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ELAINE STRITCH AT LIBERTY is an intimate portrait of the Broadway legend onstage and off. The film combines footage from her acclaimed, Tony Award-winning one-woman show with a behind-the-scenes look at the actress by her longtime friends, legendary documentary filmmaker D A Pennebaker and his partners Chris Hegedus and Nick Doob, in their first project for HBO.
"Elaine Stritch is a larger-than-life character who never fails to dazzle a theater audience," notes Sheila Nevins, president, HBO Documentary and Family. "I'm thrilled that HBO will be bringing this electrifying performer to TV viewers."
"We first met Elaine Stritch during the cast recording of Steve Sondheim's 'Company'," comments filmmaker D A Pennebaker. "Elaine's life as told on stage is brilliant, but following her in her real life is endlessly fascinating. She's funny, brave, quirky, sarcastic, unpredictable and dangerous."
The Broadway stage production "Elaine Stritch at Liberty" traces a career that had enormous highs and lows -- alcoholism, failed relationships and standing ovations. It is also the story of Broadway itself, full of hilarious, sometimes sad, tales about Stritch's friends, stage and screen legends like Marlon Brando, Noel Coward, Ethel Merman, Stephen Sondheim, Rock Hudson, Richard Burton, Ben Gazzara and Vivien Leigh.
The show features Stritch's vibrant performances of such Broadway songs as her signature tune "The Ladies Who Lunch," as well as "There's No Business Like Show Business," "Broadway Baby," "Zip," "Why Do the Wrong People Travel?" and "I'm Still Here."
"Elaine is the real thing," says New Yorker theater critic John Lahr, who with Stritch is co-author of the show. "In the current American theater, there is nobody who has the experience or the savvy of the old Broadway. She's the last of a kind. She can stop a show."
"Elaine Stritch at Liberty" ran on Broadway and then in London in 2002, followed by a national tour. The show received a Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event, as well as two Drama Desk Awards, for Outstanding Solo Performance for Stritch, and Outstanding Book - Musical, for Stritch and Lahr.
Reviewing the stage production, the New York Times observed, "The elements of a classic romance are all in place for this thrilling production: a star, a stage and an audience, all gaga for one another," while the Washington Post called it "utterly sensational. Poignant and screamingly funny. An evening people will be talking about for years to come."
In addition to "Elaine Stritch at Liberty," Elaine Stritch's stage credits include "Company," "The Little Foxes," "Bus Stop" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" She has also appeared extensively in movies and on TV. Among her feature films are "Small Time Crooks," "A Farewell to Arms," "Out to Sea," "September" and "Cocoon: The Return"; she received an Emmy® for her guest appearance on "Law & Order."
Pennebaker-Hegedus Films' credits include "The War Room" (Oscar® nomination for Documentary Feature), "Startup.com," "Moon Over Broadway," "Company-The Original Cast Album," "Monterey Pop," and "Dont Look Back,"starring Bob Dylan.
Elaine Stritch's performance was taped by Iambic Productions at the Old Vic in London and directed by Andy Picheta.
ELAINE STRITCH AT LIBERTY is produced in association with the BBC, Iambic Productions, Ltd., Creative Battery, Zip LLC and Pennebaker-Hegedus Films; supervising producer, John Hoffman; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are registered trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
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