Elaine Stritch at Liberty

If “larger than life” is applicable to someone, it is to Elaine Stritch. Doob, Picheta, Hegedus & Pennebaker, the latter two of whom directed the 2001 IDFA opening film STARTUP.COM, follow Broadway legend Elaine Stritch during the preparations and performances of her last show on Broadway. She is theatre, she is show. With her seventy-seven years, Stritch has more energy than entire school classes put together. The filmmakers' virtuoso fly-on-the-wall camera shows all sides of this diva, for the documentary is largely a registration of her final performance, in which she tells the audience all sorts of personal details about her life. From her infatuation and dates with Marlon Brando and Rock Hudson to her alcohol problems and Richard Burton, who once came to her dressing room to tell her that he almost had an orgasm during her latest show. “What do you mean, almost?” she wondered a bit later. Between show excerpts, we see Stritch barking at her assistants: “I don't like you, but that's not what I hired you for.” And we witness how her show is structured during the preparations. On stage, she wears pantyhose and a long blouse, just as she will be dressed on opening night.