Elaine Stritch in "Gypsy"?

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 4:09pm

I read in a Sondheim book that I recently bought that after Angela Lansbury initially turned "Gypsy" in London down, Elaine Stritch accepted the offer...but for some reason she didn't do it. I think she had some conflicts that arose.

Anyways, how do you think she would have done in the role?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 4:11pm

I think she would have played Rose as a wry, caustic, drunk.

[uncageg]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 4:14pm

"I'd like to propose a toast. To meeee...to meee. to me..to me!" (The last to me is whispered)

Updated On: 1/9/09 at 04:14 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 4:14pm

Yikes...


Well she did play Mame and Anna in the King and I.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 4:17pm

When did she play Anna? Did they lower the keys dramatically?

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 4:17pm

I thought she did Vera...not Mame.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 4:21pm

According to this thread

"Vera Charles and title role, Mame, U.S. cities, 1967

Title role, Mame, U.S. cities, 1969"

She lists both of these tours in her bio.

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardid=1&thread=970168

The King and I


Updated On: 1/9/09 at 04:21 PM

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 4:22pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol7XRiy2ptE

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 4:23pm

But Gypsy would have been after Company. Has she played anything after Company that wasn't simply a spin on Joanne?

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 4:26pm

Yeah...the book said that is was after "Company" in London. I think she MIGHT have sang a lot better than people give her credit for...especially when she was younger.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 4:28pm

Well you can hear her solo album which is on CD. Her voice was serviceable, but I doubt it was ever really great.

And she DID play Mame.

My Grandparents took my younger brother and I too see Ms. Stritch as MAME at The Candlewood Playhouse in late August of 1969. My Mom told me and my brother to make sure we applauded Ms. Stritch's entrance. When she entered we were the only two who clapped! Ms. Stritch caught us out of the corner of her eye and winked at us. That was so cool! She then proceeded with the show and knocked us out. She was a great Mame. Delphi Lawrence played Vera and she was also marvelous.
https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?page=2&thread=970168&boardid=1

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 4:30pm

BTW, while we are on Elaine Stritch, check on "The Big Gay Sketch Show" and their bits on her! They are hysterical!!!!!!

[ChiChi]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 4:32pm

Yes. They do her very well in every way on The Big Gay Sketch Show.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 4:48pm

I nearly fell off my chair when I first read that she'd played Anna.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 4:50pm

Elaine Stritch was a household name in the UK during the 1970s and early 80s. When she talks in "At Liberty" about how well she did over here she is not exagerating - she was probably bigger over here than she ever was in the US (outside of NY ofcourse) and was as popular as many of our home-grown stars.

After the West End production of Company she had her own TV sitcom for a number of years (called Two's Company) and also appeared in UK drama series. She even played Richard Griffiths' wife in a sitcom, though that wasn't very successful and was shortly before she returned to NY. Most West End stars of the period (Dench, McKenzie, Lipman, Kendall, Keith) had a TV sitcom to give them pulling power at the West End box office with out-of-towners.

She undoubtedly knew how to play American women as the British audience of the period liked to perceive them. Hence her being a strong contender for Gypsy.

And I could certainly imagine her in Gypsy more than I could in The King and I.
Updated On: 1/9/09 at 04:50 PM

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 4:50pm

how come no one is commenting on how pretty she looks in that headshot? well played, Stritchy.

[ChiChi]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 5:05pm

The head shot is lovely. I just don't know if her as Anna is.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 5:18pm

It is a very pretty picture! She always talked about looking older than she really was, so that could perhaps be her Senior Picture!!!!!! The fur-wrap thing was something that all schools had the girls get their picture in at one time...some still do!

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 5:21pm

Um, that wasn't a high school production lol.

[ChiChi]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 5:23pm

No. He's just saying she USED a picture from when she WAS in High School.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 5:31pm

I HIGHLY doubt she did that.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 5:59pm

Listen to Elaine Stritch in the 1958 production GOLDILOCKS. She sounds great in the many songs that she got to sing in that under-appreciated musical. I happily saw it twice at the then newly rebuilt Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. It followed the Lunts in THE VISIT.

The CD is still available on Amazon.com for about $7.00.

Updated On: 1/9/09 at 05:59 PM

[ChiChi]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 6:04pm

He was also making a joke ljay.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 6:30pm

Stritch also did The King and I at the old Lambertville Music Circus in 1965. I know someone who worked with her in a production she did somewhere in 1970 and early '71. He told me that the people behind Company wanted to check up on her behavior before signing her to the show.

Do you remember in Love, Valor and Compassion when Nathan Lane woke up from a nightmore saying that he'd had the most horrible dream ever -- a production of The King and I with Elaine and Tommy Tune?

[madbrian]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 7:23pm

I think she would have been a terrific Rose, much along the lines of Tyne Daly.