Elaine Stritch On Singing Sondheim & A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

Iconic leading lady and theatrical grande dame Elaine Stritch is making a few select appearances this week in promotion of her upcoming documentary, ELAINE STRITCH: SHOOT ME, and the actress comments on her most recent Broadway role opposite Bernadette Peters in the revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC as part of a new interview.

Looking back at singing one of Sondheim's most decadent character songs, Stritch asserts, "'Liaisons' was the most difficult song I've ever done on the stage. I couldn't wrap my arms around it."

Stritch adds that the master composer/lyricist offered her some unexpected advice about how to play it, revealing, "You know what Steve Sondheim said to me, which I found brilliant? I called him the night before I opened and said, 'I can't get ahold of this song. What should I do to give it a punch? To get me stopping the show. I only get one and a half songs.' His advice was, 'At the end of the song, burp.' And I loved it. That's it!"

Furthermore, Stritch says she did this just that, relating, "At the end of the song, I burped and they went crazy. I gave it a shot and I did it from then on."

Check out the original article on the matter here.

For even more about Elaine Stritch, check out my extensive InDepth InterView with the living legend all about Sondheim and much, much more, available here.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride