The best Elaine Stritch’s music movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Elaine Stritch’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Elaine Stritch.
Original Cast Album: Company
8/10
Stephen Sondheim's musical "Company" opened on Broadway in the Spring of 1970, and tradition dictates that the cast recording is done on the first Sunday after opening night. D.A. Pennebaker, the now-legendary documentarian, filmed the production of the original cast recording, the back and forth between Sondheim and the performers, and the dynamic of trying to record live performance. The film climaxes with Elaine Stritch's performance of "The Ladies Who Lunch". The show won 6 Tony Awards including "Best Musical" and ran for two years on Broadway. A plan to make a series of "Original Cast Album" films never materialized.
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
8.3/10
Broadway: The Golden Age is the most important, ambitious and comprehensive film ever made about America's most celebrated indigenous art form. Award-winning filmmaker Rick McKay filmed over 100 of the greatest stars ever to work on Broadway or in Hollywood. He soon learned that great films can be restored, fine literature can be kept in print - but historic Broadway performances of the past are the most endangered. They leave only memories that, while more vivid, are more difficult to preserve. In their own words — and not a moment too soon — Broadway: The Golden Age tells the stories of our theatrical legends, how they came to New York, and how they created this legendary century in American theatre. This is the largest cast of legends ever in one film.
Follies: In Concert
8.1/10
A backstage documentary film including footage from the legendary 1985 concert performance of Stephen Sondheim's classic musical at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall. The plot of the musical centers around a reunion of showgirls who appeared in an annual Follies extravaganza when it was staged between the wars.
Sondheim! The Birthday Concert
8.6/10
Join us for a rousing celebration of the life and works of one of Broadway's greatest legends — the one and only Stephen Sondheim. For the master composer and lyricist's 80th birthday, many of musical theater's brightest stars gathered in March of 2010 to perform more than two dozen sensational numbers from Sondheim's illustrious career, and several of these enduring songs are performed by the original Broadway cast members. David Hyde Pierce hosts this magical event with Stephen Sondheim's longtime collaborator Paul Gemignani conducting the New York Philharmonic. Originally broadcast as an episode of the PBS series "Great Performances" (season 38, episode 2).
My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies
8.1/10
On Sept. 28, 1998, some of the greatest divas in musical theater -- including Marin Mazzie, Judy Kuhn and Audra McDonald -- took the stage at New York City's Carnegie Hall to belt out songs that made them famous. Julie Andrews hosted the event. Showstoppers include Liza Minnelli performing "Some People"; Andrea McArdle singing "Look for the Silver Lining" and "Tomorrow"; and Bebe Neuwirth and Karen Ziemba teaming for "Nowadays/Hot Honey Rag." Originally broadcast on PBS's "Great Performances" (season 28, episode 4).
Elaine Stritch: At Liberty
8.6/10
Judy at the Palace. Sinatra at Carnegie Hall. Streisand at the Garden. Stritch on Broadway. Legendary performances come along so rarely. Elaine Stritch at Liberty is an autobiographical one-woman show written by Elaine Stritch and John Lahr, which is composed of anecdotes from Stritch's life and showtunes. The show consists of spoken monologues from Stritch following her life and career, interspersed with showtunes and pop standards which compliment her stories. Many of these songs had been previously sung by Stritch in major productions, such as "The Ladies Who Lunch" from Company and "Civilization" from Angel in the Wings which she originated on Broadway. Her experiences and relationship with show business are focal points, but she also explores more intimate, personal themes like her alcoholism and romantic relationships.
