I saw A Little Night Music when it was in previews at the Menier Chocolate Factory and remembered thinking "This is a very flawed production, but thank God for Maureen Lipman." Her Madame Armfeldt was divine. When it was announced she wasn't transferring with the show to Broadway I thought, "Well, it's our loss." A year later when it opened on Broadway I was severely disappointed and the whole production just seemed even weaker than it was in London. I had no intention of going back.
Then they announced that ELAINE STRITCH was coming into the show. I was floored. I didn't ever think her coming back to Broadway was an option. I knew that I had to see her live. I had to. There had been some reports of her going up on dialogue and lyrics but I didn't care. I would rather watch Ms. Stritch flub lines than watch most actors be letter perfect.
Needless to say, I sat in the second row on a Sunday matinee and was floored. She WAS letter perfect on every word and her performance was transcendent. It was all perfect without feeling perfected. Her "Liaisons," her dead pan comic timing, and most importantly her "Wooden Ring" speech to young Fredrika. The pain in her eyes, the shakiness in her voice and the loss she felt could be seen, heard and felt by all in that speech. You could hear a pin drop in those two minutes, everyone was so transfixed. I went back again the next week. Yes, a show that earlier in December I vowed I wouldn't see again, I went on to see for a third time (fourth, if you count Menier). And Ms. Stritch was once again perfect on every word, cue, and note. And her "Wooden Ring" speech once again made 900 people fall dead silent.
You can't put a price on something like that.
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
Updated On: 7/17/14 at 06:55 PM
