She's still here!

'Three cheers and, damn it, c'est la vie! I got through all of last year, and I'm here! Look who's here! I'm still here!

I know just how Elaine Stritch felt when she sang that song in her one woman show a number of years ago. Connecticut Public Television showed a filming of that show tonight. I had seen her do it twice on Broadway and I was still blown away tonight to see it again. She was probably 80 when she did it. I think she's 88 or 90 by now, but she's still here. (I just looked it up. She's 87!)

I saw her do Madame Arnfelt in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music about a year ago on Broadway. She was the one you watched on stage. No one dared breath while she was doing 'Liasons'. There are very few actresses that can hold an audience in the palm of their hand like Elaine does.

I first saw her singing 'Zip' in the revival of Pal Joey  of Rodgers and Hart in the fifties. It was the same back then. She stopped the show! Sail Away of Noel Coward, Company and 'Here's to the Ladies that Lunch' of Sondheim, and on and on. She has been a fixture on Broadway and the West End of London for over a half century.

It's fairly obvious why I am impressed with these old Babes who can still do it- Barbara Cook is another one. It must be because I am in their generation. And I can still do it-  more or less!

Peggy and I are preparing to do two cabarets in September and I will be doing three 'cello-piano concerts with Andrea in October. The Grieg Sonata, no less.

And I'm still here, too!