Stritch to Star in Coward Show in London and on Broadway

Variety reports that Elaine Stritch will be returning to Broadway--after performing the new show in London.

The show would be a Noel Coward compilation show in which the Tony Award-winner salutes the legendary actor/playwright/composer/lyricist.  Coward's Sail Away provided Stritch with the starring role of Mimi Paragon, who experiences romance aboard the steamship the Coronia.  The Stritch vehicle, which is still in its planning stages, will open in London in December before setting off for a Broadway run.

Featuring songs such as "Why Do the Wrong People Travel?" (which has become one of Stritch's trademark numbers), Sail Away ran on Broadway for 167 performances in 1961.  Stritch, who also starred in the London production of the show, had taken over the leading role during the show's out-of-town tryouts.

Coward, of course, is legendary for witty plays such as Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Private Lives, Present Laughter, and Design for Living; he also penned other musicals such as Bitter Sweet and The Girl Who Came to Supper.

ATG's Howard Panter will produce the new show.

Stritch received a 2002 Drama Desk Award for her performance in Elaine Stritch at Liberty; the show also garnered a Tony for Best Special Theatrical Event and netted Stritch an Emmy when it was broadcast on HBO. She has received Tony Award nominations for her performances in A Delicate Balance, Bus Stop, Sail Away and Company, in which she originated the role of the sardonic Joanne. Other Broadway credits include Call Me Madam (as the standby for Ethel Merman), Pal Joey, On Your Toes, Goldilocks, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Love Letters and Show Boat; she also appeared in the legendary Lincoln Center concert version of Follies. On film and TV, she has been seen in Providence, Cocoon: The Return, September, An Unexpected Wife, Small Time Crooks, Autumn in New York, Monster-in-Law, "3rd Rock from the Sun," and "Law and Order," for which she received an Emmy Award. 

Stritch, who had a recent hit with her cabaret "At Home at the Carlyle," will return to the Cafe Carlyle for "At Home at the Carlyle II" from September 12th through November 4th.