Elaine Stritch--LADIES WHO LUNCH--Stephen Sondheim, speaking of beauty

Okay, I admit it. I am crazy for Stephen Sondheim's work. So for those theater people, or otherwise, who find this to be uninteresting then you should move on to the next post. There is, after all, something for everyone on this blog.

Elaine Stritch originated this song on Broadway in Sondheim's musical Company. The song is Ladies Who Lunch. Streisand recorded it later and really did a disservice to the song.......Ladies Who Lunch isn't supposed to be a pretty song. It's beauty is in its anger and its grit. And no one ever sang the song more perfectly realized than Elaine Stritch. She originated the song/role on Broadway. And no one has ever come close to her original interpretation.

Here's a clip of Stritch doing the song in at the turn of the century 99/00 (many years since the she originated the song on Broadway).




I urge you to watch the following youtube excerpt which excerpts a documentary about the original cast recording of Sondheim's Company. This documentary film was done in the last few years and includes Stritch's narration of her own personal crisis during the making of the original cast recording.

Shelly Mullen and Patricia Bradley.....you must watch this clip. And pay particular attention to Stritch's statement about quitting. She's right you know.

I can't embed the video in this in this blog but you can go watch the excerpt of Stritch's recording for the original cast album of this song by clicking here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf52APstI0A