I would say no...I heard that Stritch had some nights where she was letter perfect, but not the night I was there. She was obviously struggling throughout the evening, at one point getting a lost line from the actress playing Fredrika. Every time she went up, it was obvious and took me right out of the story as I watched an actress in distress, unable to do anything to assist. It was, by turns, embarrassing and sad.
When she could remember her lines, she gave a terrific performance.
It was a shame because Bernadette Peters was pretty close to ideal as Desiree and I'd have loved to have seen her paired with Lansbury.
But I think we all knew it was the last time we'd be seeing Stritch on Broadway and, since she was such a beloved figure by that point, it was worth taking a chance on seeing her. |
