of that would do me in... What is she even doing?

[lupone76]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 10:36am

Class Act= Patti Lupone.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 10:41am

I get the whole "I'm seeing a living legend" thing, but performers need to deliver. Whereas a hardcore theatre nut may love "the antics", most of the audience doesn't.

It's like the last few times I saw Liza, she was shot. I'll never see her again. If you are paying top dollar (not sure what Stritch charges, but Liza is 100++++) you deserve a balls out show. That includes singing the songs, hitting the notes, and delivering the goods.

Oftentimes performs have a "moment" where they screw up and it gives the audience a wonderful electric feeling of seeing the performer at their most transparent. Those are lovely.

What's not lovely and kind of sad is Liza's constant apologies, excuses, being winded, and not delivering anything close to a money note.

Let's not forget these women are on stage to deliver SONGS. They are advertised as vocalists. It's not a night of comedy.

People would pay good money for either of these women to do speaking engagements or interviews on stage where they can sit in a comfy chair, sip tea and tell stories. Maybe it's time for that.

If you can sell the songs and deliver them, stop packaging yourself as such

[AC126748]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 10:48am

I'm sorry to hear that Liza is deteriorating. The last time I saw her, two years ago, she was note-perfect in both style and memory.

I don't know how much Stritch charges when she's on tour, but at the Carlyle it's $125 plus a food/drink minimum (and it's the kind of place where a martini costs $20), plus tax and tip. All together, it can easily come to $200 a person, and that's just too much for me to feel uncomfortable watching a legend forget 80% of her lyrics.

[morosco]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 11:32am

Time to take grandma's car keys away.

[theaternut]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 11:51am

I just saw Liza last week in Las Vegas and she put on a great show. Some notes were not hit but she sang all the songs and told great stories. Her audience was not the show queens but rather a silver haired Vegas crowd. They loved her. Elaines show was painful because she couldn't get through it and like someone else said.. it was like watching a alzeimers patient having a bad episode.

[Kad]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 11:51am

At the same time, audiences HAVE to know what they're getting into. It's not like they wander in off the street not knowing who they're seeing. If you're paying for a ticket to see Elaine Stritch, you know what you're getting. She's been like this for years.

[gcal]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 12:05pm

I saw Elaine on Saturday, as well. Kad, I completely agree with you. Elaine has been like this for years.

My brother turned to me after she repeated the portion of "Rose's Turn" that she forgot and said, "This is so sad." I was able to look past the sadness of seeing an 87 year old losing her memory and enjoy the show.

She was word perfect on Ladies Who Lunch-- sang it in the original key. And even when she needed prompting or said "I need help, Rob," she was able to get back into it.

I'm happy I got to see her.

Could her memory be the reason she's cancelled her other upcoming engagements?

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 12:43pm

it was like watching a alzeimers patient having a bad episode.

Having a grandmother with moderate alzheimer's, I find this really offensive. It's not a disease that should warrant jokes.

[theaternut]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 12:47pm

Who was joking? But in any case I am sorry you were offended.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 12:53pm

I don't see that as a joke, I see it as a comparison.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 1:12pm

What's offensive is the people who are saying they like to watch this sort of 'scene'.

Updated On: 5/21/12 at 01:12 PM

[DAME]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 1:19pm

I agree Diva. I don't get that. It is kind of sick.

[Vespertine1228]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 2:04pm

The bottom line is that people are willing to pay to see her in any condition. Do I think some of those people enjoy the train wreck aspect? Absolutely. But I think the more likely explanation is that she's a legend with fans who are so devoted that they just don't care about their idol being so old that she clearly can no longer perform.

To be honest, I think the audience and concert promoters are at fault here. So are Elaine's management. They should be able to identify that enough is enough. Let her retire with dignity.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 2:15pm

This David C. Nichols, the LA Times critic or blogger, is the most pretentious thing I've read in a long time:

weaving her sandpaper Sprechstimme around Sondheim's lyrics to wryly irresistible, post-Noel Coward effect

In one sentence he invokes Bertolt Brecht AND Noel Coward! (Excuse me, "Post Noel Coward.")

And what the hell is "wryly irrestible" anyway? Who's on wry? The resister or the resistee?

The next sentence seems to randomly assign fussy modifiers with wrongly used cliches. Watch how he combines all the words in boldface in one sentence:

She followed up that droll insouciance with a jaw-dropping coup: a starkly visceral take on "Rose's Turn" from "Gypsy" that brought the id of that classic into electrifying bas-relief.

That's one starkly visceral, jaw-droppingly insouciant sentence!

Where do I even begin to pick that apart? Am I the only one who never knew that "Rose's Turn" had...an id? What does it look like in bas-relief?

And does anyone here still wear...an id?

And I bet musical director Rob Bowman has bever been called "the fulcrum of a swank six-piece combo" before.

I'm not sure, but I think "upped-ante song reboot" means she started the song all over again. In case you were wondering.

And remember kids: Whenever the word "moxie" doesn't have enough moxie for ya, ya can always call it "tightrope-walking moxie"...because walking a tightrope always makes things moxier.

And never use one word when you can use two: It's not "veneration but "genuine veneration," not "ad libs" but "sassy ad libs,"not "elegiac" but "quietly elegiac"--and don't forget that "Love Is in the Air" is "dove-toned."

But he saves the best for the last: Not only does David C. Nichols call Elaine a "diseuse," he calls her an "ever-infectious diseuse."

Updated On: 5/21/12 at 02:15 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 2:19pm

This is why you are a national treasure. I hope you subsume my regard.

Updated On: 5/21/12 at 02:19 PM

[morosco]

Posted: 5/21/12 at 2:26pm

David C. Nichols, the LA Times critic or blogger, is the most pretentious thing I've read in a long time:

Sweet imbecilities tumbling so lavishly onto his lap.