Just a few thoughts on Elaine Stritch at Liberty, which opened at the Academy of Music tonight. First, the good news: it's totally terrific from start to finish. By turns entertaining and deeply moving, it is a powerful and uplifting evening in the theater, one that can be enjoyed on many levels. The piece is well-constructed and paced, creating a remarkable variety of moods on a (practically) bare stage with nothing but lights and music to enhance the moments. Miss Stritch's stage technique is impeccable: she can deliver a dense lyric by Noel Coward or Lorenz Hart in a way that makes every syllable land clearly on the ear. Her use of gesture and voice is masterful, delineating the material adroitly phrase by phrase. (Did someone say SAVI technique?) And the subject matter - a remarkable life lived in the world of theater and film for the past half a century - is consistently engaging, at least for me. Anecdotes about Marlon Brando, Noel Coward, Judy Garland, Gloria Swanson and a host of other demigods are strewn about like glittering gems. When it comes time to look in the mirror and assess herself, however, Stritch does not flinch at her flaws. She shows us her anguish as well as her joy, and we leave the theatre enriched and enlivened by the experience. An unforgettable experience. Oh, here is a recording of the performance, and here are some photos, if you're interested.