FLASH FRIDAY: All Hail Dame Angela Lansbury! A Happy Birthday Bonanza

Today we are saluting one of the most adored and respected stars of the stage and screen in acknowledgement her 89th birthday this week, Dame Angela Lansbury!

It's Today

SWEENEY TODD. MAME. GYPSY. ANYONE CAN WHISTLE. BEDKNOBS & BROOMSTICKS. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. GASLIGHT. MURDER, SHE WROTE. BLITHE SPIRIT. DRIVING MISS DAISY. BEAUTY & THE BEAST. The iconic performances created by Broadway and Hollywood stalwart Angela Lansbury over the course of her 70-year career on stages and screens both large and small is simply astounding to consider and behold. While younger generations are no doubt intimately familiar with her considerable triple-threat abilities thanks to her participation in the cherished Disney animated movie musical classic BEAUTY & THE BEAST along with the live-action/animation mash-up musical BEDKNOBS & BROOMSTICKS - to say nothing of another generation warming to her wiles in MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS, released in 2011 - Lansbury is among a select group of performers who can lay claim to creating copious classic characters in major artistic properties for adults, too.

After all, art does not get much more adult than a Victorian-era Stephen Sondheim pseudo-opera about a murderous barber bent on revenge and the thrifty pie shop madam who cooks up a plan to bake his victims into meat pies. Yet, SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET is a musical masterpiece with few peers and unquestionably one of the finest pieces of theatre ever created - and, created with Lansbury in mind, to boot. Previously, Lansbury originated another Sondheim role in the short-lived but artistically daring Arthur Laurents collaboration ANYONE CAN WHISTLE, supplanted by a Tony Award-winning turn in Sondheim and Jule Styne's masterful musical comedy GYPSY after that. Nevertheless, the apotheosis of Lansbury's talent is undoubtedly evident to witness in SWEENEY TODD, in which she sings, dances, acts and mugs, while mining dramatic depths and providing a pleasing penchant for comedic relief, as well - not to mention singing everything from British music hall to moody ballads to quirky character numbers, showstopping duets, rousing group numbers and near-opera. SWEENEY TODD has it all and Lansbury proves without a shadow of a doubt that she can do it all over the course of the show, which is thankfully readily available to view on DVD and streaming.

Besides her Sondheim work - lest we forget her recent Broadway bow in the (only) revival of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones - Lansbury also found considerable acclaim in the musicals of Jerry Herman - specifically, MAME (a smash) and DEAR WORLD (a flop), as well as the tailor-made-to-her-talents TV musical MRS. SANTA CLAUS. Additionally, Lansbury has remained dedicated to the stage as an octogenarian, starring alongside fellow actor emeritus James Earl Jones in a twofer of outstanding performances - Gore Vidal's THE BEST MAN and Alfred Uhry's DRIVING MISS DAISY, the latter broadcast in movie theaters earlier this year. Plus, Lansbury keeps soldiering on - following a 2014 West End reproduction of her revered, Tony Award-winning turn in Noel Coward's BLITHE SPIRIT, Lansbury is set to bring the show on a North American tour beginning in December, running through March 2015.

At 89, now an Oscar winner and a dame, many in her position would understandably choose to rest on their laurels - but not our dear Dame Angela... she probably has a matinee performance to make.

Check out my extensive InDepth InterView with Angela Lansbury, available here, as well as Richard Jay-Alexander's exclusive interview from last month, available here.

Not While She's Around

First - before anything else - this is how you kick off a show with style, panache and razzmatazz.

See TONY AWARDS host Angela Lansbury introducing and narrating the opening sequence from Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's INTO THE WOODS, coming to the big screen this Christmas.

At the 1975 Tony Awards, Angela Lansbury recreates her entrance and dance in the title song of her Tony-winning smash hit, MAME.

Lansbury sings "I Don't Want To Know", one of Jerry Herman's most devastating ballads from DEAR WORLD.

After that, here is Bea Arthur and Angela Lansbury recreating their original cast performances in MAME with appropriately bitchy, hilarious and dazzling results at the Tony Awards.

Watch Lansbury beat out Tyne Daley and Sharon Gless from CAGNEY & LACEY, as well as Joan Collins & Linda Evans from DYNASTY, in addition to Kate Jackson, for her inimitable portrayal of Jessica Fletcher on MURDER SHE WROTE. "The oldest NEW GIRL in town" indeed - well earned. And, it was far overdue - her last Golden Globe win was in 1948 for Best Newcomer!

Now, here is Ms. Lansbury raising the roof and sending chills down spines more than 15 years after she made the role of Rose her own - the show is GYPSY and the song is "Everything's Coming Up Roses". This is a prime example of how the musical, dramatic and theatrical marriage of Stephen Sondheim and Angela Lansbury is so combustible and utterly delectable.

From the very next year, here is one of the most classic scenes in animated film history and assuredly a fixture of many of the younger set - the title sequence of Disney's BEAUTY & THE BEAST with the song itself sung by none other than Ms. Lansbury, who belted the song to Oscar gold later that year.

Next, check out this live performance of "Beauty & the Beast" more than fifteen years later backed by a symphony orchestra and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir from a recent Christmas special hosted by Ms. Lansbury.

Also, we have Angela Lansbury leading "We Need A Little Christmas" from Jerry Herman's MAME.

Take in Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury recreating the Act One Finale from SWEENEY TODD - "A Little Priest" - to rapt enthusiasm and applause that only stars of one of the most classic musicals of all time recreating their original roles thirty years later can command. Delicious!

Call it an Easter Egg: here is an audio recording of the Opening Night performance of SWEENEY TODD with Cariou and Ms. Lansbury slaying 'em - in more ways than one.

And a video of Angela's "Worst Pies In London" in the original Broadway production with the original Eugene Lee iron foundry set complete.

View Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett in SWEENEY TODD opposite George Hearn as it can be seen on DVD and streaming.

Angela Lansbury pays tribute to Stephen Sondheim with a performance of "Liaisons" at the 2011 Olivier Awards.

Peruse Lansbury on vintage game show mainstay WHAT'S MY LINE? during her run in MAME.

Take in four Tony Award wins in a row in this enviable and awe-inspiring clip collection.

Lansbury receives a 2013 honorary Academy Award - which was clearly long overdue.

Angela Lansbury receives the 2000 Kennedy Center Honor in this enjoyable clip from the telecast.

Plus, here are some trailers and clips from some of Ms. Lansbury's best-loved and best-known films.

GASLIGHT

BEDKNOBS & BROOMSTICKS

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE

DEATH ON THE NILE

MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS

Right where she belongs: Lansbury on the stage of Radio City Music Hall accepting a well-earned Tony Award for BLITHE SPIRIT.

Of course, Lansbury was nominated again in 2010 for her work in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC and here she is accepting her honor as the new Tony Award spokesperson. A choice selection.

As a special bonus, check out this sexy and hilarious showstopper from the 1959 Academy Awards.

So, what has been your absolute favorite Angela Lansbury stage performance to date? Furthermore, what is your favorite film of hers out of them all? What about your choice for best episode of MURDER, SHE WROTE? With such a wow-worthy resume, the answers to all of those questions are always correct - Angela Lansbury, at 19 or 89, is always on. Here's to many more birthdays - and many more performances!